Czech Municipalities Research Articles

Intensity and fragility of Czech participatory budgeting during the Covid 19 crisis

IMPACT Participatory budgeting (PB) is widely understood to enhance citizen engagement in civic participation. The Covid 19 pandemic led to shifts in spending priorities for numerous municipalities, necessitating swift responses to rapidly changing conditions. This article investigates how these changes affected the PB decisions of Czech municipalities. Two key groups—citizens and politicians—were examined. The authors investigated voting turnout, the number of submitted proposals and the budget allocated for PB. The investigation revealed that while there was a slight decrease in the number of project proposal submissions, there was a simultaneous increase in the participation of citizens during the voting phase of PB. This suggests that PB can serve as an integral element of participatory democracy, capable of sustaining citizen interest in public matters, even during crises.

Independents in local politics – voter turnout, competitiveness, and party-system effects

ABSTRACT Denationalisation and the rise of independent lists are strong trends in the local politics of many European countries, but little is known about their implications. Using the example of Czechia, we examine several effects of this trend, focussing on two questions: 1) What impact does the growing number of independents have on voter turnout? 2) How does this trend affect competitiveness and the party system? Using data on electoral results in Czech municipalities over two consecutive elections, we document mobilisation effects based on the presence of independents. The strongest mobilisation occurred in municipalities in which both types of lists – party-related and independent – were well represented. The study revealed a self-reinforcing mechanism related to the success of independents. In municipalities with many independent councillors, the percentage of party-affiliated candidates decreased in subsequent elections, opening up further opportunities for independents. A side effect of this mechanism is a reduction in electoral competitiveness.

Development of Municipal Energy Management as Trigger of Future Energy Savings

Directive 2018/844/EU on energy efficiency claims that almost 80% of the final energy consumption in the EU is used within the buildings. The subsequent Directive (EU) 2023/1791 introduced in 2023 expected 68% of the world population to live in urban areas. Both directives enhanced the role of energy management (EM) applied to the city buildings. This paper introduces the development of energy management in Czech municipalities between the years 2009 and 2023. The main goal of this article is to present selected results of the unique national survey focused on the energy management in Czech municipalities conducted in 2023 and compare it with results of national surveys implemented in 2009 and 2018. The main method is the comparing of two surveys conducted among the municipal representatives or energy managers in the past with the new survey conducted in 2023. The results show that EM became a notably more important issue for most Czech municipalities. The number of cities collecting data on energy consumption grew by 288% and the number of city energy managers increased by 57%. On the other hand, the used potential of energy savings triggered by establishing EM was insufficient and only 4% of the respondents claimed high and exactly measured savings because of EM. This article should be applied to the stress power of municipal EM in performing energy efficiency and RES projects and encouraging the government to support municipal energy managers in their complex role.

Polish Sceptics and Czech Optimists: Perception of the Development within Euroregion Beskydy

The openness of space is one of the fundamental ideas behind the existence of the European Union. The benefits arising from this should outweigh the disadvantages associated with it. An advantage of openness is the possibility of integrating border regions of different countries into a consistent functional whole where cross-border cooperation takes place. Resulting mechanisms can lead to endogenously driven development of the territories that are typically on the periphery of their countries. However, reality is much more diverse. This is valid also in case of Central and Eastern European countries, where general socioeconomic processes take different forms in different regions and places. The same holds true also for territorial units, such as Euroregions that represent one of the most remarkable geographical embodiments of European integration. At the same time, they constitute one of the institutionalised forms of cross-border cooperation. Euroregions bear a twofold importance in postcommunist countries that for a long time suffered from pretty limited cross-border interactions and cooperation. Our article delves into the municipalities of Euroregion Beskydy at the Polish-Czech border. The main objective of the paper is to analyse and assess strengths and weaknesses of the development as perceived by Polish and Czech municipalities in the framework of Euroregion Beskydy. The article concentrates primarily on a qualitative dimension of the whole issue. This is partly supplemented by a quantitative perspective. The investigation mirrors the state of municipalities on Czech and Polish sides of Euroregion Beskydy from the perspective of municipal managements. From the methodical perspective, the questionnaire was utilised. This allowed respondents to identify the principal strengths and weaknesses of their municipalities based on their own knowledge and perceptions. The questions had a nominal character, and by aggregating similar responses, broader, consistent categories of strengths and weaknesses were established and analyzed. Respondents could name principal strengths and weaknesses of their municipalities on the basis of their own perception. The purpose was to identify substantial developmental domains or problem characteristics in individual municipalities of the researched Euroregion. At the same, it has been found out to what extent optimistic or pessimistic moods are prevailing in individual municipalities of the Euroregion. The research question posed in the framework of this paper is as follows: what are the most frequently mentioned strengths of municipal development at Polish and Czech side of Euroregion Beskydy? The results brought an interesting difference in the perception of the municipal development within Euroregion Beskydy. Respondents on the Polish side of the Euroregion can be characterised by higher rate of scepticism when compared with their Czech counterparts. On the Czech side of the Euroregion, slightly optimistic view on municipal lives is prevailing.

