Unwilling to Succeed: The Czech Position on U.S. Missile Defense - Between Strategy and Public Political Debate
Abstract
After the fall of Communism in 1989, one of the main goals of Czechoslovak, and later Czech, foreign policy, was to become a member of Western security, economic, and political structures. It was not long after the Velvet Revolution that the Czechs rejected "neutrality" and began to strive for NATO membership.
This pro-Atlantic position was not only a strategic choice, but also a natural reaction to forty years of living under the Soviet sphere of influence. In light of this historical experience, it was hoped that the United States, rather than West European countries, would provide security guarantees not only to the Czech Republic, but to the whole Central and Eastern Europe region.
This aspiration culminated in 1999 when the Czech Republic, together with Hungary and Poland, joined NATO. This article argues that the key actors on both the domestic and international levels contributed to the atmosphere in which it became largely impossible to reach a national consensus and broad acceptance of the MDS.
The aim is not to analyze the MDS project, but rather to examine the Czech domestic political debate and the impact of external players, mainly the US and Russia, on both the Czech political leadership and the public.