DECEMBER 2014 POLICY PAPER CZECH-AMERICAN RELATIONS: A ROADMAP FOr tHE FUTURE JOHN K. GLENN | Policy Director, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition BRUCE P. JACKSON | President, Project for Transitional Democracies LUKáš KovANDA | Economic Consultant A. WESS MITCHELL | President, CEPA CAMERON MUNTER | Professor of International Relations, Pomona College TOMáš PoJAR | Vice President for International Relations, CEVRO Institute Jiří SchneiDER | Senior Fellow, Prague Security Studies Institute ALEXANDR VONDRA | Director, Prague Centre for Transatlantic Relations (CEVRO Institute) POLICYR PAPE CZE CH-AMERICAN RELATIONS: A ROADMAP FOr tHE FUTURE FROM MASARYK TO HAVEL: coup d’etat in February 1948 were East, nothing was possible but every- A DESIRE TO BRING A PIECE just bitter consequences of Yalta. thing mattered; in the West, everything of AmeriCA HOME Thus, U.S. postwar policy towards the was possible but nothing mattered. region was shaped by realpolitik and After 1989, Czech and American On July 4, 1928 a bronze statue of consisted of defense commitment to policymakers have acted exactly in Woodrow Wilson was erected in front of Western Europe and a recognition of opposite: like everything mattered and the Prague main rail station. It was more Soviet sphere of influence in the East. everything was possible. than just a tribute to Wilson’s foreign That was a bitter pill to Hungary in The U.S. response to the 1990s policy and its support for the Czech and 1956 and to Czechoslovakia in1968. euphoria was quick and positive. Slovak right for their self-determination. However, the American engagement in Firstly, they focused on economy. In It also showed a remarkable Jeffersonian the half of Europe largely contributed to 1990, they supported Czechoslovakia inspiration at the cradle of Czechoslo- the victory of the West in the Cold War. in its entry into IMF and the World Bank. vak Republic in 1918. The founder of After the fall of the Iron Curtain in In 1991, Czechoslovakia was granted the new, independent republic, Tomáš 1989, democratic revolutions led to with the most-favored-nation-clause in Garrigue Masaryk, noted: “I devoted a comprehensive transformation of mutual trade, the bilateral Investment much time thinking to the idea that the countries of Central Europe into liberal Protection Agreement (BIPA) was Czechoslovak state would resemble democracies based on the rule of law signed, and the Czechoslovakian-U.S. America in that we too have no dynasty and market economy. Solidarity and Entreprise Fund has been established. of our own and dislike foreign dynasty”1. alliance among democratic states in The Czechs sought the U.S. investment Therefore it was quite symbolical that defense of common values were be- in strategic sectors like telecommuni- – on the occasion of the first ever visit of lieved to provide necessary institutional cation (Bell), energy (Westinghouse, the U.S. President to Prague in Novem- framework for abandoning bonds of Conoco) and defense (Boeing) in the ber 1990 – George H.W. Bush unveiled totalitarian past as well as for their 1990s. a plaque commemorating Wilson’s future “return to Europe”. New politi- Secondly, the Clinton administra- words: “The world must be made safe cal elites in Central Europe have been tion, with the support of Republicans- for democracy.” He spoke about Europe deeply convinced that a new order in lead Congress since 1994, provided whole and free and recalled high costs of the region should be based on a strong a leadership in the process of NATO the U.S. isolationism after the First World Transatlantic bond with the U.S., which enlargement. Between 1997 and 1999, War. Ronald D. Asmus and Alexandr has never had – unlike “other powers” the Czech Republic – together with Vondra have captured prevailing – hegemonic ambitions in Europe. The Poland and Hungary – has became opinion: “In Central European eyes, it continuing U.S. engagement in Europe the member of NATO, and later on, the was America’s retreat from European was seen as a vital Czech strategic in- Prague NATO 2002 Summit offered the politics in the 1920s that paved the way terest. President Václav Havel, the first membership to other states of Central for the rise of Hitler and Stalin and even- statesman from former Soviet-bloc to and Eastern Europe (CEE) including tual destruction of their independence.”2 visit NATO HQ, was tireless in argu- Slovakia. The American leadership in Clearly, a destruction of Czechoslovakia ing for NATO’s continued relevance shaping a post-Cold war architecture in 1938 was marked by absence of the after the end of Cold War: “It is only in Europe had paved a road to swift U.S. in Europe. By the same token, the now that the Alliance has a chance to big-bang EU enlargement in 2004. U.S. involvement in European battlefield become exactly what the Washington