Who said politicians cannot be conservativeΠComparing reform capacity in the Czech and Hungarian telecom administrations

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-419
Author(s):  
Ole Nørgaard ◽  
Luise Pape Møller
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Economic Environment ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Veto Points ◽  
Political Agents ◽  
Telecom Sector

Hungary outpaced the Czech Republic in reforms of the telecom sector during the first decade of transition. In the Czech Republic, prices remained low, competition limited and the state maintained ownership of the incumbent operator. Hungary, in contrast, experienced extensive privatization, liberalization of prices and some deregulation. This outcome challenges the assumption that institutional veto points (frameworks that constrain or enable political agents) manipulated by conservative bureaucrats hindered the initiatives of reform minded politicians in Hungary, while allowing reforms to occur in the also reforming Czech Republic. It is shown that the Czech telecom administration had only a few possibilities to block policy decisions through veto points. The slow reform process was rather a result of a conscious political strategy of maintaining control and accommodating a conservative constituency in context of a relatively sound economic environment. In Hungary, bureaucrats acting as agents of change pushed though the reforms despite opposition from politicians. This insight challenges the traditional picture of civil servants in post-communist systems as inherently conservative and anti-reform.

The Politics of Healthcare Reform in Postcommunist Europe: The Importance of Access

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Healthcare Reform ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Party Government ◽  
Veto Points ◽  
Private Financing

AbstractWhy do countries move from public to private financing of healthcare? This paper explores this issue by looking at the divergent reform trajectories of three postcommunist countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. While existing accounts emphasize veto points to explain changes in healthcare systems, the present analysis finds that moves towards private financing can be better explained by differences in access to the policymaking arm of the state. Specifically, a penetrable single-party government and weak bureaucratic capacities allow physicians to capture the reform process and implement their preferred policies. The results suggest that scholars of health policy should focus more attention on the actors seeking change and their access to policy makers.

scholarly journals The Politics of Appointment of Top Civil Servants: Career Backgrounds and Civil Service Politicization in the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Marek Rybář ◽  
Milan Podmaník
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Political Networks ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Service Legislation ◽  
Stable Arrangement ◽  
Ministerial Bureaucracy

AbstractThis contribution seeks to answer the question whether the new civil service legislation that entered into force in 2015 in the Czech Republic led to the depoliticization of the country’s ministerial bureaucracy. To that end, we compare the career backgrounds of top civil servants before and after the entry into force of the new Civil Service Act. The article examines the career backgrounds of the persons appointed as ministerial deputies between 2013 and 2018, focusing on their last “pre-deputy” jobs and considering a broader set of their career attributes. A focus on the previous job reveals that even before the law was introduced, bureaucrats constituted the largest share of appointees, and their share even increased with the new legislation. The incidence of deputies appointed directly from party-related jobs dropped considerably. However, when a broader set of career attributes is considered, the share of partisans among the pre-2015 deputies nearly matches that of the career bureaucrats. Ostensibly political careers among the post-2015 deputies declined but remain significant. Hence, there has been a decline in the open politicization of the ministerial bureaucracy after 2015. Party political effects also matter, as the new ANO party, after entering the executive, has taken a different approach to top bureaucratic appointments than the other major governing Czech parties. Typically, deputies appointed into the positions under the ANO’s control would not have links to the party itself but would be recruited via non-party channels, e.g. from pre-political networks of the ANO ministers and leaders. Consequently, though less politicized by party agents, the current Czech system is more a product of choices made by government ministers of the day than a stable arrangement resulting from firmly established norms and rules.

scholarly journals Prawo do dobrej administracji — w kierunku upraszczania języka urzędowego w Polsce i w Czechach

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 145-163
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Kocowska-Siekierka
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Official Language ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Language Reform ◽  
Right To Good Administration ◽  
The Right

THE RIGHT TO GOOD ADMINISTRATION — SIMPLIFYING THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IN POLAND AND THE CZECH REPUBLICThe paper aims at investigating how European Union countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic deal with the problem of simplification of the official language. In former members of the Eastern European bloc bureaucratic language is one of the causes of the loss of confidence in public administration. Entry to the European Union increased the tendency for language reform in the creation of normative acts, and the way of communication between the civil servants and thecitizens. The paper presents two lines of action — education of civil servants in Poland and the transformation of the legal language in the Czech Republic.

