Alexander Dubček

Definition

A Slovak politician who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring reforms in 1968.

Analogy

Imagine Alexander Dubček as a school principal who tries to make school rules less strict while still maintaining order. He wanted students (citizens) to have more freedom without completely abandoning discipline or structure (communism).

Related terms

Socialism with a Human Face: Dubček's policy aiming at democratization within socialist framework; it aimed at improving living conditions and human rights while maintaining socialism.

Brezhnev Doctrine: Policy proclaimed by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev stating that any threat to socialist rule in any state of the Soviet Bloc was a threat to them all, and therefore justifiable for intervention.

Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia: The 1968 invasion by Warsaw Pact troops to halt the reforms initiated by Alexander Dubček during the Prague Spring.