scholarly journals Is the Czech Republic on its Way to Semi-Presidentialism?

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vít Hloušek
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Standard Definition ◽  
Characteristic Features

ABSTRACT The main aim of the article is to contribute to the bourgeoning debate on semipresidentialism, its definition, and its characteristic features, with analysis of the empirical example of the Czech Republic, a country which, according to Elgie´s standard definition, shifted to semi-presidentialism in 2012. The author investigates whether and how Miloš Zeman, the first directly elected president of the Czech Republic, influences relations among the key political institutions in the direction of the model of a semi-presidential democracy. The paper sets out the working concept of semi-presidentialism first and, through the lenses of process tracing, analyses the goals and acts of Zeman after he entered office in January 2013. The case study of the Czech Republic sheds light not only on the recent development(s) in the Czech political system, but it can be seen as an interesting example of how strong political personalities are attempting to expand their influence on politics in a parliamentary democracy and what the possible limits of this effort are.

scholarly journals Vliv institucionálního zapojení nevládních organizací na volbu strategií

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-53
Author(s):  
Aneta Pinková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political System ◽  
Strategy Choice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Advisory Committees ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Independent Variable

The article explores institutional platforms used to incorporate non-governmental groups into the decision making process and the possible impacts of such incorporation on their choice of strategy. The paper starts with an overview of relevant theories and concepts, such as the political opportunities structures, the concept of access points to the political system and, most importantly, the insider – outsider typology of interest groups. The empirical part of the paper focuses on the Czech Republic and the two institutional platforms available to NGOs within its political system: participation in advisory committees and formal commenting procedure. The article further presents a case study of employer and business groups in the Czech Republic, using a scale of institutional incorporation as an independent variable influencing the groups’ strategy choice. The scale roughly indicates the level of the organizations’ institutional incorporation, based on their involvement in both advisory committees and formal commenting procedure. On the basis of the findings from the case study, possible impacts of institutional incorporation on strategy choice are outlined, indicating that the so-called insider strategies are more often used by more incorporated groups. This suggests a continuing relevance of Grant’s insider – outsider typology, which has been questioned by political scientists in recent years. While the article focuses on a relatively narrowly defined category of organizations, the findings also suggest that the role and influence of institutionalized platforms on the overall strategy choice of traditional interest groups should not be ignored by researchers, as it is often the case both in the Czech Republic and internationally.

scholarly journals Political transformations in the Czech Republic after the “Velvet revolution”: a retrospective approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 148-164
Author(s):  
Tetiana Fedorchak
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party System ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Velvet Revolution

Using a retrospective approach, the author explores the changes that took place in Czechoslovakia after the 1989 «velvet revolution». The article emphasizes that the «velvet revolution» later grew into a national revolution and led to the emergence of two new nation-states; into a political revolution that destroyed the authoritarian regime and contributed to the emergence of new democratic political institutions; in the economic revolution, during which the mechanisms of a market economy were created in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The country made a simultaneous transition from dictatorship to democracy, from a command economy to a free market and to a nation state. Despite such a difficult situation and a large number of tasks, Czechoslovakia was able to eliminate the totalitarian legacy, solved the transformational tasks and problems of the division of Czechoslovakia into two sovereign states. In the Czech Republic, the classical political mechanisms of a democratic civil society had already been established in the 1990s and first, a multiparty political system. New democratic election laws laid the groundwork for a competitive multi-party system and political pluralism. The 1993 Constitution of the Czech Republic legislated a new political system for a democratic society, which was to be based on the voluntary creation and competition of political parties, who respect fundamental democratic principles and deny violence as a means to an end. The «velvet revolution» caused a sharp rise in civic activity. On the eve of the first parliamentary elections in 1992, more than 140 political parties and right-wing and left-wing social movements were registered in the CSFM. This was the peak of the quantitative growth of the number of political parties at the stage of building civil society.

Divergent Paths of Inequality in Poland and the Czech Republic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekrem Karakoç
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Two Factors

Employing most similar design and process-tracing methodology, this chapter focuses on Poland and the Czech Republic in the postcommunist region. It discusses the divergent paths these two countries have taken since their transitions. After discussing the similarities and dissimilarities of these two cases, it turns to the welfare policies shared by both countries with some differences under their former communist rule. It also traces voter turnout and linkage between political party and citizens, and explores how these two factors have affected social policies in each country. The last section offers a comparison of Polish and Czech social policies regarding the level and nature of their targeted spending and its effect on income inequality.

Division de pouvoir et intégration social: de Montesquieu à la crise actuelle du parlementarisme

1968 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-269
Author(s):  
André Vachet
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Social Division ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Vital Forces

Division of power and social integrationExplanation of some of the recent challenges to western democracy may be found in a re-examination of Montesquieu's thought. Here we find the theory of the separation of power to be far more complex than is implied in the simple divisions of legislature, executive, and judiciary. For Montesquieu, the separation of power is more a social division than a political or juridical one. He contemplated returning the organs of political power to various social forces, e.g. monarchy, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie, and that then the self-assertion of forces would be restrained by the resistance of other social groups. The realization of its goals would require every important social group to integrate itself both to society and to the state and to seek its goals through realization of the general good.Since Montesquieu's time, political structures would seem to have been very little changed even though social structures have been greatly altered by the rise of economic powers. Political institutions have been losing touch with the vital forces of society and these have had to find other channels of expression. The personalization of power, the rise of the executive, violence, and increasing paternalism may be viewed as phenomena of compensation by which attempts are being made to bridge the gap between the structures of political power and those of a society which has been restructured.Revigoration of parliamentary democracy would seem to require that all vital social forces be reintegrated into the political system and be given meaningful channels of political expression. Failure to make such changes opens the way to identification of the political powers with technocracy and the increasing general use of violence in the resolution of social problems.

Public leadership and strategies of Czech municipalities during the COVID-19 pandemic – municipal activism vs municipal passivism

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Plaček ◽  
David Špaček ◽  
František Ochrana
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Leadership

PurposeThis paper discusses the role of public leadership and the strategic response of local governments to the external shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors examine the typical Czech response with regard to how the leadership of municipalities in the Czech Republic responded to this extremely negative external stimulus.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use qualitative research methods for this investigation. They have chosen the case study method (see Yin, 2009; Stake, 1995; Klonoski, 2013). The general case is the Czech Republic. Mini-cases consist of municipalities from the Znojmo region, municipalities of the Central Bohemian region and the municipal districts in the capital city of Prague. Furthermore, the method of participant observation was used.FindingsThe authors’ analysis of the problem of local government responses to the pandemic crisis shows that municipal leaders responded with a variety of (non-)adaptation strategies. It appears that certain framework factors influenced the various local governments' behavior.Originality/valueThe article examines the strategic behavior of Czech municipal leaders regarding the pandemic crisis based on the observation of the reactions of local governments in the Czech Republic to the pandemic crisis and strives to define their basic strategies.

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