Debating directly elected mayors in the Czech Republic: political games and missing expertise?1

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Jüptner
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Direct Election ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Game

This chapter discusses and analyses the proposals for the introduction of directly elected mayors in the Czech Republic. Particular attention is paid to the proposed models of direct election and their potential impacts on the functioning of the municipal executive, and on the relationship between the mayor and other institutions of local government. It draws on research conducted by the author, in addition to government reports, legislative materials, and material from political parties and the media. It is argued that the reform process involves a debate that resembles a political game, which is connected to the experience of Austrian and Slovak mayors. Distinct periods can be identified within this debate.

scholarly journals Regional development and regional policy in the Czech Republic after 1989

GeoScape ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
René Wokoun ◽  
Milan Viturka
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Regional Policy ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Economic Environment ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Hierarchical Levels

Abstract The major aim of the paper is to summarize the main paths of regional development in the Czech Republic during the period of political, economical and societal transition using the statistical data and own survey at the country level. Following this summary, we aim at differentiation of regional developmental paths at individual hierarchical levels. Our analyses shows that structured assessment of quality of socio-economic environment at the regional respectively meso-regional level provides the necessary information needed for creation and implementation of effectively decentralized regional policy.

scholarly journals Populism in Power and Democracy: Democratic Decay and Resilience in the Czech Republic (2013–2020)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Guasti
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Legislative Oversight ◽  
The Press ◽  
Veto Points ◽  
Free Media

Populism and technocracy reject vertical accountability and horizontal accountability. Populism and technocracy can combine to form ‘technocratic populism.’ The study assesses the extent to which democratic decay can be traced to the actions of technocratic populists as opposed to institutional factors, civil society, fragmentation and polarization. The main findings of this article are that technocratic populism has illiberal tendencies expressed best in its efforts at executive aggrandizement (cf. Bermeo, 2016). Without an effective bulwark against democratic erosion (cf. Bernhard, 2015), technocratic populism tends to undermine electoral competition (vertical accountability), judiciary independence, legislative oversight (horizontal accountability), and freedom of the press (diagonal accountability). The most effective checks on technocratic populist in power, this study finds, are the courts, free media, and civil society. This article highlights the mechanisms of democratic decay and democratic resilience beyond electoral politics. It indicates that a combination of institutional veto points and civil society agency is necessary to prevent democratic erosion (cf. Weyland, 2020). While active civil society can prevent democratic erosion, it cannot reverse it. Ultimately, the future of liberal democracy depends on the people’s willingness to defend it in the streets AND at the ballot box.

scholarly journals A policy fiasco: The institutional (non-)reform of Czech public employment services in 2011

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Kotrusová ◽  
Klára Výborná
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Public Employment ◽  
Employment Services ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Administrative Costs ◽  
Local Labour ◽  
The Right

Abstract The article deals with an institutional reform of public employment services implemented in the Czech Republic in 2011. By merging social benefits administration with employment services into the newly established Labour Office of the Czech Republic, the right-wing government attempted to reduce the staffing and administrative costs of these services and to improve the governance of local labour offices. Using the theoretical concept of “policy fiasco” and taking an interpretive perspective thereon, we analyse these organisational changes in the functioning of public employment services in the Czech Republic. Our data consist of interviews with experts on labour market policy in the Czech Republic and two focus groups with employees of labour offices who had participated in the reform process. We conclude that the institutional reform of public employment services in the Czech Republic in 2011 can be referred to as a policy fiasco in the sense of the theoretical concept used in the work of Bovens and t’Hart (1998).

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