What are the driving factors for implementing participatory budgeting? A case study from Czechia

ABSTRACT This paper builds on an intensive and unique survey of all Czech municipalities (n = 6,258) regarding the geoparticipatory spatial tools used in the decision-making processes of local administrations and the Index of Geoparticipation derived from the dataset. Furthermore, we have collected and analysed data regarding 238 participatory budgeting events in the Czech Republic from the years 2012–2020. This paper is divided into two sections. We investigate the relationships among the municipalities’ membership in the Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic network (HCCZ), as well as the municipalities’ levels of indebtedness and their performances in the Index of Geoparticipation and their usage of participatory budgeting. Our primary theory states that membership in HCCZ and higher values in the Index of Geoparticipation will support the use of participatory budgeting, while indebtedness will discourage municipalities from implementing participatory budgeting. We deepen the knowledge of participatory budgeting in the Czech Republic, while focusing on the qualitative analysis of projects that have been approved and implemented through the tool of participatory budgeting at the municipal level. Additionally, we examine what type of projects the funds are allocated to and how the characteristics of these projects change over time.

Fiscal savings of Czech municipalities: Precaution or inaction of their administration?

Abstract Czech municipalities keep a substantial and growing volume of bank deposits. An analysis of determinants of unreserved deposits in 2021 suggests that municipalities are precautionary and accumulate fiscal reserves if they can and do so to stabilize their budget management. Signs of low activity of municipal administration such as low creation of new assets and low execution of the approved budget were not related to the volume of unreserved deposits in 2021. The change in the impact of the municipal debt on fiscal savings from strongly negative to weakly positive between 2016 and 2021 calls for more research on the impact of the introduction of new local debt regulation.

Analysis of the Financial Behaviour of Czech Municipalities as a Possibility for International Comparisons

Analysis of the Financial Behaviour of Czech Municipalities as a Possibility for International Comparisons

The return of silent elections: democracy, uncontested elections and citizen participation in Czechia

ABSTRACT Even when robust competition becomes institutionalized for national elections in democracies, this is no guarantee that elections to subnational governments will be equally competitive there. This article documents a recent disconcerting worldwide return of “silent elections'' - electoral races in which citizens are unable to choose among political alternatives and their vote makes no difference to the outcome. Holding such uncontested elections clashes simultaneously with the dual dimensions of democratic government: contestation and inclusiveness. Eliminating any contestation whatsoever not only skews democratic representation but is also expected to have a devastating effect on citizen participation. Leveraging a large dataset of 6,254 Czech municipalities in seven municipal elections between 1998 and 2022, the main contributions of this article are assessing the extent of the problem of silent elections over time, understanding its root causes, estimating its effect on turnout and exploring what mechanisms drive the nexus between uncontested elections and voter participation. The steady rise in the proportion of uncontested races (28% of all municipalities by 2022) as well as their staggering and increasing estimated effect on turnout (17 points relative to contested) point towards a thus far unnoticed deficit of local democracy.

Geoparticipation in the Czech municipalities: index based quantitative approach

ABSTRACT Participation is becoming not only a theoretical framework of EU and UN documents, but also a practical approach that many municipalities explore in order to build resilient, sustainable and smart cities. The paper presents a weighted Index of Geoparticipation for all municipalities in the Czech Republic (n = 6258). The index is an indicator-based value divided into three dimensions (communication, participation, transparency) that helps to evaluate the state of geoparticipation among Czech municipalities. The size of the municipality (measured by population) and the significance of the municipality are both highly related to the values of the Index of Geoparticipation. Regional capitals, major cities, and big towns that are part of the Healthy Cities Network all have higher values for the Index of Geoparticipation.

