Czech Republic

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The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country has borders with Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. Historic Prague (Czech: Praha), a major tourist attraction, is its capital and largest city. Other major cities include Brno, Ostrava, Zlín, Plzeň, Pardubice, Hradec Králové, České Budějovice, Liberec, Olomouc, and Ústí nad Labem.

The country is composed of two older regions, Bohemia and Moravia, and part of a third one, Silesia. As of [ay 1, 2004, it is a member state of the European Union.

The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 announced that the name Czechia (Czech: Česko) is to be used in all situations other than formal official documents and the full names of government institutions [1], [2], but this has not caught on in English usage. See also: Czech lands.

1 History
2 Politics
3 Geography
4 Economy
5 Demographics
6 International rankings
7 Reference
8 Related

[edit] History

From prehistoric times, archaeologists have found evidence of human settlers in the area. From the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, the Boii (see Bohemia) and later in the 1st century Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi settled there. During the Migration Period of ca. the 5th century, many Germanic tribes moved westward and southward out of Central Europe. In an equally signifcant migration, Slavic people from the Black Sea and Carpathian regions settled in the newly emptied lands (a movement that was also stimulated by the onslaught of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars). Following in the Germans' wake, they moved southward into Bohemia, Moravia, and much of present day Austria. This movement marked the Slavs' emergence from historical obscurity.

During the 7th century the Frankish merchant Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting their Avar rulers, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe. The Moravian principality arose in the 8th century (see under Great Moravia).

The Czech state emerged in the late 9th century when it was unified by the Přemyslids. The kingdom of Bohemia was a significant local power, but religious conflicts such as the 15th century Hussite Wars and the 17th century Thirty Years War were devastating. It later came under the Habsburg influence and became part of Austria-Hungary.

Following the collapse of this empire after World War I, the Czechs and neighbouring Slovaks joined together and formed the independent republic of Czechoslovakia in 1918. This new country contained a large German minority, which would lead to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia when Germany successfully annexed the minority through the Munich Agreement in 1938, and Slovakia gained greater autonomy, with the state renamed "Czecho-Slovakia". Slovakia broke away further in 1939 and the remaining Czech state was occupied by the Germans who installed a puppet-regime explicitly styled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, where the Czech President and Prime Minister were de facto subordinate to the nazi Reichsprotektor ('imperial protector').

After World War II, a reconstituted Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize party rule and create "socialism with a human face" during the Prague Spring. In 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its "freedom" through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution". On January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split in two, creating independent Czech and Slovak republics.

The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.

[edit] Politics

According to its constitution the Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy, whose head of state is a president, indirectly elected every five years by the parliament. The president is also granted specific powers such as the right to nominate Constitutional Court judges, dissolve parliament under certain conditions, complete immunity, and enact a veto on legislation. He also appoints the prime minister, who sets the agenda for most foreign and domestic policy, as well the other members of the cabinet on a proposal by the prime minister.

The Czech parliament (Parlament) is bicameral, with a Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká sněmovna) and a Senate (Senát). The 200 Chamber delegates are elected for 4-year terms, on the basis of proportional representation. The 81 members of the Czech Senate serve for 6-year terms with one-third being elected every 2 years on the basis of two-round majority voting.

The country's highest court of appeals is the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court, which rules on constitutional issues, is appointed by the president, and its members serve 10-year terms.

[edit] Geography

The Czech landscape is quite varied; Bohemia to the west consists of a basin, drained by the Elbe (Czech: Labe) and Vltava rivers, surrounded by mostly low mountains such as the Sudeten with its part Krkonoše, where one also finds the highest point in the country, the Sněžka at 1,602 m. Moravia, the eastern part, is also quite hilly and is drained predominantly by the Morava river, but also contains the source of the Oder (Czech: Odra) river. Water from the landlocked Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea.

The local climate is temperate with warm summers and cold, cloudy, humid winters, typified by a mixture of maritime and continental influences.

