Czech Republic
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Czech Republic (Czech: Ceská republika),
is a landlocked country in Central Europe.
The republic borders Poland to the north, Germany to
the northwest and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia
to the east.
Historic Prague (Czech: Praha), a major tourist attraction,
is its capital and largest city.
The country is composed of two older regions, Bohemia
and Moravia, and part of a third one, Silesia.
As of May 1, 2004, it is a member state of the European
Union.
The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 announced
that the name Czechia (Czech: Cesko) is to be used in
all situations other than formal official documents
and the full names of government institutions.
[1] (http://www.p.lodz.pl/I35/personal/jw37/EUROPE/cesko2.htm),
[2] (http://www.p.lodz.pl/I35/personal/jw37/EUROPE/cesko1.htm),
but this has not caught on in English usage.
History
The Czech lands emerged in the late 9th century when it
was unified by the Premyslids.
The kingdom of Bohemia was a significant local power,
but religious conflicts such as the 15th century Hussite
Wars and the 17th century Thirty Years War were devastating.
It later came under the Habsburg influence
and became part of Austria-Hungary.
Following the collapse of this state after World War I,
the Czechs and neighbouring Slovaks joined together
and formed the independent republic
of Czechoslovakia in 1918.
This new country contained a large German minority,
which would lead to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia
when Germany successfully annexed the minority through the
Munich Agreement in 1938, and Slovakia gained greater
autonomy, with the state renamed "Czecho-Slovakia".
Slovakia broke away further in 1939 and the remaining
Czech state was occupied by the Germans.
After World War II, a reconstituted Czechoslovakia fell
within the Soviet sphere of influence.
In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the
efforts of the country's leaders to liberalise
party rule and create "socialism with a human face"
during the Prague Spring.
In 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its "freedom"
through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution".
On January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split in two,
creating independent Czech and Slovak republics.
The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and
the European Union in 2004.
Politics
According to its constitution the Czech Republic
is a parliamentary democracy, whose head of state
is a president, indirectly elected every
five years by the parliament.
The president is also granted specific powers such
as the right to nominate Constitutional Court judges,
dissolve parliament under certain conditions,
and enact a veto on legislation.
He also appoints the prime minister, who sets the
agenda for most foreign and domestic policy,
as well the other members of the cabinet
on a proposal by the prime minister.
The Czech parliament (Parlament) is bicameral,
with a Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká snemovna)
and a Senate (Senát).
The 200 Chamber delegates are elected for 4-year terms,
on the basis of proportional representation.
The 81 members of the Czech Senate serve for 6-year
terms with one-third being elected every 2 years
on the basis of two-round majority voting.
The country's highest court of appeals
is the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Court, which rules on
constitutional issues, is appointed by the
president, and its members serve 10-year terms.
Regions
The Czech Republic consists of 13 regions
(kraje, singular - kraj) and one capital
city (hlavní mesto):
Prague* (Praha), Central Bohemian Region
(Stredoceský kraj) Kladno, but its offices
are located in Prague (Praha),
South Bohemian Region (Jihoceský kraj) Ceské Budejovice,
Plzen Region (Plzenský kraj) Plzen,
Carlsbad Region (Karlovarský kraj) Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad),
Ústí nad Labem Region (Ústecký kraj) Ústí nad Labem,
Liberec Region (Liberecký kraj) Liberec,
Hradec Kralove Region (Královéhradecký kraj) Hradec Kralove,
Pardubice Region (Pardubický kraj) Pardubice,
Olomouc Region (Olomoucký kraj) Olomouc,
Moravian-Silesian Region (Moravskoslezský kraj) Ostrava,
South Moravian Region (Jihomoravský kraj) Brno,
Zlin Region (Zlínský kraj) Zlin,
Vysocina Region (Vysocina) Jihlava.
Geography
The Czech landscape is quite varied; Bohemia to
the west consists of a basin, drained by the Elbe
(Czech: Labe) and Vltava rivers, surrounded by
mostly low mountains such as the Sudeten with
its part Krkonose, where one also finds the
highest point in the country, the Snezka at 1,602 m.
Moravia, the eastern part, is also quite hilly
and is drained predominantly by the Morava river,
but also contains the source of
the Oder (Czech: Odra) river.
Water from the landlocked Czech Republic
flows to three different seas: the North Sea,
Baltic Sea and Black Sea.
The local climate is temperate with warm summers
and cold, cloudy, humid winters, typified by a
mixture of maritime and continental influences.
Economy
One of the most stable and prosperous of the
post-Communist states, the Czech Republic has
been recovering from recession since mid-1999.
Growth in 2000-2001 was led by exports to the EU,
especially Germany, and foreign investment,
while domestic demand is reviving.
With a GDP (PPP) per capita of $19,475, the Czech
Republic's per-capita output is approximately
two-thirds that of the leading European economies.
Uncomfortably high fiscal and current account
deficits could be future problems.
Moves to complete banking, telecommunications,
and energy privatisation will add to foreign
investment, while intensified restructuring
among large enterprises and banks and improvements
in the financial sector should
strengthen output growth.
Demographics
The majority of the inhabitants of the
Czech Republic (95%) are ethnically Czech and
speak Czech, a member of the Slavic languages.
Other ethnic groups include Germans, Roma,
Hungarians, Ukrainians and Poles.
After the 1993 division, some Slovaks remained
in the Czech Republic and comprise roughly
2% of the current population.
The border between the Czech Republic and
Slovakia is open for citizens of
the former Czechoslovakia.
A majority of Czechs (59%) are atheists.
Significant religious groups include
Roman Catholics (27%), Protestants (1.2%),
Czechoslovak Hussites (1%) and
Jehovah's Witnesses (0.2%).
External links
This page was retrieved and condensed from
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic) July 2005
All text is available under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation License (see
Copyrights for details).
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