THE PROBLEM OF CONSTITUTIONAL REGULATION OF CZECH-SLOVAK RELATIONS IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN 1946 – 1948

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the constitutional regulation of Czech-Slovak relations in Czechoslovakia from 1946 to 1948. The lower chronological limit of the publication is dictated by the adoption of the third Prague Agreement, which essentially turned Czechoslovakia into a unitary state with a strong central government, but at the same time preserved elements of an asymmetric administrative-territorial system. Adopting the new Constitution determines the upper chronological limit of the article on May 9, 1948, which proclaimed the Czechoslovak People's Democratic Republic as a single state of two equal peoples, Czechs, and Slovaks still failed to resolve the Slovak question. The research methodology in the article is based on general scientific and special scientific methods, which allowed the author to avoid inconsistency, imprecision, and detachment from the objective historical process during the research. The article analyzes the views and projects of the leading parties of the Third Czechoslovak Republic on the solution to the Slovak question in the state through the constitutional regulation of Czech-Slovak relations. The author states that the Czech (Czechoslovak) political parties advocated a return to the unitary system. At the same time, the Slovak Democratic Party in 1946-1948 remained a supporter of the reconstruction of Czechoslovakia on a federal basis. The article finds out that the usurpation of power by the communists due to the February coup d'état of 1948 was the decisive factor that influenced the constitutional settlement of Czech-Slovak relations in Czechoslovakia, based on Marxist-Leninist principles, the specific forms of the state system of the Czechs and Slovaks. Of course, under such circumstances, it was impossible to talk about the final solution to the Slovak question in Czechoslovakia.