Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920
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After World War I, Czechoslovakia established itself and as a republic and democracy with the establishment of the Constitution of 1920. The parliamentary system that was installed created a representative democracy, where there were relatively few constituents for each representative. This allowed a great variety of political parties to emerge, with no clear front runner or leading political entity. The fact that many political parties came into the national forum by way of the countries’ system of proportional representation meant that it was nearly impossible for any one party to control the government, until the Communist Party was able to secure nearly fifteen percent of the seats. This flaw of the Constitution meant that the government was at times stalled out and unable to effectively legislate.
The introduction of the new constitution was based on many of the established western democracies that had proven themselves through the test of time. Among its most notable influences were those of the British, United States and French democracies. This system of government made Czechoslovakia the most westernized of all of the central and eastern European nations on the verge of World War II. The constitution provided the nation with not only a parliament but also a president and cabinet that would serve as the executive branch. Beneath them was a judiciary that was advanced with many levels of courts delegated for various types of cases.
The Constitution of 1920 would serve as the guiding document for the government of Czechoslovakia until World War II, at this point and even once the Czechoslovakian state came under the control of the Soviet Union, the constitution would still continue to govern the way the state’s internal affairs were regulated by serving as the underlying example for the country’s next constitution-with provisions being made for a separate and more localized Slovak government. These local governments from that point forward would control Slovakia, with the government established by the constitution ruling over the more basic common matters as well as the Czech half of the nation.
[edit] References
- Taborsky, Ed. 1944. Czechoslovakia’s Experience with P.R. Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, vol. 26: 49-51. http://jstor.org/ (accessed September 9, 2007).
- Skilling, H. Gordon. 1952. The Czechoslovak Constitutional System: The Soviet Impact. Political Science Quarterly, vol. 67: 198-224. http://jstor.org/ (accessed September 9, 2007).
- Taborsky Ed. 1955. The Administration of Justice in a People’s Democracy. The American Political Science Review, vol. 49: 402-415. http://jstor.org/ (accessed September 9, 2007).
- Grzybowski, Kazimierz. 1957. Continuity of Law in Eastern Europe. The American Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 6: 47-78. http://jstor.org/ (accessed September 9, 2007).
