Activism under EU Leverage

2018 ◽  
pp. 111-139
Author(s):  
Conor O'Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
European Law ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Lgbt Activism ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Antidiscrimination Policy ◽  
Political Backlash ◽  
The Eu

This chapter shows how the onset of EU leverage began to transform the dynamics of LGBT activism in Poland but not in the Czech Republic. The arcs of activism now began to reverse, with the Polish movement strengthening as the Czech one fragmented and deinstitutionalized. In Poland, EU accession helped reframe homosexuality from a question of morality to one of European law and human rights. Polish activists also exploited the opportunity to broker between the national government and the EU regarding the implementation of EU norms. While EU conditionality helped achieve progress, especially regarding antidiscrimination policy, it also set the stage for hard-right political backlash from 2004 to 2007. In the Czech Republic, by contrast, EU accession hardly touched the politics of homosexuality. It sparked no hard-right backlash and was not taken up by rights activists as a tool of brokerage. Instead, Czech activists devoted most of their energies to a project for which the EU accession process offered no leverage, same-sex partnerships, and largely ignored the area for which it did, antidiscrimination policy.

How the Hard Right “Europeanized” Homosexuality

2018 ◽  
pp. 57-83
Author(s):  
Conor O'Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Quantitative Content Analysis ◽  
Lgbt Rights ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Lgbt Issues ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
The Eu

This chapter presents a framework for understanding the consequences of hard-right electoral breakthrough for the framing of homosexuality and LGBT rights. It begins by describing the extant framings of homosexuality under late communism in Poland and the Czech Republic. It then compares how the differing electoral success of hard-right political parties over the course of the EU accession process led to differing degrees of reframing homosexuality in both countries. In Poland, hard-right mobilization transformed the framing of LGBT rights by linking them with EU accession, which it portrayed as a threat to national identity. Because the Czech Republic did not experience hard-right backlash, the predominant framing of LGBT rights did not become as closely identified with the EU. The final part of the chapter moves from framing contests to frame resonance by presenting a quantitative content analysis of LGBT issues in both countries’ press from 1990 through 2012.

Pension policy in the czech republic (lessons from a comparative study with hungary and poland)

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Mora
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Pension Policy ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pension Systems ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
The Eu

This article deals with pension policy in three most developed transition countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Unreformed public pension systems suffer under a number of deficiencies and it is likely that pension policy will be a part of negotiations in the EU accession process, mainly due to its fiscal and social impacts. The progress in pension reform made so far differs broadly among those three countries. Hungary has adopted a multi-pillar system in July 1998 with a significant role of mandatory, fully funded pillar. Poland has made important preparation steps in the same direction and the laws have recently been approved by the Parliament. In the Czech Republic the main importance is still attached to the public pay-as-you-go pillar which was in 1994 complemented by private capital pension funds. This article search for explanations of this different development and makes some minimum recommendations for the Czech pension policy. A warning for the Czech government should be that the most pension reforms have been implemented in countries where the old system stood before collapse or had already collapsed. The Czech Republic should not wait until this moment and should take immediate actions to avoid this danger.

scholarly journals Exploring successes and failures of the CEEC in the context of the EU accession. The milk and beef sectors in the Czech Republic and Poland

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (No. 5) ◽  
pp. 189-198
Author(s):  
M. Bavorova ◽  
H. Hockmann ◽  
A. Pieniadz
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Theoretical View ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Policy Direction ◽  
The Eu

The paper reviews experiences from the accession process of Poland and the Czech Republic, two countries with different accession conditions regarding the agri-food sector. The paper has two main aims. First is to discuss the scope of action in the EU and in the acceding countries from a game theoretical view. The second aim is to identify the reasons for successfully providing beneficial accession criteria. Investigating two selected agricultural sectors does this: milk and beef production. Our overall argument is that the actions, which nations and interest groups have undertaken with regard to the EU accession and future policy direction are, at least partially, a function of different external restrictions and internal national patterns; i.e., the relevance and structure of agriculture and the bargaining power of interest groups.

scholarly journals The performance of the Czech labour market after the 2004 EU enlargement

2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (197) ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Wadim Strielkowski ◽  
Jan Hněvkovský
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Significant Change ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Eu

This paper examines whether there has been a significant change in the performance of the Czech labour market after the Czech Republic?s EU Accession in May 2004. We analyse methodological changes of measuring unemployment caused by inevitable legislative adjustments and follow the development of the Czech labour market and the inflows of foreign workers to the Czech Republic over the past two decades. Our results show that the EU Accession resulted in simplifying foreigners? access to the Czech labour market and did not cause a significant change in its performance. Our findings might be of some relevance for the countries seeking EU Membership in the near future (e.g., Serbia or Montenegro).

