Abstract
This paper focuses on the image of the political system of the first Czechoslovak Republic in the political discourse connected with the preparation of the Czech Constitution in 1992. It works mainly with records of parliamentary debates between July and December 1992 and considers three types of actors: members of committees working on the constitution, constitutional lawyers and political figures with a significant informal influence, such as Václav Havel.
The author asks three interrelated research questions: How was the first Czechoslovak Republic portrayed in the debates on the Czech Constitution? In what context of the discussions and argumentations did the First republic reappear? And what role did the image of the Czechoslovak Republic play in the debates? As I argue, the system of the first Czechoslovak Republic was presented almost always positively, framed by concepts of tradition, democracy, sovereignty, and stability. Conversely, the Senate was portrayed more negatively, as a symbol of inefficiency, futility and expensiveness.
The political system of the First Republic and the Constitution of 1920 represented an issue that could not be ignored and had to emerge through discourse. Some speakers did not always portray it properly and rarely spoke about the problematic aspects of the functioning of the political system of the First Republic.
However, it was always alluded to as a symbol whose meaning was often more important than its actual content, as it could confirm the legitimacy of power relationships and express identification with a given political line. The fact that the actors chose only certain images of the First Republic, mostly the positive ones, illustrates that they sought to use the power of the symbol of the First Republic.