The Forecasting Institute and the Betrayed Revolution
The Forecasting Institute and the Betrayed Revolution

Summary/Abstract: The study deals with the position of the Forecasting Institute (FI) of the CzechoslovakAcademy of Sciences as a subplot in the Czech media discourse about the VelvetRevolution and the post-1989 transformation of the Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic. It firstshows the origins and premises of the post-1989 media interest in the institute. Second,using selected newspaper articles, it analyses how the FI gained its place in the liberal romanticnarrative about the Velvet Revolution at the beginning of the 1990s, and eventuallydisappeared from it. It also shows its use in the satirical narrative of betrayal. Finally, itinvestigates its reappearance especially in the 2010s and how it is connected to cracks inthe post-1989 discursive hegemony. The partial inclusion of the story of betrayal throughsatirical elements of scepticism and relativism in this subplot made it possible to revaluatethe post-1989 Czechoslovak and Czech development, which did not fully correspond to theoriginal assumptions present in the romantic narrative while retaining the rest of the story

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