Doctoral thesis
English

From Internationalization to Development: Czechoslovak Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation in the Gottwald and Novotný eras (1948-1968)

ContributorsFiser, Ondrej
Number of pages568
Imprimatur date2023-01-16
Defense date2023-01-16
Abstract

During the period of communist supremacy, Czechoslovakia teetered between two geopolitical blocs. On the one hand, it was an official constituent of the socialist wing with far-reaching responsibilities to the other member states of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, but on the other, Czechoslovakia’s economy was traditionally pro-Western, and even the political drawing of the Iron Curtain could not completely deconstruct the deep-rooted ties with its Western neighbors. This thesis examines how senior officials of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (Klement Gottwald, Antonín Zápotocký, Antonín Novotný, Viliam Široký, Ota Šik, etc.) as well as individual rank-and-file workers and the scientific-technical intelligentsia dealt with Czechoslovakia's delicate position on the border of two geopolitical blocs. Specific attention is paid to the factors that guided Czechoslovak foreign economic policy, as well as to the question of how the individual actors, forms, platforms, and projects of Czechoslovak intra- and inter-bloc cooperation demonstrate the precariousness of the Czechoslovak position on the international stage. In pursuit of these goals, documents from the Czechoslovak Communist Party and Czechoslovak industrial ministries stored in the Prague archives are consulted and supplemented by the records of international organizations such as the UN Economic Commission for Europe and GATT. These often recently disclosed archival materials have proved capable of opening new doors to grasp the history of the Cold War in a revolutionary way and to expand its hitherto rather one-sidedly antagonistic and conflictual characterization with a new dimension of constructive cooperation.

Keywords
  • Czechoslovakia
  • Economic cooperation
  • Scientific-technical cooperation
  • East-West cooperation
  • Inter-bloc cooperation
  • International cooperation
  • CMEA
  • COMECON
  • USSR
  • International trade
  • Intra-bloc cooperation
  • Communist Party of the Soviet Union
  • Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
  • Klement Gottwald
  • Antonín Novotný
  • Joseph Stalin
  • Nikita Khrushchev
  • Trade fairs
  • International conference
  • International organization
  • Economic Commission for Europe
  • GATT
  • United Nations
Citation (ISO format)
FISER, Ondrej. From Internationalization to Development: Czechoslovak Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation in the Gottwald and Novotný eras (1948-1968). Doctoral Thesis, 2023. doi: 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:166510
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Creation28/01/2023 08:35:00
First validation28/01/2023 08:35:00
Update time16/03/2023 10:31:52
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