The Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution

Author: Bernard Wheaton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-02-06

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0429964315

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The vivid portratal of the "Velvet Revolution" describes the dramatic social and political changes that heralded the downfall of the Communist leadership in Czechoslavakia. Bernard Wheaton, one of the few Western observers in the country during the nonviolent change of government in November 1989, and Zdenek Kavan, himself a Czech, interweave firsthand description with interviews of student leaders, press accounts, and scholarly analysis of the historical antecedents of the revolution to bring the extraordinary events of 1989 to life. The authors also trace the evolution of change in Czechoslovakia, weighing the importance of the May 1990 elections and assessing political and social prospects for the future. The narrative is enriched with political cartoons and photographs.

Velvet Revolutions
Velvet Revolutions

Author: Miroslav Vanek

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-01-04

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0199342733

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The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 brought about the collapse of the authoritarian communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia, marking the beginning of the country's journey towards democracy. Though members of the elite have spoken about the transition to democracy, the experiences of ordinary people have largely gone untold. In Velvet Revolutions, Miroslav Vanek and Pavel Mücke examine the values of everyday citizens who lived under so-called real socialism, as well as how their values changed after the 1989 collapse. Based on 300 interviews, Vanek and Mücke give voice to everyone from farmers to managers, service workers to marketing personnel, manual laborers to members of the armed forces. Compelling and diverse, the oral histories touch upon the experience - and absence - of freedom, the value of family and friends, the experience of free time, and perceptions of foreign nations. Data from opinion polls conducted between 1970 and 2013 factor into the book's analysis, creating a well-rounded view of the ways in which popular thoughts, trends, and attitudes changed as Czech society transitioned from communism to democracy. From this rich foundation, Velvet Revolutions builds a multi-layered view of Czech history before 1989 and during the subsequent period of democratic transformation.

A Velvet Revolution
A Velvet Revolution

Author: John Duberstein

Publisher: Morgan Reynolds Publishing

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781931798853

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Vaclav Havel spent most of his life as a dissident playwright in Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia. Born in 1936, Havel was a young child during World War II, as the Nazis occupied and brutalized Czechoslovakia. After the war, his country, along with the rest of Eastern Europe, fell under the control of the Soviet Union. A short period of liberalization in 1968, which came to be called the Prague Spring, was quickly ended by a brutal military crackdown. Havel's works, which were mostly protests against totalitarianism written in the form of absurdist drama, were officially banned in 1971. Frustrated by restrictions on his writing, Havel began to direct his anger toward political action. Then, in a climactic event that shocked the world, Czechoslovakia's Communist dictatorship collapsed in 1989 in what became known as the Velvet Revolution, and Havel, the country's most famous dissident, was made president. During a sometimes rocky tenure, Havel worked to bring stability to his country and presided over the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia into two democratic republics. Detailing one of the twentieth century's most unusual but dynamic political figures, this new biography of Vaclav Havel tells his intriguing and inspiring story for a new generation of readers. Book jacket.

Armenia’s Velvet Revolution
Armenia’s Velvet Revolution

Author: Anna Ohanyan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-09-03

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 178831719X

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In April 2018, Armenia experienced a remarkable popular uprising leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and his replacement by protest leader Nikol Pashinyan. Evoking Czechoslovakia's similarly peaceful overthrow of communism 30 years previously, the uprising came to be known as Armenia's 'Velvet Revolution': a broad-based movement calling for clean government, democracy and economic reform. This volume examines how a popular protest movement, showcasing civil disobedience as a mass strategy for the first time in the post-Soviet space, overcame these unpromising circumstances. Situating the events in Armenia in their national, regional and global contexts, different contributions evaluate the causes driving Armenia's unexpected democratic turn, the reasons for regime vulnerability and the factors mediating a non-violent outcome. Drawing on comparative perspectives with democratic transitions across the world, this book will be essential reading for those interested in the regime dynamics, social movements and contested politics of contemporary Eurasia, as well as policy-makers and practitioners in the fields of democracy assistance and human rights in an increasingly multipolar world.

Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia

Author: Robin H. E. Shepherd

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9780333920480

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Czechoslovakia started the transition from communism with high hopes. This book looks at the political and economic changes of two countries in transition and argues that much remains to be done before they have shaken off the legacy of a particularly harsh communist past.

