Czech and Slovak Federal Republic

Czech and Slovak Federal Republic
Česká a Slovenská Federativní / Federatívna Republika
1990–1992
Flag Coat of arms
Motto "Pravda vítězí / Pravda víťazí"  (Czech/Slovak) "Veritas vincit"  (Latin) "Truth prevails" (1990–1992)
Anthem Kde domov můj  •  Nad Tatrou sa blýska Where is my home? Lightning over the Tatras
Capital		Prague
Languages		Czech · Slovak
Government		Federal parliamentary republic
President
•	1990–1992	Václav Havel
•	1992	Jan Stráský (acting)
Prime Minister
•	1990–1992	Marián Čalfa
•	1992	Jan Stráský
History
•	Constitutional change	23 April 1990
•	Dissolution	31 December 1992
Area
•	1992
Population
•	1992 est.	15,600,000
Density
Currency		Czechoslovak koruna
Calling code		+42
Preceded by Succeeded by Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Czech Republic Slovakia

Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (Czech/Slovak: Česká a Slovenská Federativní/Federatívna Republika, ČSFR) was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 23 April 1990 until 31 December 1992, when the country was dissolved into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

Adoption of the name

Since 1960, Czechoslovakia's official name had been the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Československá socialistická republika, ČSSR). In the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution, newly elected President Václav Havel announced that "Socialist" would be dropped from the country's official name.

Conventional wisdom suggested that the country would resume the name used from 1919 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1960, Československá republika (Czechoslovak Republic). However, Slovak politicians objected that the traditional name subsumed Slovakia's equal status in the federal state too much. The first compromise was Constitutional Law 81/1990, which changed the country's name to Czechoslovak Federative Republic (Czech: ''Československá federativní republika, Slovak: Česko-slovenská federatívna republika), explicitly acknowledging the federal nature of the state. It was passed on 29 March 1990 (coming into force on the same day) only after an informal agreement on the Slovak form which would be explicitly codified by a future law on state symbols. This was met with general disapproval and another round of haggling, dubbed "the hyphen war" (pomlčková válka/vojna) after Slovaks' wish to insert a hyphen into the name (Česko-Slovensko). However, aggrieved Czechs vehemently opposed it as too reminiscent of such practice during the "Second Republic" (when the official name was "Czecho-Slovak Republic"—which had also been used from 1918 to 1919)--when the country had been mutilated by the Munich Agreement and was slipping toward its final dismemberment at the hands of Nazi Germany a year later. The resultant compromise, after much behind-the-scenes negotiation, was Constitutional Law 101/1990, passed on 20 April and in force since its declaration on 23 April. The law changed the country's name to "Czech and Slovak Federative Republic"; unlike the previous one, it also explicitly listed both versions and stated they were equal.

The name breaks the rules of Czech and Slovak orthography, which do not use capitalization for proper names' second and further words (see above), nor adjectives derived from them. Thus the correct form would be "Česká a slovenská federat... republika." However, "Česká a Slovenská F. R." was adopted in hopes of eliminating any debate about the prestige of Slovakia. While few people were happy with the name, it came into use quickly. Czech and Slovak tensions, of which this was an early sign, soon became manifest in matters of greater immediate importance which made the country's name a comparatively minor issue and at the same time even more impossible to change, so the name remained.

The 1960 Constitution remained in force on an interim basis. However, it was heavily amended to prune out its Communist character. Work on a permanent constitution was still underway at the time of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

See also

• History of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)

External links

• (Czech) (Slovak) Transcription of Federal Assembly proceedings when adopting 81/1990.