The
Czech Republic short form
Czechia, is a
landlocked country in
Central Europe. The country borders
Poland to the northeast,
Germany to the west,
Austria to the south and
Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is
Prague (
Czech:
Praha). The country is composed of the historic regions of
Bohemia and
Moravia, as well as parts of
Silesia. The Czech Republic has been a member of
NATO since 1999 and of the
European Union since 2004. As of 1 January 2009, the Czech Republic holds the
Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Following the
Battle of Mohács in 1526, the
Czech lands fell under
Habsburg rule, later becoming part of the
Austrian Empire and
Austria–Hungary. The independent Republic of
Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after
World War I. After the
Munich Agreement,
German occupation of Czechoslovakia and the consequent disillusion with the
Western response and gratitude for the liberation of the major portion of Czechoslovakia by the
Red Army, the
Communist party won plurality (38%)
in the 1946 elections. In a 1948 coup d'état, Czechoslovakia became a communist-ruled state. In 1968, the increasing dissatisfaction culminated in attempts to reform the communist regime. The events, known as the
Prague Spring of 1968, ended with an invasion by the armies of the
Warsaw Pact countries (with the exception of
Romania); the troops remained in the country until the 1989
Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia
peacefully dissolved into its constituent states, the Czech Republic and
Slovakia.
The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party
parliamentary representative democracy.
President Václav Klaus is the current head of state. The
Prime Minister is the
head of government (currently
Mirek Topolánek). The Parliament has two chambers: the
Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate. It is also a member of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the
Council of Europe and the
Visegrád Group.
The Czech Republic made economic reforms such as fast
privatizations and
flat taxes. Annual
gross domestic product growth has recently been around 6%. The country is the first former member of the
Comecon to achieve the status of a
developed country (2006), according to the
World Bank.
The Czech Republic also ranks top among the former Comecon countries in the
Human Development Index.