ABSTRACT
The Czech population knows well what it desires, and confirms its desires in poll after poll: democracy, rule of law, security, defeat of corruption and crime. But the political elite is almost exclusively post-Communist, that is, composed of former Communists, their former collaborators, and others enrolled after 1989 on the grounds of sharing in the benefits of power. The Czech governments have provided some relatively valuable help in a number of peace-keeping missions, but the political resolve for such help is diminishing. Czech security policies are exclusively in the hands of the few politicians directly concerned with them at the government level and in diplomacy. The quality of understanding the main issues of international security among these people is now, however, mostly mediocre. The expectations of NATO and the requirements of the European Union also contribute positively to the overall political direction of the country. So far, the post-Communist politicians do not oppose the minimal democratic requirements of the West.
