Power Structure in Motion? Parliament, Government and the President in the Czech Republic

Abstract

By asking whether the direct presidential election makes a difference to a parliamentary democracy, this chapter compares the Czech political practice before and after the first direct presidential election in 2013. It is shown that Czech presidents actively intervene in day-to-day politics, and despite their formal representative function have tended to interpret their competences rather extensively under the conditions of fragile parliament majorities and unstable governments. The direct presidential election effectively led to a power shift in favour of the presidency. The upper parliament chamber fulfils an important moderating and controlling function despite its relative institutional weakness. This chapter makes clear that besides remarkable effects of constitutional engineering, context has a great relevance for the functioning of institutions.