East European Politics & Societies

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0888325408315824v1
22/3/467    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Brown, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
This version was published on August 1, 2008
East European Politics & Societies, Vol. 22, No. 3, 467-495 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0888325408315824

Socialism with a Slovak Face: Federalization, Democratization, and the Prague Spring

Scott Brown

Exploring the "federalization debate" that occurred in the context of the Prague Spring, this article highlights the diversity of opinions among political elites in Slovakia regarding the federalization and democratization discussions in 1968. The language Slovaks used to call for federalization reveals how they conceive of democracy and democratization, and it shows the variety of meanings Slovaks ascribed to federalization and to the popular slogan, "First federalization, then democratization." Federalization and democratization were mutually dependent in the minds of many Slovaks. The author argues that Slovak political and cultural figures writing in the late 1960s saw federalization as a necessary precondition for democracy; they regarded the nation as one of the basic units of democracy, which led them to champion institutional safeguards for Slovak national rights as a prerequisite for successful democratization.

Key Words: Prague Spring • Czechoslovakia (Democratization) • Kultúrny zivot (periodical)


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?