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Czechoslovakia Policy Making and Administration
The principal foreign policy decision-making body is the KSC.
Within the party the decision-making responsibility resides in
the Presidium of the KSC Central Commmittee, which is aided by
the party's Department of International Affairs. The department
provides pertinent information and policy recommendations to the
Presidium, channels the party's decisions to the appropriate
government agencies, and supervises the implementation of policy.
The extent of Soviet influence on Czechoslovakia's foreign
policy suggests that major policy decisions by the party
hierarchy receive prior approval from Moscow. The precise
mechanics of Soviet control are not certain, but it is likely
that Moscow exercises its authority through frequent bilateral
and multilateral consultations involving high-level party and
government officials. Czechoslovak and Soviet officials met
frequently throughout the 1970s and first half of the 1980s in
sessions that included ad hoc summit meetings, sessions of the
Warsaw Pact's Political Consultative Committee, Comecon meetings,
Soviet and East European party congresses, bilateral meetings
between party leaders, and lower level policy meetings, such as
those of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Warsaw Pact. The
continued presence in Czechoslovakia of five ground divisions and
two air divisions of Soviet troops undoubtedly contributed to
Soviet influence.
Within the federal system of government, the bulk of
administrative responsibility for foreign affairs falls on the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, to a lesser extent, on the
Ministry of Foreign Trade. These ministries are under the
supervision of the premier in his role as head of government. The
president, however, as head of state, not only chooses the
premier and ministers of foreign affairs and foreign trade but is
also constitutionally mandated to represent the nation in its
external relations and to appoint diplomatic envoys. Committees
on foreign relations exist in both chambers of the Federal
Assembly. Sometimes these committees are given specific
assignments in policy analysis and serve as channels through
which the regime submits foreign policy legislation to the
assembly. All foreign policy legislation requires passage by both
chambers of the Federal Assembly.
The central organ for implementation of foreign relations,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is charged with the direction,
coordination, and implementation of foreign policy and the
protection of Czechoslovak national interests in international
affairs. It also has a role as a coordinating agency for other
federal and republic organs; it is supposed to provide them with
knowledge of the government's foreign policies and to ensure
their cooperation with those policies. In 1987 the ministry was
organized into ten geographic departments, ten functional and
administrative sections, two training institutes, and one
international relations society. Each of the subdivisions was
headed by a director and a deputy director. The entire operation
of the ministry functioned under the direction of the minister of
foreign affairs (in early 1987 Bohuslav Chnoupek, who had assumed
the post in 1971), a first deputy minister, five additional
deputy ministers, and offices for the minister's secretariat and
general secretariat.
The ministry's administrative sections in 1987 included
departments for administration of foreign cultural
establishments; administration of services to the diplomatic
corps; basic foreign policy questions; consuls; cultural,
educational, scientific, and health relations; diplomatic
protocol; international economics; international law;
international organization; and press. Also under the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs were the Institute of International Relations
(for which the Central Committee of the KSC holds joint
responsibility), the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, and the
Czechoslovak Society for International Relations.
The Ministry of Foreign Trade is considerably smaller than
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1987 it was led by a
minister, two first deputy ministers, and seven other deputy
ministers. It also contained departments organized according to
geographic region, economic system, and level of economic
development. Other components of this ministry included the
Central Customs Administration and the Legal Affairs Department.
Data as of August 1987
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