Central European Presidents, Prime Ministers, and War
This open access book provides an in-depth exploration of how presidents, prime ministers, and their cabinets manage relationships and make decisions in times of international crises. The authors focus particularly on war and its effect on executive dualism and presidential activism. This systematic analysis concentrates on four Central European countries – Poland, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia – and examines the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as earlier conflicts: the Kosovo crisis (1999), the Iraq War (2003), the Russo-Georgian War (2008), and Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the emergence of separatist “republics” in eastern Ukraine (2014). All these conflicts had a major political impact on the political landscape of Central Europe, often empowering presidents, who represent the state externally and influence foreign and security policies.
Michal Kubát is Professor of Political Science at the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Czech Republic. His recent research focuses on presidential politics, the political scholarship of Giovanni Sartori, and the political systems of Central Europe, especially those of Czechia and Poland.
Lubomír Kopeček is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic. His research focuses on various aspects of Czech and Central European politics, as well as comparative politics.
Vít Hloušek is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and Anglophone Studies, Metropolitan University Prague, Czech Republic. He specializes in comparative politics and contemporary history, with a focus on Central Europe. His recent research has explored Euroscepticism, illiberal democracy, party politics, and Europeanisation.
Jan Kysela is Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law, Charles University, Czech Republic. He has long served as secretary of the Czech Senate Commission on the Constitution of the Czech Republic and Parliamentary Procedures. In recent years, his writing has focused on major issues in constitutional theory.