The Europeanization of social movements in the Czech Republic: The EU and local women’s groups

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondřej Císař ◽  
Kateřina Vráblíková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Women's Groups ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Women’S Groups ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The goal of this paper is to analyse the impact the EU has had on Czech women’s groups since the1990s. Drawing on both Europeanization and social movement theories, the first section defines the theoretical framework of the paper. The second section is focused on the impact of changes in the funding of women’s groups which, since the end of the1990s, have relied more than before on European funding. The third section analyses the shift in the political context and the domestic political opportunity structure in the Czech Republic that has occurred in connection with the accession process. The fourth section analyzes transnational cooperation for which new opportunities have appeared with the EU’s eastward expansion. The paper concludes by summarizing its main findings.

scholarly journals The Hidden Business Costs Of European Union Enlargement: The Case Of The Czech Republic

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Phillips ◽  
Emil Stark ◽  
Jerry Wheat
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
European Union Enlargement ◽  
Western European ◽  
The Eu

Enlargement of the European Union (EU) will take place on May 1, 2004. Nine countries from Eastern Europe will become full fledged members of the union. While these countries have met the EU accession criteria many are not really ready to compete with Western European companies. One of the major impediments for firms in the East is the hidden costs of joining the union. This paper explores some of the case of the Czech Republic, what hidden costs are currently apparent, and suggests changes that would make the Czech Republic more competitive in Western Europe.

scholarly journals Land market development after the accession to EU

2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 154-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Němec ◽  
J. Kučera
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Market Development ◽  
Land Market ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Annual Sale ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Land Prices ◽  
The Eu

Land market has started to develop extremely in the Czech Republic since 2002. The annual sale and purchase of estates represented 0.2% of the total land resources between 1993−2001. The sale and the purchase have represented 2.9% of total land resources after 2002 and especially after the EU accession of the Czech Republic. These values of sale are the highest from the EU countries. On the other side, land prices decreased slightly in comparison with the prices before the EU accession. Prices of agricultural land are significantly lower than in the EU 15.

Activism before EU Leverage

2018 ◽  
pp. 84-110
Author(s):  
Conor O'Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Level Structure ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Movement Organization ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
National Organization ◽  
Movement Organization ◽  
Lgbt Activism ◽  
The Eu

This is the first of three chapters that process trace the development of LGBT activism in Poland and the Czech Republic through the different stages of exposure to and integration into the EU. It sets a baseline for assessing how hard-right backlash impacted the organization of activism by showing what fledgling activist networks in both countries looked like before the application of EU leverage, a comparison that proves to be a study in contrasts. By 1997, Czech activists had moved from informal organization to the consolidation of a politically oriented social movement organization that aggregated a broad network of local groups into a national-level structure. By contrast, the Polish movement had failed to move from local to national organization; informal affiliations still formed the basis of organization; and, motivated by concerns regarding funding and safety, activists were avowedly apolitical in orientation.

The internationalization motives of SMEs from the Czech Republic in the context of EU accession

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-386
Author(s):  
Lea Kubíčková ◽  
Martina Toulová ◽  
Marcela Tuzová ◽  
Lucie Veselá
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Foreign Markets ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Domestic Markets ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Questionnaire Surveys ◽  
Determining Factor ◽  
The Eu

Foreign competition in domestic markets is still strengthening and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) internationalization may be one way to deal with this growing rivalry. Pangarkar (2008) states that for SMEs the benefits of internationalization outweigh its disadvantages and that with the increasing degree of involvement in the internationalization process the performance of SMEs also improves. However, for SMEs from some sectors of our economy, involvement in internationalization is more complex than for large enterprises; moreover, they are often inclined to enter foreign markets due to different motives. The authors carried out several surveys among Czech SMEs during the last three years and found that SMEs from some sectors of the Czech economy mentioned the EU accession of the Czech Republic as their motive for internationalization. The aim of this paper is to find out whether EU membership represents the determining factor of the SMEs’ decision to get involved in internationalization, and what its advantages or disadvantages are as perceived by SMEs in connection with their international activities. Conclusions are drawn on the basis of primary data obtained from Czech SMEs through electronic questionnaire surveys.

Czech republic: outlook of accession to the european union

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luděk Urban
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Eu

The Czech economy is undergoing two dominant processes: on the one hand transformation process which is far from being finished, on the other hand the Czech Republic is preparing its legislation and takes other measures to be ready for accession to the EU. The process of EU accession is a relationship of two partners who are not in quite an equal position. One party, an associated country aspiring to join the EU, tries to demonstrate that it fulfills the laid down conditions of accession and that it is ready for this act.

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