Using electronic record of sales to support fair budgetary allocations across Czech municipalities

Abstract The paper focuses on electronic record of sales, a tool enabling continuous monitoring and control of declared sales of business entities. Such systems have been recently gaining popularity in European countries. The objective of the paper is to analyse the possible use of electronic record of sales for a fairer redistribution of shared taxes according to the place where the taxable income was earned. We do not consider the current situation to be entirely fair, as sales may be realized in the whole territory of the country. However municipalities that help businesses achieve their income are not fairly rewarded for doing so. This usually gives larger municipalities an advantage at the expense of smaller ones. Currently, the tax administration has sufficient technical equipment to be able to identify the place where the revenue was received.

Enhancing Citizen Participation through Social Media Engagement: The Case of Czech Municipal Facebook

The popularity of social media is expanding, and so is the interaction between towns and residents. Municipalities in the Czech Republic rely heavily on Facebook as a direct communication medium with citizens. The main goal of this research is to assess the drivers of municipal social media engagement with citizens. To do so, we looked at 183 official Facebook sites of Czech municipalities with extended powers. We applied the first generational statistical techniques, specifically the correlation and regression analyses in delving into the nexus between the citizenry engagement on local government issues via facebook toward onward local government development. Our results indicated that indeed most local governments have a Facebook page with little activity and large municipalities dominated most social media activity. The study found out that Facebook activity, interactivity and mood are the factors driving citizen engagement on municipality social media pages.

Desirability of office and previous female representation as main factors of female candidacy and representation in Czech municipalities, 1998–2018

Despite some progress in winning elected political offices, women remain underrepresented at all levels of government in Czechia. More importantly, only a limited body of research has focused on the presence of women in municipal governments. This study uses an original time series on local elections in all 6249 Czech municipalities over an extended period (1994–2018) to test where more women run for seats in local councils and why the descriptive (or numerical) representation of women in policy-making positions is higher in some municipalities than in others. The analysis reveals that openness of local environment to women, in terms of women's previous representation, together with desirability of office are strong determinants of female political participation and representation in Czech municipalities.

Implementation of GIS Tools in the Quality of Life Assessment of Czech Municipalities

Although quality of life is a phenomenon with a significant geographical component, its assessment is often only based on non-spatial statistical data. In Czechia, there are currently several assessments of quality of life at the level of municipalities, yet they do not consider the spatial aspect of the input indicators. This study uses the existing quality of life index compiled by the research agencies Median and the Aspen Institute, whose input indicators related to the accessibility of services and facilities have been redesigned to capture real-world phenomena more appropriately with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) tools using network analysis. In accordance with the original methodology, an adjusted index of quality of life was compiled. An update of indicators resulted in a more accurate description of quality of life. The differences between the original and the adjusted index were mainly seen in the areas around the larger cities, where quality of life has significantly risen. On the other hand, rural/rather rural areas experienced a slight decrease in quality of life with the change of inputs. The mapping of the resulting index documents the disparities in quality of life across Czechia and contributes to the discussions on the topic of quality of life in Czechia with new up-to-date reference data.

The impact of childcare availability on maternal employment: Evidence from Czech municipalities.

This study presents empirical estimates of the effects of local public kindergarten availability on the employment rate of mothers of preschool-aged children in the Czech Republic. It brings together data from the Population Census and School Register to form a unique database describing the demand for childcare (numbers of children aged 3-5) and supply (capacity) across more than 6,000 Czech municipalities between 2001 and 2011. We take advantage of variations in kindergarten availability over time to estimate the impact on maternal employment with a first differences model. Our estimates show that a 10 percentage point increase in the availability of kindergarten places led to a 0.2-0.4 percentage point increase in the employment rate of mothers of preschool-aged children. A drop in the availability of kindergarten places between 2001 and 2011 resulted in 9,000 fewer mothers being employed and a net loss to public finances of 1.2-1.7 billion CZK per year.

Human-made disasters in a decentralized context: How Czech municipalities are dealing with the Ukrainian crisis

IMPACT The article presents and reflects on empirical findings about how Czech municipalities have dealt with the Ukrainian refugee crisis. The findings come from an electronic survey conducted by the authors in co-operation with the Association of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic. Complemented with the results of refugee surveys, the findings show that municipalities can deal with the crises more successfully by building/expanding collaborative relations with stakeholders. The results are particularly relevant for countries with decentralized administrative systems.

