ABSTRACT
Let us stress that we shall concentrate more on the situation in the Czech Lands than in Czechoslovakia as a whole. The reason is simple. Developmental trends in the Czech and Slovak Republics after 1989 have showed that, due to their respective cultures, Czechs and Slovaks have diverged considerably in their understandings of the goals which their societies should pursue (see Mareš et al., 1992). These cultural differences have proved incompatible since the June 1992 national elections. At the time of writing (September 1992), it seemed very likely that this incompatibility would lead to a ‘velvet divorce’, i.e. the breakup of the Czechoslovak federation into two independent states. We do not presume to anticipate the results of complex and difficult negotiations between Czech and Slovak political representatives; rather, our focus on the Czech Republic is indicative of a certain confusion about the situation in Slovakia which we, as Czechs, are not able to resolve at present.
