Executive-Legislative Relations in the Budgeting Process in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The budget is the government's key policy document. Negotiations on the budget can be taken as a case study to analyse the bargaining process in leg- islative institutions, reflecting the various clashes between political and partial interests in parliament and in parliamentary committees. The distribution of po- litical power in parliament is a crucial factor: if a minority cabinet is in power, coalition-building is a key issue in budget bargaining. In this context, the Act on the State Budget (which in many ways is the basic law relating to the function- ing of the state and especially the state and public administration) is an example of the efforts made to achieve a broad consensus and political compromises, not only among coalition cabinet partners but also between the government coali- tion and the opposition. Sociologický casopis/Czech Sociological Review, 2005, Vol. 41, No. 3: 443-459