Borderlands in the Czech Republic: internal differentiation and European issues

What role do Czech borderlands play in the democratization of the Czech Rep ublic as well as in debates about Czech-German relations and about European integration ? These borderlands have a twofold heritage : the German prese nce till 1945 and four decades of Communism. By focusing attention on these areas, the upheaval in recent years has brought up questions about the rel ations between the center and outlying regions. Prague sees the Czech-Germa n issue differently than the borderlands, where a population willing to ove rlook the past views crossborder cooperation positively. As an area for pri vileged contacts with the EU and as a region within a bigger European commu nity, the borderlands diffuse the EU model and play a specific role in Euro pean integration.