played indispensable role in liberation of Treaty meant it to be – an open alliance 1 “Masaryk and America: Testimony of Western Europe from Nazi rule. of all democratic countries in the Euro- a Relationship” by George J. Kovtun. In 1945, a demarcation line between Atlantic region, protecting its area and Library of Congress, 1988. U.S. and Soviet zones – only a part its shared values.”3 2 Asmus, Ronald, D. and Vondra, Alexandr: of western Bohemia was liberated “The Origins of the Atlanticism in Central by General Patton’s 3rd US Army – and Eastern Europe”, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Volume 18, Num- conceded Czechoslovakia to the THE ROMANTIC ERA OF 1990S: ber 2, July 2005. Soviet sphere of influence and sealed VALUES MATTERS, EVERYTHING 3 “NATO: The Safeguard of Stability and its geopolitical fate for more than four IS POSSIBLE Peace In the Euro-Atlantic Region”, decades. A rejection of Marshall Plan V. Havel‘s Speech at NATO Workshop by the Czechoslovak government upon Philip Roth once said the difference On Political-Military Decision Making, Stalin’s request in 1947 and communist between East and West was that in the Warsaw, Poland 19–23 June 1996. PCTR // CEVRO Institute The policy paper is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Jungmannova 17 / 110 00 Praha 1 / Czech Republic Czech Republic as a part of the wider projects of public diplomacy to tel. / +420 221 506 737 // e-mail / [email protected] // www.cevroinstitut.cz rise awareness of NATO and Security Policy of the Czech Republic. 2 CZE CH-AMERICAN RELATIONS: A ROADMAP FOr tHE FUTURE POLICYR PAPE As a result, the Czech Republic has rights (“The One World”) and most states tend to seek the affection of gained the best security guarantees in recently has established itself as an distant powers to balance or offset its modern history and found itself in important venue for meetings bringing the unwanted attentions of their larger a relatively safe security havens, encir- together actors from the Middle East, neighbors. But this balancing game cled by states, with which it shared the Europe and the North America, includ- works best in an international system same values and interests. ing Israelis and people from countries of many roughly equal powers. In addi- The Czech Republic did not stay which do not recognize Israel. tion to the inequality of power (and thus aside as a mere consumer of security. Generally speaking, the Czech- also responsibility) between a small In 1991, Czechoslovak NBC battalion American relations between 1990 and state and a distant power, there are took part in Desert Storm operation 2009 enjoyed a kind of a “sunshine also asymmetries of interests, which to liberate Kuwait. The Czech Armed era”. Starting with the famous Presi- are magnified by different geographical Forces contributed to every peace- dent Havel’s speech before a joint ses- realities. The Czech Republic might see keeping effort in the Balkans. In 1999, sion of the U.S. Congress in February a powerful ally as useful in controlling only two weeks after the accession in 1990, Czech government officials were passions within CEE and in restraining NATO, Czech commitment was tested welcomed in the White House year by the power of Russia (or Germany in in a heated domestic debate to ap- year as friends and allies. The last four past). By contrast, the United States prove air strikes against Belgrade and U.S. Presidents have visited Prague. might see all of Mitteleuropa as either in sending Czech troops to Kosovo. Both parties embraced a shared set of a bridge to or a barrier against Russia Following terrorist attacks of 9/11, values: Americans embraced Václav depending on the policy du jour. The the Czech Republic proved to be Havel as a secular saint, and Czechs only possible exception to a logic of a reliable ally taking part in operations embraced America as a symbol of geography could be terrorism, which in Afghanistan without any caveats. freedom. countries perceive in the same way The U.S.-led invasion to Iraq in 2003 People-to-people contacts were across great distances, but even brought a division of Europe. The driven by a similar enthusiasm and here capitals may differ on whether Czech Republic stood by the U.S. – a sense of culture proximity. It drew and when to fight in Iran, Iraq, Syria, along with Denmark, Hungary, Great young Americans to Prague in the Somalia or Mali. Britain, Italy, Poland, Portugal and early 90s, and it inspired a steady In 2009, a turning point in Czech- Spain – and President Havel signed the stream of Czech students to the U.S. American relationship occurred. “letter of eight”4 to call for European In 2008, the U.S. administration finally When the Czech government was unity in enforcing of the UNSC Resolu- added the Czech Republic to the Visa approached in 2007 (after five years tion 1441.