Abstract

This article examines the Šik Reform, a major but ultimately unfinished attempt to modernize the centrally planned economy of Czechoslovakia in the 1960s. It situates the reform within the broader political and economic developments of the decade, additionally providing a highlight of the failure of the Third Five-Year Plan and the shift toward a more market-responsive model of socialist management. The study focuses on enterprise autonomy, the limits of central planning, and the evolving role of reform-minded economists. Using statistical data and period documents, it analyzes both the implementation of the reform and its gradual rollback following the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion. The article concludes with an outlook on the reform’s intended direction and sets the stage for a deeper exploration of its institutional and legislative dimensions in the second part.

Keywords

  • Šik Reform
  • economic planning
  • socialist economy
  • Czechoslovakia
  • 1960s
  • economic reform

About the author

Ing. Štěpán Turčín

Faculty of Economics, Prague University of Economics and Business, Czech Republic

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9788-393X

Štěpán Turčín (born in Jičín) graduated from the Prague University of Economics and Business, where he specialized in Economic Policy (as the primary area of Master’s degree studies) and Modern Economic History. His research focuses primarily on national economic policy in Czechoslovakia during the second half of the 20th century. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Economics.

How to cite

TURČÍN, Štěpán. The Course of the Šik Reform and Its Possible Final Form – Part I. Global Insights & Research Network [online]. 2025, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 36–54. ISSN 3029-8318. Available from: https://girn.uk/1-2025/sik-reform-possible-final-form-part-i/

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Licence and copyright

Copyright © 2025 Štěpán Turčín. This article is open access, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).

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