[edit] Economy

Main article: Economy of the Czech Republic

One of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states, the Czech Republic has been recovering from recession since mid-1999. Growth in 2000-2001 was led by exports to the EU, especially Germany, and foreign investment, while domestic demand is reviving. The rate of corruption remains one of the highest among OECD countries.

Uncomfortably high fiscal and current account deficits could be future problems.

Moves to complete banking, telecommunications, and energy privatisation will add to foreign investment, while intensified restructuring among large enterprises and banks and improvements in the financial sector should strengthen output growth.

The Czech government has expressed a desire to adopt the euro currency in 2010, but the introduction of the currency is currently only in the early planning stages.

[edit] Demographics

Main article: Demographics of the Czech Republic

Population of the Czech lands (CSU, Prague)
Year	Total	Change	Year	Total	Change
1857	7,016,531	-	1930	10,674,386	6.6%
1869	7,617,230	8.6%	1950	8,896,133	-16.7%
1880	8,222,013	7.9%	1961	9,571,531	7.6%
1890	8,665,421	5.4%	1970	9,807,697	2.5%
1900	9,372,214	8.2%	1980	10,291,927	4.9%
1910	10,078,637	7.5%	1991	10,302,215	0.1%
1921	10,009,587	-0.7%	2001	10,230,060	-0.7%

The majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic (95%) are ethnically Czech and speak Czech, a member of the Slavic languages. Other ethnic groups include Slovaks, Germans, Roma, Hungarians, Ukrainians and Poles. After the 1993 division, some Slovaks remained in the Czech Republic and comprise roughly 2% of the current population. The border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia is open for citizens of the former Czechoslovakia. Given the massive rise of tourism in Prague, English is becoming widely popular among business-owners and public servants.

The most concentrated linguistic minority in the Czech Republic are ethnic Poles, historically the majority, and today constituting between 10 and 45% of the population in the Cesky Tesin/Czeski Cieszyn district. Poles have the right to use their language in official dealings, and there are some Polish primary and secondary schools in the area. The Polish minority has been decreasing substantially since World War II as education in Polish was difficult to obtain, while Czech authorities did not permit bilingual signs to maintian Polish awareness among the population.

The remaining German minority of the Czech Republic (2.9 million were forcibly expelled after World War II), and historically the largest minority of the country, is granted some rights on paper, however the actual use of German in dealings with officials is usually not possible. There is no bilingual education system in Western and Northern Bohemia, where the German minority is most concentrated.

While the erection of bilingual signs is technically permitted since 2001, if a minority constitutes 10% of the population, members of the minority are also forced to sign a petition in favour of the signs in which 40% of the adult minority population must participate. Many of the historically intimidated and often elderly members of the Polish and German minorities of the Czech Republic still fear repercussions if they sign a document in favour of bilingualism. Hence only a couple of villages with large Polish minorities have so far been able to collect the necessary signatures.

According to the 2001 census there remain 38 and 13 municipalities and settlements in the Czech Republic with more than 10% Poles and Germans respectively.

Many representatives of expelees organizations support the erection of bilingual signs in all formerly German speaking territory as a visible sign of the bilingual linguistic and cultural heritage of the region.

In 2005 Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek announced an initiative to publicise and formerly recognise the deeds of Sudeten German Anti-Nazis, including members of the German minority. Although the move was received positively by most Sudeten German expelees and the German minority, there has been criticism that the initiative is limited to Anti-Nazis who actively fought for the Czechoslovak state, but not Anti-Nazis in general. The German minority in particular also expected some financial compensation for their mistreatment after the War.

Despite the very visible presence of cathedrals and church buildings all over the country, the majority of Czechs (59%) are agnostics or atheists or without any dogmatic organization of belief. Significant religious groups include Roman Catholics (27%), Protestants (1.2%), and Czechoslovak Hussites (1%).

[edit] International rankings

Human Development Index 2003: Rank 31st out of 177 countries.
Index of Economic Freedom 2005: Rank 33rd out of 155 countries.
Reporters Without Borders world-wide press freedom index 2005: Rank 9th out of 167 countries.