For a Civic Socialism and the Rule of Law: The Interplay of Jurisprudence, Public Opinion and Dissent in Czechoslovakia, 1960s–1980s

Abstract

One of the legacies of the Prague Spring was its revival of the rule of law as a rallying ideal. It resulted from a series of mutations in the thinking of jurists who had faithfully served the Czechoslovak Communist Party since it took power, and lived on as a dissident cause and finally as a revolutionary slogan in 1989. Williams and Krapfl retrieve a forgotten theorist of the Prague Spring period, Michal Lakatoš, and compare his writings with discussions of law, law-making and democracy in the local press. While there were differences in ‘high’ and ‘low’ discourse, they both show a post-Stalinist demand for a state constrained by norms, responsive to expertise and popular preferences, and mindful of the rights and well-being of the individual.