Geopolitics of the Central European Region
The view from Prague and Bratislava

Introduction

In the world, in which geopolitical laws apply, small states such as the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic depend on their surroundings. They do not have enough power to enforce a balance of power favorable to themselves. If they originated as an expression of a temporary state of the balance of power, they are condemned to dissolution. Some representatives of the Czech and Slovak nations attempted to understand and confront these realities with a practical policy. It is desirable that readers beyond the frontiers of these small states should know and understand the view of Central Europe, which these theorists and politicians represent.

The title of this book is not entirely clear. The Central European region appears in this work only as the natural environment, in which the Czech Republic and  Slovakia are situated. However, this little universe of Czech and Slovak political life has its laws, which pre-determine the successes and failures of individual foreign policy actions. Geopolitics is one of the instruments, which can help to uncover these laws. It will be shown that this fashionable means is useful but imperfect and so dangerous. During the 20th century, the Czechs and Slovaks actually experienced seven or eight different state and regime arrangements. The politicians were drawn from domestic resources, but their choice was a response to the changing balance of power in Europe.

The book GEOPOLITICS  OF  THE  CENTRAL  EUROPEAN  REGION has four main parts:

• The Geopolitical Scheme of the History of Europe defines the geographical and geopolitical frontiers of Europe and its centre. It shows the changes of power lines in this region from Antiquity to the present day, with an orientation to the geopolitical turning points.
• Models for the Organization of Central Europe. Models for the organization of Central Europe from the 19th and 20th centuries are compared, showing the similar and different features of Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism.
• The Search for National Interests deals with the eventful fates of the nations of Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially in the cases of the Czechs and Slovaks. It seeks justifications for the right of nations to their own states and describes the development of the frontiers of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
• The Geopolitical Uncertainty of Central Europe compares recent geopolitical views of Central Europe from Russia and the USA. Using the examples of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it shows the power and strength of the small state in international politics. It defines the positives, negatives and questions concerning the accession of these countries. The conclusion examines traditions of foreign policy and presents the author’s own model for an appropriate foreign policy to defend Czech and Slovak national interests.

This book is a translation of an adapted and extended university textbook adopted by institutions in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It originated thanks to the Institute of Political Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. The author also thanks the students of the Faculty of Political Science and Foreign Affairs of the University of Matej Bel in Banská Bystrica and the University of International and Public Relations in Prague for discussions at lectures and seminars devoted both to the general theory of international politics and the problems of the geopolitics of Slovakia. He also has the pleasant duty to say that the book would not have originated without the comments on the manuscript from a number of Czech and Slovak academic colleagues.

Prof. Oskar Krejčí