Ztráty a zisky "nesvaté aliance" Zemana s Klausem
The Profits and Losses of the 'Unholy Alliance' between Zeman and Klaus

Summary/Abstract: Kopeček, Lubomír. Deformace demokracie? Opoziční smlouva a česká politika 1998–2002. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2015, 340 pp., ISBN 978-80-7485-031-8.The publication under review, whose title translates as ‘A Deformation of Democracy? The Opposition Agreement and Czech politics, 1998–2002’, follows on from Kopeček’s Éra nevinnosti: Česká politika 1989–1997 (The age of innocence, Czech politics, 1989–97, Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2010). It is concerned with the circumstances and consequences of what was popularly known as the Opposition Agreement (opoziční smlouva), which, after the general elections of 1998, was signed by the two largest Czech political parties – the Social Democratic Party, led by Miloš Zeman (b. 1944), and the Civic Democratic Party, led by Václav Klaus (b. 1941) – and concerns the terms and conditions under which the Klaus-led opposition would tolerate the Zeman-led government. The focus of this political-science interpretation is not only the main actors of the agreement but also the large opposition to it. The latter ultimately succeeded in preventing the pact from leading to a system run by only two parties. Despite its excessive dependence on journalistic sources, the publication, according to the reviewer, constitutes, together with the author’s preceding volume, a fundamental work on Czech political developments since the collapse of the Communist regime.

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