scholarly journals The Never-ending Story: Czech Governments, Corruption and Populist Anti-Corruption Rhetoric (2010–2018)

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Naxera
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Corruption is a phenomenon with significant effects – economically, politically and culturally. Corruption tends to be viewed negatively by the public. As such, anti-corruption rhetoric may be an ideal election strategy for individual political parties. Nevertheless, anti-corruption rhetoric does not necessarily translate into an actual anti-corruption policy. This study analyses the impact of anti-corruption rhetoric that does not reflect the actual practices of its speaker and has been used strategically to gain favour. My focus is on elections and the subsequent formation and exercise of government in the Czech Republic. I analyse how anti-corruption rhetoric directed at political opponents works as an election success strategy. At the same time, I show how electoral success, transformed into real political power, strengthens the ability of actors to engage in activities that amount to borderline or outright corruption, irrespective of any anti-corruption rhetoric.

scholarly journals Transaction Costs, Outsourcing, and the Public Procurement Review Process in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-250
Author(s):  
Markéta Šumpíková ◽  
Ina Ďurčeková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPublic procurement is a crucial activity undertaken by the public sector. However, public procurement entails a wide range of transaction costs. While many papers focus on the ex-ante transaction costs, it is equally important to evaluate the types of ex-post transaction costs. The disputes stemming from conflicts between procuring authorities and proposers often bring additional costs to both parties. One of the ways to ensure that the procuring authority wins the dispute is using the services of an external law firm to represent the procuring authority in the review process. The aim of the paper is to examine the extent of the use of external law services in the public-procurement review process by procuring authorities and proposers in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. The focus is also on the impact the use of external law firms in the review process may have on the length of the review process and the outcome of the dispute. Our results suggest that while the use of the external law firm may lead to a higher success rate of the review process on the side of a procuring authority, the same does not apply to proposers. There were no conclusive findings regarding the impact of the outsourcing on the length of the review process.

scholarly journals Changes in the VAT Burden on Expenses of Selected Households in the Czech Republic (2007–2014)

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-202
Author(s):  
Regína Střílková ◽  
Jan Široký
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Household Expenditures ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Household Spending ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Standard Rate ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The Czech Republic is a typical representative EU Member State which has several times changed VAT rates during the analyzed period 2007–2014 in an effort to consolidate the public budget. These changes are reflected in household spending, which were analyzed by means of the consumer basket, the composition of which is also undergoing changes. Another factor that has an impact on household expenditures is the transfer of commodities between the reduced and standard rate of VAT. The final factor used is the differentiation of households according to their income levels. The aim of this paper is to determine how these changes took effect in the Czech Republic in the share of consumption of commodities included in the standard and reduced VAT rates and in exempt transactions according to household income groups in the analyzed period 2007–2014 and to determine the impact of these changes on the tax burden on selected households by value added tax and confirmation of the assumption of VAT regressivity.

scholarly journals Usability of IoT and Open Data Repositories for Analyzing Water Pollution. A Case Study in the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 591
Author(s):  
Jan Pavlík ◽  
Markéta Hrnčírová ◽  
Michal Stočes ◽  
Jan Masner ◽  
Jiří Vaněk
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Pollution ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact

Recently, the process of data opening has intensified, especially thanks to the involvement of many institutions that have not yet shared their data. Some entities provided data to the public long before the trend of open data was pushed to a wider level, but many institutions have only engaged in this process recently thanks to a systemic state-level effort to make data repositories available to the public. Therefore, there are many new potential sources of data available for research, including the area of water management. This article analyses the current state of available data in the Czech Republic—their content, structure, format, availability, costs and other indicators that affect the usability of these data for independent researchers in the area of water management. The case study was conducted to ascertain the levels of accessibility and usability of data in open data repositories and the possibilities of obtaining data from IoT (Internet of Things) devices such as networked sensors where required data is either not available from existing sources, too costly, or otherwise unsuitable for the research. The goal of the underlying research was to assess the impact/ratio of various watershed factors based on monitored indicators of water pollution in a model watershed. Such information would help propose measures for reducing the volume of pollution resulting in increased security in terms of available drinking water for the capital city Prague.

