Czech Foreign Policy After the Velvet Revolution

Abstract

The drastic international orientation change following the Velvet Revolution represents the most fundamental change in Czech foreign policy to date. The key tenets of the foreign policy of the Czech Republic did not, however, remain unaltered after the country’s independence. Changes in Czech foreign policy can predominantly be traced back to domestic level sources and drivers—especially to the key personalities involved in the foreign policy processes. The most important goal change in modern Czech foreign policy was the 1996 domestically driven decision to reorient the foreign policy of “returning to Europe” from the internationalist path to one directed squarely at NATO and the EU. Program changes were clearly visible in the new uses of aid, economic openness, human rights promotion, and expeditionary military deployments in the 2000s, as well as the post-2014 efforts to counter aggression and insecurity on Europe’s eastern flank. The most common type of foreign policy change was adjustment change, with most recently an attempt to diversify the group of strategic partners of the Czech Republic and develop relationships with non-Western powers, most importantly China and Russia.