The Czech Republic (
IPA
:
/ˈtʃɛk riˈpʌblɨk/
) (
Czech
:
Česká republika
(
help
·
info
)
, short form in
Czech
:
Česko
,
IPA
:
ʧɛsko
), is a
landlocked country
in
Central Europe
and a member state of the
European Union
. The country has borders with
Poland
to the north,
Germany
to the northwest and southwest,
Austria
to the south, and
Slovakia
to the east. The capital and largest city is
Prague
(
Czech
:
Praha
), a major
tourist
destination. The country is composed of the historic regions of
Bohemia
and
Moravia
, as well as parts of
Silesia
.
The
Czech lands
were under
Habsburg
rule from , later becoming part of the
Austrian Empire
and
Austria-Hungary
. The independent republic of
Czechoslovakia
was created in , following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after
World War I
. After the
Munich Agreement
,
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
and the consequent disillusion with the
Western response
and liberation of major part of Czechoslovakia by the
Red Army
, the
Communist
party gained the majority in elections. Following a coup in , Czechoslovakia became a Communist party- ruled state from until the
Velvet Revolution
. On
January
, the country
peacefully split
into the Czech Republic and
Slovakia
.
The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party
parliamentary
representative democracy
.
President
Václav Klaus
is the current head of state. The
Prime Minister
is the
head of government
(currently
Mirek Topolánek
). The Parliament has two chambers — the
Chamber of Deputies
and the
Senate
. The Czech Republic joined
NATO
in and the
European Union
in . It is also a member of the
OECD
, the
Visegrád group
and the
Council of Europe
.
The country is the first former member of the
Comecon
and the first present member of the
Visegrád
countries to achieve the status of a
developed country
() according to the
World Bank
.
The Czech Republic also ranks best compared to the former Comecon members in international surveys, including the
Human Development Index
and
quality of life
.
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