Political Science, National & International Security 

"The future of the Central European nations will in many ways be linked with the enlargement of NATO to meet the new challengers of the post-Cold War world. As a result of reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany, East Germany has, in effect, become the first of the former Warsaw Pact nations to enter NATO. The four countries discussed in this volume - Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia - all have interest in joining the Alliance as well, and all have made commitments in varying degrees toward that goal.

"To understand why these nations are striving to meet the criteria for inclusion in a NATO enlargement program, and how well they are succeeding, one needs an appreciation of the political history of each nation since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. In this book, Jeffrey Simon, one of the most experienced and well informed analysts of Central European matters, offers just such a history. He begins with Poland's extremely complex and difficult struggle toward democratic government since 1989, reminding us of the violende done to Polish society and the Polish people earlier this century and illuminating recent political events that otherwise might seem merely chaotic. Then he traces the somewhat easier struggles of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, explaining with admirable clarity how these nations advanced along parallel but different paths, and why the Czech Republic and Slovakia have advanced at different paces since the 'Velvet Divorce' -- the amicable separation of these two nations.

"This invaluable work -- which has been completed with the cooperation and encouragement of the nations involved -- stands as an authoritative, meticulously documented, and very timely history of the swift transition from socialist to democratic political principles in Central Europe in less than a decade."

Ervin J. Rokke Lieutenant General, United States Air Force President, National Defense University --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
 

This textbook presents in a unified manner the fundamentals of both continuous and discrete versions of the Fourier and Laplace transforms. These transforms play an important role in the analysis of all kinds of physical phenomena. As a link between the various applications of these transforms the authors use the theory of signals and systems, as well as the theory of ordinary and partial differential equations. The book is divided into four major parts: periodic functions and Fourier series, non-periodic functions and the Fourier integral, switched-on signals and the Laplace transform, and finally the discrete versions of these transforms, in particular the Discrete Fourier Transform together with its fast implementation, and the z-transform. This textbook is designed for self-study. It includes many worked examples, together with more than 120 exercises, and will be of great value to undergraduates and graduate students in applied mathematics, electrical engineering, physics and computer science. - from Amzon 

CONTENTS
I. Past as Prologue………………………………………………………………………………P. 1
II. NATO Enlargement:
Blazing the Trail……………………………………………………………………….P. 7
III. Germany:
One People, One State, One Army…………………………………………P. 35
IV. Poland:
Reform by stages…………………………………………………………………….P. 49
V. Hungary:
Constitutional Challenges and Reform……………………………………P. 137
VI. Czechoslovakia:
From Unity to Federation and Divorce……………………………………P. 191
VII. The Czech Republic:
Advancing Toward Democracy……………………………………………….P.213
VIII. Slovakia:
Instability and Special Problems………………………………………………P 253
IX. Prologue as future:
What Central Europe Needs To Do………………………………………….P. 289