Ideal and Idealisation
The Czechs and the United States
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The founding of the Czechoslovak Republic on American soil created a special relationship between the Czechs and the United States. The state structure of Czechoslovakia oriented itself on the principles of American democracy. The United States played an important role in the historical turning points of 1918, 1945, and 1989. But Václav Havel’s attempt to adjust this tradition in the name of a “New Europe” failed. The United States now has other global policy priorities. And in East Central Europe, a gradual turning away from an uncritical idealisation of America can be observed.
(Osteuropa 1/2011, pp. 111–126)