Political Science / History & Theory

Historians have long claimed Czechoslovakia between the world wars as an island of democracy in a sea of dictatorships. The reasons for the survival of democratic institutions have never been fully explained. Miller pieces together the story of the party and its longtime leader, Antonin Svehla, who had an extraordinary capacity to mediate between political parties, factions, and individual political leaders. Miller shows how Svehla’s official and behind-the-scenes activities in the parliament provided the new state with stability and continuity.

Through a series of essays, this volume argues that every political system is based on a substratum of shared intentions, meanings, and rules of conduct embedded in a culture.

This book presents a conceptual framework for identifying and weighing foreign policy motives that shape, direct, and alter foreign policy.