This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the Czech political past and present. Giving first an overview of Czech history before 1989 and the Velvet Revolution, the authors then analyze the political system and culture that has formed since 1989 against the historical background of political transformation. In their interpretation, the events of 1989 are not to be seen as a political breakthrough, but as just another chapter of the continuous evolution of the idea of 'Czechness' and the challenges it faces.