A Cardboard Castle?
A Cardboard Castle?

Author: Vojtech Mastny

Publisher: Central European University Press

Published: 2005-04-10

Total Pages: 786

ISBN-13: 6155053693

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This is the first book to document, analyze, and interpret the history of the Warsaw Pact based on the archives of the alliance itself. As suggested by the title, the Soviet bloc military machine that held the West in awe for most of the Cold War does not appear from the inside as formidable as outsiders often believed, nor were its strengths and weaknesses the same at different times in its surprisingly long history, extending for almost half a century. The introductory study by Mastny assesses the controversial origins of the "superfluous" alliance, its subsequent search for a purpose, its crisis and consolidation despite congenital weaknesses, as well as its unexpected demise. Most of the 193 documents included in the book were top secret and have only recently been obtained from Eastern European archives by the PHP project. The majority of the documents were translated specifically for this volume and have never appeared in English before. The introductory remarks to individual documents by co-editor Byrne explain the particular significance of each item. A chronology of the main events in the history of the Warsaw Pact, a list of its leading officials, a selective multilingual bibliography, and an analytical index add to the importance of a publication that sets the new standard as a reference work on the subject and facilitate its use by both students and general readers.

Revolution with a Human Face
Revolution with a Human Face

Author: James Krapfl

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2013-10-04

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0801469422

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In this social and cultural history of Czechoslovakia’s “gentle revolution,” James Krapfl shifts the focus away from elites to ordinary citizens who endeavored—from the outbreak of revolution in 1989 to the demise of the Czechoslovak federation in 1992—to establish a new, democratic political culture. Unique in its balanced coverage of developments in both Czech and Slovak lands, including the Hungarian minority of southern Slovakia, this book looks beyond Prague and Bratislava to collective action in small towns, provincial factories, and collective farms. Through his broad and deep analysis of workers’ declarations, student bulletins, newspapers, film footage, and the proceedings of local administrative bodies, Krapfl contends that Czechoslovaks rejected Communism not because it was socialist, but because it was arbitrarily bureaucratic and inhumane. The restoration of a basic “humanness”—in politics and in daily relations among citizens—was the central goal of the revolution. In the strikes and demonstrations that began in the last weeks of 1989, Krapfl argues, citizens forged new symbols and a new symbolic system to reflect the humane, democratic, and nonviolent community they sought to create. Tracing the course of the revolution from early, idealistic euphoria through turns to radicalism and ultimately subversive reaction, Revolution with a Human Face finds in Czechoslovakia’s experiences lessons of both inspiration and caution for people in other countries striving to democratize their governments.

Putin's ʻpreventive Counter-revolutionʼ
Putin's ʻpreventive Counter-revolutionʼ

Author: Robert Horvath

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0415694213

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This text examines the preventive counter-revolution undertaken by the Putin leadership in response to political instability - the colour revolutions - in the former post-Soviet republics and their potential to destabilise Russia itself.

Warte Mal!
Warte Mal!

Author: Ann-Sofi Sidén

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13:

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As drivers on the road from Dresden to Prague cross the German border into the Czech Republic, they pass through the frontier town of Dubi. In all seasons, day and night, women line the roadside. Desperate to attract attention, they shriek at the drivers of passing vehicles 'Warte Mall' (Hey Wait ). Dubi was once a resort, renowned for its spas. In the wake of the 'Velvet Revolution' - the events which led to the collapse of Communism in Czechoslovakia - economic instability and Dubi's location close to the economic powerhouse of Germany transformed the town into a notorious destination for sex tourists form the West. Exactly 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, throughout 1999, Ann-Sofi Siden, a visual artist, and filmmaker, made prolonged trips to Dubi documenting her stay through video, photography, a written diary and an extensive series of video-interviews - detailed and often harrowing testimonies of the experiences of the players in the business of prostitution: clients, police, pimps and the prostitutes themselves. installation that has been shown as a 'walk-in documentary' in several major museums in Europe. Siden has made an acute and disturbing exploration of the way in which lives of individuals are bound up in the accidents and complexities of political history. This illustrated catalogue includes a preface by Susan Ferleger Brades, interviews, an essay by Robert Fleck and artist's biography.