Čeští prezidenti a válka - Od Havla k Pavlovi, od Kosova k Ukrajině – Kopeček Lubomír (2025)

Wars in Kosovo, Iraq, Georgia, and Ukraine as perceived and approached by Czech post-November presidents.

The Czech president is not just a ceremonial "wreath layer," as is sometimes said with mild irony, but can be a power player with a significant impact on the functioning of the state. They can serve as a guarantor of stability as well as a political player who tests constitutional boundaries, questions existing customs, and seeks to change the rules of the game. Each of our presidents – Václav Havel, Václav Klaus, Miloš Zeman, and Petr Pavel – brought their own style and vision to this role. This book illustrates how significant an influence these styles and visions had on foreign policy, especially in crisis moments such as wars. The wars in Kosovo, Iraq, Georgia, and Ukraine vividly showcase presidential attitudes, ambitions, strategic calculations, and actions. The behavior of the heads of the Czech state in the arena of foreign policy was often accompanied by disputes with government politicians, particularly with prime ministers and foreign ministers. This conflicting dimension of Czech politics is also engagingly presented in the book.