This book was published in 1989 and was written in the context of a
strong impetus for internal reform in the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe. As Dr Myant shows, economic and political developments have been
as entwined in Czechoslovakia as elsewhere in the COMECON network. He
presents a detailed account of the development and performance of the
Czech economy over a period of forty years, and reveals the problems and
tensions created by the chosen system of centralised planning. The study
shows clearly that economic change can only be understood in a broader
international and political context, and highlights certain crucial
formative periods, most notably the early the early 1950s, the early
1960s and, of course, 1968. Dr Myant's conclusion is that any economic
reform will have little substance unless accompanied by appropriate
political change.