Activity of modern right-wing radical parties in the Czech Republic

2019 ◽  
pp. 164-173
Author(s):  
Tetiana Fedorchak
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Political Radicalism

The author investigates political radicalism in the Czech Republic, a rather heterogeneous current considering the structure of participants: from political parties to the extremist organizations. The peculiarity of the Czech party system is the existence, along with typical radical parties, of other non-radical parties whose representatives support xenophobic, nationalist and anti-Islamic statements. This is primarily the Civil Democratic Party, known for its critical attitude towards European integration, and the Communist party of the Czech Republic and Moravia, which opposes Czech membership in NATO and the EU. Among the Czech politicians, who are close to radical views, analysts include the well-known for its anti-Islamic position of the Czech President M. Zeman and the leader of the movement ANO, billionaire A. Babich. Voters vote for them not because their economic or social programs are particularly attractive to the electorate, but because of dissatisfaction with the economic situation in the state. Almost all right populist parties oppose European integration, interpreting it as an anti-national project run by an elite distorted by a deficit of democracy and corruption. Keywords: Czech Republic, right-wing radical political parties, European integration, nationalism.

scholarly journals Assessing Habitat Vulnerability and Loss of Naturalness: Applying the GLOBIO3 Model in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5355
Author(s):  
Vilém Pechanec ◽  
Ondřej Cudlín ◽  
Miloš Zapletal ◽  
Jan Purkyt ◽  
Lenka Štěrbová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
New Equation ◽  
The Impact

Global and regional biodiversity loss is caused by several drivers including urban development, land use intensification, overexploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution, and climate change. The main aim of our study was to adapt the GLOBIO3 model to the conditions of the Czech Republic (CR) to assess loss of naturalness and biodiversity vulnerability at the habitat level on a detailed scale across the entire CR. An additional aim was to assess the main drivers affecting the biodiversity of habitat types. The GLOBIO3 model was adapted to CZ-GLOBIO by adapting global to local scales and using habitat quality and naturalness data instead of species occurrence data. The total mean species abundance (MSA) index of habitat quality, calculated from the spatial overlay of the four MSA indicators by our new equation, reached the value 0.62. The total value of MSA for natural and near-natural habitats was found to be affected mainly by infrastructure development and fragmentation. Simultaneously, intensity of land use change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition contributed primarily to the low total value of MSA for distant natural habitats. The CZ-GLOBIO model can be an important tool in political decision making to reduce the impact of the main drivers on habitat biodiversity in the CR.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on the Sugar Content of Grapes and the Sustainability of their Production in the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Miroslava Navrátilová ◽  
Markéta Beranová ◽  
Lucie Severová ◽  
Karel Šrédl ◽  
Roman Svoboda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Sugar Content ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Vegetation Period ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Growing Region

The aim of the presented article is to evaluate the impact of climate change on the sugar content of grapes in the Czech Republic during the period 2000–2019 through selected indicators on the basis of available secondary sources. Attention is focused on the developments in both the main wine-growing regions of Moravia and Bohemia. In the field of viticulture and wine-growing, the sugar content of grapes, as a basic parameter for the classification of wines, plays an important role. In the Czech Republic, the average sugar content of grapes has had a constantly growing trend. This trend is evident both in the wine-growing region of Bohemia and in the wine-growing region of Moravia. The impact of climate change, especially the gradual increase of average temperatures in the growing season, cannot be overlooked. It greatly affects, among other things, the sugar content of grapes. Calculations according to the Huglin Index and the Winkler Index were used to determine the relationship between climate and sugar content. These indexes summarize the course of temperatures during the entire vegetation period into a single numerical value. The results show that both indexes describe the effect of air temperature on sugar content in both wine regions of the Czech Republic in a statistically significant way. The Huglin Index shows a higher correlation rate. The Winkler Index proved to be less suitable for both areas. Alternatively, the Winkler Index calculated for a shorter growing season was tested, which showed a higher degree of correlation with sugar content, approaching the significance of the Huglin Index.

scholarly journals Analysis of the perceived condition of forests in the Czech Republic

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (No. 12) ◽  
pp. 514-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Riedl ◽  
L. Šišák
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Forest Policy ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Public ◽  
Forestry Sector ◽  
Realistic Perception ◽  
Opinion Polls

A realistic perception of the condition of forests, and the attributes of the forestry sector, by the public constitutes one of the basic prerequisites for successful implementation of forest policy in any country. Although data objectively demonstrate that the condition of Czech forests has improved, opinion polls show a gap between the public perception of the condition of Czech forests and the real status of these forests. The reasons for the discrepancy between reality and the perception of the public, and between the results of different surveys, are analysed. The most significant differences were found in perceptions of damage and threats to forests. The effectiveness of communication about forest policy is discussed, and some ways to create more effective communication are examined.

Transitional Justice and Changing Memories of the Past in Central Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Roman David
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

Memories of wrongdoings are often viewed as an obstacle to reconciliation in divided societies. Is it due to the past or the present politics of the past? To examine the dilemma of essentialism versus presentism, this article investigates the impact of transitional justice on memories of wrongdoing. It theorizes that using different transitional justice strategies to deal with the same wrongdoing shapes memories in different ways. The theory is tested via vignette-based surveys in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which adopted distinct lustration laws. The results show that wrongdoing is viewed through lustration laws, reflecting present power constellations, not history.

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