Mapping the Territorial Distribution of Voter Turnout in Czech Local Elections (1994–2018)

This article analyzes voter turnout in the Czech Republic on a very detailed spatial structure and an extended yearly time series (1994–2018). Its main goal is to examine the spatial dimension of the disparities in voter turnout in local elections at the level of all (more than 6,000) Czech municipalities. To achieve this goal, global and local spatial autocorrelation methods are used. Municipality-level cartographic presentations then provide spatial evidence of highly stable patterns of electoral participation in Czech municipalities. In the long term, there is no substantial inter-electoral change of the clustering of voter turnout in the different municipalities, except for an overall decline of the homogeneity of the clusters with low or high electoral turnout. In short, the article provides an understanding of electoral turnout in Czech local elections that other approaches have not achieved.

Urban-Rural Dichotomy of Quality of Life

This paper is focused on the urban-rural dichotomy as one of the dichotomies of quality of life (QOL). The first objective is to find out whether the quality of urban life, or the quality of rural life, is higher in Czechia. The hypothesis assumes that the quality of urban life is higher. The second objective is to identify predictors of QOL and compare values for the residents of cities and villages. In the Theoretical Background section, we discuss cities and urban life, plus villages and rural life. In the QOL section, we explore the quality of urban and rural life in Czechia, and give examples of QOL measurements in Czech municipalities. In the Measurement and Findings section we measure QOL with a subjective indicator on the Cantril scale, and derive findings from these measurements. The correlations between QOL and other variables yield very strong predictors of both urban and rural quality of life. The measurements also yielded two “by products”: The first was the finding that women’s measured values are, except for women’s quality of city life, higher than the measured values of men. The second was the finding that the combination of quality of place and quality of the environment, which we named ‘geographical matter’, was rated higher by the respondents than the combination of QOL and happiness, which we named ‘psychological matter’.

Promoting cross-border cooperation through cross-border central places: strategic town-twinning on the Bavarian-Czech border reconsidered

ABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, several adjacent pairs of communes on the Bavarian borders with the Czech Republic and Austria have been identified as Cross-Border Central Places (CBCP). So far, the significance of CBCP as an innovative amendment of central place theory and long-established example of cross-border spatial planning remains virtually unstudied. This article analyses different versions of the Bavarian federal development plan and introduces CBCP as a planning instrument originally aimed at the realization of functional complementarities. By studying the concept's various redefinitions over the last two decades, I review CBCP as a strategic facilitator of cross-border cooperation at a local level. Empirical results from a focus group with mayors from all Bavarian and Czech municipalities representing a CBCP are provided. They indicate that the instrument's practical significance is limited by a rather domestic implementation, lacking local resources and an insufficient coordination across different scales of interaction.

Changes in Housing Discourse in Four Czech Municipalities. Will Young People Get Support?

In post-communist countries, the early years of housing policy after 1989 were characterised by the withdrawal of the state. Municipalities played an important role in the housing privatisation process in the Czech Republic. Thirty years later, a global boom in housing prices occurred in major urban centres. Young people are facing the problem of decreasing housing affordability. The analyses of the programme statements of electoral parties and coalition agreements in selected regional centres reveals the issue’s increasing saliency as well as a change in the overall discourse of housing. Moreover, local path dependencies and ways of bridging ideological differences in a coalition are explained. Electoral programmes tend to focus on young families rather than young people in general. In the crisis of housing affordability, those groups that have something to offer cities are preferred in party programme statements.

Could a Referendum Change the Local Party System? Discussion of the Referendum’s Consequences in the Context of Cleavages

Abstract The local policy is sometimes degraded by this opinion: in the small village, there is no policy, self-government is based on the personal character without the political context, it is mainly oriented on the technical side of the government. However, different researches confirm that despite this claim local policy contains political (and ideological) fights. These researches focus on different topics and different attitudes in cleavages or conflict study. However, only a few research types mentioned the importance of local civic activism in connection with the local policy trends. It is interesting because civic activism, values and attitudes are the main points in the cleavage topic. In this research, we will discuss the term cleavage (concept by Deegan­Krause) in the context of four Czech municipalities which have experience with civic activism – the referendum. In our research, we will focus on four municipalities, on which we will present the application of the Deegan­Krause model. Based on the application, we will discuss if civic activism in the form of a referendum could lead to changes in the local party system.