State institutes and the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1948–1953

State institutes started emerging shortly after the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918) in the form of institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Schools and National Education. They were independent scientific institutions receiving regular state subsidies and their scientific focus and budgets were approved by the state. The State Institute of Archaeology and the National Institute for Folk Songs were founded in 1919. We may already follow the activities of the Institute of Oriental Studies and the Institute of Slavic Studies in the early 1920s. – even though they reached full efficiency only in 1928. The paper shows the organizational and personal transformation of these institutions, in particular from 1948 until 1952 or 1953, when they “voluntarily” became part of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The incorporation of state institutes into the Academy of Sciences thus gives a clearer picture of the centralization of sciences in the 1950s, arranged according to the Soviet model.

In whose service? The 1960s’ Czechoslovak Sociologists and their Party

This article examines the relationship between sociologists and the Communist Party headquarters in 1960 Czechoslovakia. It is based on the archives of the coordinating body of Czechoslovak sociology, the Scientific Board of Philosophy and Sociology at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. First, the article depicts the synergy between sociology and the powers: the research commissioned by the supreme Party bodies or the Party sponsorship of sociology’s institutionalization. However, instances of lacking material support to the discipline are noted as well. Second, the conflicts between social scientists and the Party headquarters are discussed: namely, the layoff of the philosopher Ivan Sviták in 1964 and the following interventions into the Institute of Philosophy. Finally, the article maps the demands for autonomy as formulated by the scholars in 1968. In concluding, it points to the fact that despite requesting independence from the Communist headquarters, the Marxist elite in the social sciences never abandoned their own claim to hegemony. They resisted both the challenge of non-Marxist scholars in 1968, and the spontaneous claims and complaints that might come from the society at large. In that respect, the sociology of the 1960s seems a perfect child of the Czechoslovak reformist movement.

Czech Geography and Environmental Issues after 1989

The contribution brings the author's personal views and attempts reflecting some of the important events, outcomes and trends in the Czech geography dealing with environmental issues in the first period after the 1989 turnover. The environmental issues permanently provide a large and significant - but after 1989 much more open and challenging - arena to geography. The author illustrates and tries to stress in a critical way based on several selected examples and activities that both geography / geographers activities and geographical studies / aspects / approaches did not effectively use this opportunity nor did they penetrate into the newly evolved and newly forming science and practice policies. On the contrary, the Czech geography's position in terms of environmental issues can be seen as defensive and therefore also weakening, especially in comparison with the development in the former German Democratic Republic, Poland and Slovakia. For instance, the Institute of Geography, Czechoslovak Academy of Science, which prepared and published the unique Atlas of Environment and Population Health of Czechoslovakia (1992) was abolished. Geography, however, must not resign from its role and ambitions to be one of the very important, maybe key disciplines dealing with the environmental issues.