scholarly journals How Far Can Citizens Influence the Decision-Making Process? Analysis of the Effectiveness of Referenda in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in 1989–2015

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Kużelewska

AbstractThis article explores the political role of a referendum in Central European countries, in particular in Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. In this article, political effectiveness is understood as a possibility to influence the decision-making process by citizens through a referendum. The transformation of political systems in Central European states from socialist/communist to democratic ones resulted in increasing interest in the notion of referendum, one of the common forms of direct democracy. However, most referenda have been abused for political purposes. The focus of this article is a referendum used at the national level. This study examines the use of a referendum in Central European states from 1989 to 2015. The database presents, country by country, the subject matter of voting, people’s participation and the results in order to show the citizens’ opportunity (or lack of it) to express their opinions and to contribute to policy-making by circumventing the standard legislative process. The aim of this paper is to analyze referenda in the selected countries and to verify two hypotheses. Firstly, the weak use of a referendum and a small size of complementation of representative democracy. Secondly, the citizens’ belief in a referendum as an element of communication and consultation between authorities and society.

Author(s):  
Andrea Holešinská

The paper deals with the evaluation of the state tourism policy of the Czech Republic. Primarily it focuses on the accomplishment of the strategic document the Concept of the State Tourism Policy of the Czech Republic for 2014-2020. The activities related to particular measures are examined and as well as the implementation of tools used by the state tourism policy is analysed. The state tourism policy of the Czech Republic is also confronted with the theoretical background. Therefore, the attention is paid to the decision-making process, the legitimacy of state interference in tourism and the role of the state in tourism policy. It is emphasized that external factors (e.g. global trends or COVID-19) have an impact on the decision-making process and the direction of tourism policy. The paper is based on the qualitative analysis of documents, which is supported by the analysis of secondary data sources.


Author(s):  
Filip Hampl

The local referendum is the only tool of direct democracy in the Czech Republic, allowing citizens to decide on issues falling within the independent competence of municipalities directly. The aim of the paper is to assess the use, voter turnout, binding force, and thematic focus of local referenda as a tool of direct participation of citizens in the decision-making on local issues in the Czech municipalities with respect to their size defined by the population in the period 2006-2019. To fulfil the aim, descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression, classification analysis and correlation analysis have been employed. A total of 288 local referenda were held in the examined period, 193 of them in the municipalities up to 1,999 inhabitants. The results do not indicate a statistically significant relationship between the municipality size and the holding of referenda. On the other hand, the results show a weakly negative correlation relationship between the municipality size and the turnout (the binding force, respectively). The referenda focused on territorial development, environment, alternative sources of power and infrastructure predominate in the municipalities up to 4,999 inhabitants. The referenda on municipal property and public order prevail in the municipalities with 5,000 and more inhabitants.


Author(s):  
Stoyko O. М.

The evolution of the referendum institutionalization in the constitutions of the EU states is considered. The peculiarities of its initiation, realization and implementation of results in the "old" and "new" members of the Union are highlighted and analyzed. It is concluded that young democracies are pioneering in using this tool of direct democracy both to legitimize government decisions and to involve citizens in the decision-making process. The history of the introduction of plebiscites into the practice of political processes in European countries shows, that they are closely linked to democratic transit: the later the constitution is adopted, the more opportunities for citizens to use referendums not only to control the legislative process in parliament (support or veto certain decisions, draft laws), but also to formulate an agenda - to propose their own initiatives for consideration by public authorities. Accordingly, there are obvious differences between the referendum practices of the "old" and "new" members of the European Union, since the latter are much more active in using them and give citizens real leverage on public policy by holding plebiscites on popular initiatives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 01006
Author(s):  
Radim Dušek

The aim of the paper is to introduce method which allows to calculate the estimation of the total consumer spending for 2019 in different regions of the Czech Republic. Presented method is based on combination of publicly available consumer spending data sets and geomarketing information. It can be applied to estimate consumer spending in total or for example only in one specific consumption expenditure group. Thus obtained findings, that can be visualized on a map with the use of GIS software, can be considered as a basis for more effective SMEs‘ marketing and management decision-making process concerning Czech Republic local consumer goods markets‘ size and characteristics as well as for forecasting future growth rate.


Transport ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf Kampf ◽  
Petr Průša ◽  
Christopher Savage

This article is focusing on exploring parameters, which are needed to determine the most suitable location for public logistic centres in the Czech Republic. There is a wide range of factors, which will have an impact on the chosen location. It is not easy to define all the factors and include them into one model, especially because some of them are difficult to quantify. The aim of the research is to design a suitable tool to support the decision making process for the location of the public logistic centres. As public logistic centres will be partly financed by the Czech government, it is necessary to find a sensible tool as decision support.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1,2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Mazalová ◽  
Jiří Richter

The article presents the partial conclusions of the research Solving Unstructured Decision-Making Problems in the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. The research was conducted in the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic in the form of a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews. The respondents were employees of the ministry working at all managerial levels. The subject of research was the issue of effective problem-solving in the Ministry of Defence. The aim of this article is to identify the key barriers to effective decision- making and to propose general principles to eliminate these barriers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Meaza Birhane Haile ◽  
Martin Mastalka

The strategic planning process has been implemented into the local governance environment in the Czech Republic during last two decades. But the strategic goals that are expressed in the strategic development documents on the local level are only the part of the issues that are to be fulfilled or solved by the local government. In the everyday practical governance there is always a list of projects that appear from the actual technological, technical, public or political demand. The contemporary decision-making process is based on the personal or collective political decision or on the actual technical demand. But there are also municipalities that are already implementing strategic planning and want to avoid unsystematic interventions and decision-making processes. They try to adopt some attitudes from the corporate sphere to make the decision-making process more open and clear. This paper deals with the methodology of the mid-size city and tries to discuss it and offer some improvements. The paper’s other goals are to offer comparison of typical projects that could be found on the local level and to make a model of results provided by the different methodologies used for the decision-making process, specifically weighted sum average and analytic hierarchy process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-108
Author(s):  
Piotr Bajda

This article attempts to identify the decision-making process of the authorities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia accompanying the establishment of the Three Seas Initiative – a new project of regional cooperation in Central Europe. Describing the reactions of Prague and Bratislava to the presidential summit in Dubrovnik inaugurating the project and the subsequent evolution of the attitudes of both countries in recent years makes it possible to show  the role and importance attributed to the Three Seas Initiative by the Czechs and Slovaks.


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