The Development of Selected Mutual Relations between the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Abstract

For a period of 75 years after 1918 the territories of the present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia were part of one country, and therefore it was inevitable that very close relations between them would develop and which that could not suddenly be broken. Today, more than 20 years since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, both of the newly formed countries are slowly reaching ‘adulthood’, and both the social situation and the development of mutual relations have been gradually stabilised. This contribution compares and evaluates the development of selected mutual relations between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is supported by a brief comparison of some basic features of the development of both countries, which is the information on which this study is based. The key part of the article comprises an analysis of the development of mutual relations and cooperation on a nationwide level. The trade and migration relations (labour and study migration) of both republics, especially after 1993, fall within the scope of the analysis. A separate section is devoted to the common borderland and the development and spatial differentiation of cross-border relations and cooperation.