Czech Foreign Policy After the Velvet Revolution

KŘÍŽ, Zdeněk, Martin CHOVANČÍK and Oldřich KRPEC. Czech Foreign Policy After the Velvet Revolution. In Jeroen K. Joly; Tim Haesebrouck. Foreign Policy Change in Europe Since 1991. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, p. 49-72. ISBN 978-3-030-68217-0. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68218-7_3.

Basic information

• Original name: Czech Foreign Policy After the Velvet Revolution
• Authors: KŘÍŽ, Zdeněk (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Martin CHOVANČÍK (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution) and Oldřich KRPEC (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Cham, Foreign Policy Change in Europe Since 1991, p. 49-72, 24 pp. 2021.
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Chapter(s) of a specialized book
• Field of Study: 50601 Political science
• Country of publisher: Switzerland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: printed version "print"
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14230/21:00122289
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• ISBN: 978-3-030-68217-0
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68218-7_3
• Keywords in English: foreign policy; foreign policy; analysis foreign policy in Europe; foreign policy reorientation; Czech Republic
• Tags: rivok, topvydavatel
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The drastic international orientation change following the Velvet Revolution represents the most fundamental change in Czech foreign policy to date. The key tenets of the foreign policy of the Czech Republic did not, however, remain unaltered after the country’s independence. Changes in Czech foreign policy can predominantly be traced back to domestic level sources and drivers—especially to the key personalities involved in the foreign policy processes. The most important goal change in modern Czech foreign policy was the 1996 domestically driven decision to reorient the foreign policy of “returning to Europe” from the internationalist path to one directed squarely at NATO and the EU. Program changes were clearly visible in the new uses of aid, economic openness, human rights promotion, and expeditionary military deployments in the 2000s, as well as the post-2014 efforts to counter aggression and insecurity on Europe’s eastern flank. The most common type of foreign policy change was adjustment change, with most recently an attempt to diversify the group of strategic partners of the Czech Republic and develop relationships with non-Western powers, most importantly China and Russia.