Cleavages and ideological blocks in the Czech and Slovak party systems after 1989

M Cleavages and Ideological Blocks in the Czech and Slovak Party Systems after 1989 This work brings knowledge from the comparison of the Czech and Slovak party systems. Based on long-term monitoring of the development in the field we attempted to point out its relevant characteristic. We compare the ideologically compatible blocks and political parties. Determinants of the formation o f Czech politics were ethnical homogeneity, long tradition of secularization in the Czech Lands and domination o f a single (socio-economic) cleavage line. The political development in Slovakia was influenced by the unsolved national question (position of Slovakia in a multinational state), ethnical heterogeneity, greater importance o f Christianity and religion in the society and many other factors. Consequently, the formation o f Slovak politics was characterized by multiple complicated and specific features. In the Czech Republic, two major blocks formed first: the civic non-socialist block represented mainly by the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), and the socialist block represented by the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), which corresponds to the domination o f the socio-economic cleavage line. The minor poles are mainly parties with the communist identity (as a result of the concentration of the radical left and..