Marès, Antoine

Czech Foreign Policy (1948-1989): A Generalizable Case? - 2012.


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Although Czechoslovakia found itself in a particular situation of autonomy between 1945 and 1948, its foreign policy was until 1989 distinguished by a noticeable alignment with Moscow, with the exception of 1968. This contribution firstly endeavours to recall the main features of this specificity. Secondly, it analyses the structural factors which prevented the exercise of sovereignty, then the economic and cultural elements which on the contrary were able to favour the satisfaction of « national interests ». Finally, if there was a common model of the foreign policies of the countries of median Europe and the periods of forced unity by Moscow, the specificities of each of the countries of the Soviet bloc, linked notably to political events and to the very different reactions of societies, must not be neglected.