Mass and elite Attitudes during the Prague Spring Era:Importance and Legacy

This monograph explores public and elite opinion toward events associated with the Prague Spring of 1968 in Czechoslovakia. This investigation is based on analyses of a unique collection of aggregate and individual level survey datasets. Much of this data has effectively been lost to scholars for four decades and has to date never been analysed within a common framework. In sum, the research presented in this volume is based on examinations of four main sources of survey data. The central goal of this study is to illustrate how the survey evidence from the 1967 to 1969 period may increase understanding of the Prague Spring era. More specifically this study integrates theories associated with the Prague Spring era and public support for the various reforms proposed. In addition, there is a comparison of political attitudes expressed by Czech citizens towards the communist regime of 1968 and the liberal democratic system of governance present in 2008. This comparison of political attitudes across time provides an invaluable opportunity to study the stability of values associated with democracy.