Czech Politics Research Articles

Czech Conspiracy Websites as Agents of Illiberalism: Case study of Parliamentary Elections 2021

In the past several years, conspiracy websites emerged as relevant actors in Czech uncivil society. The article uses the lens of the concept of illiberalism to explain their ideological position, relation to the liberal democratic system and understanding of politics. The analysis of their reporting about the Czech Parliamentary elections 2021 allowed the article to uncover their allies and enemies and describe the role they want to play in Czech politics.

Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2022

AbstractThe war in Ukraine dominated Czech politics in 2022. The Cabinet of Petr Fiala militarily and politically supported the Ukrainian defence efforts against the Russian adversary. Fiala visited Ukraine twice in 2022 (being the first Western leader, along with the Slovenian and Polish prime ministers, to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv on 15 March). Senate and local elections occurred in the autumn. Fiala's party (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) had the strongest showing in the Senate election, while the ANO party of the previous Prime Minister Andrej Babiš suffered a defeat. Babiš was acquitted in a long‐lasting subsidy fraud case and began campaigning for the January 2023 presidential election. Domestically, the double‐digit inflation, increasing public debt and energy supply routes were the crucial issues that led to several big anti‐government protests. The Czech Republic presided over the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2022.

How Czech Democracy Defies the Illiberal Trend

Democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland has raised questions as to whether Czech politics would follow a similar path. Focusing on transformations in the country’s political system over the past decade, this article argues that Czech democracy has proved resilient and defied the Central European illiberal trend. The starkly divergent outcomes are attributable to differences that set the Czech political tradition apart from those of Poland and Hungary. The liberal, secular, and pluralist tendencies present in the Czech democratic myth have made it more difficult to form an ideologically based movement built around a national-religious conservative narrative challenging liberal democratic values.

A rather wild imagination: who is and who is not a migrant in the Czech media and society?

This paper focuses on migrants and migration in the context of the Czech Republic, an ethnically and nationally homogeneous country without significant migration experience. Despite this fact, the issue of migration became very prominent in 2015 and has been an integral part of Czech political and public discourse since then. Although the topic has attracted scholarly interest, but the reflection on migrant images held by citizens has been omitted. To fill this gap, first, we conducted a quantitative computer-assisted content analysis of the main Czech media (2015–2018) to investigate how important the issue of migration was and in what context migrants and migration were discussed in the media. We then conducted a series of focus groups with Czech citizens to answer not only how they perceived migrants and migration in general, but also how they perceived the (quality of) media coverage of this issue. The findings offer insight into patterns of media consumption: Our respondents were well aware that media representation of the topic is exaggerated and does not include all possible points of view. The prevailing perception was that the mostly negative media representation was fixated on the image of a migrant coming from the Middle East, most likely to be a terrorist who is not going to adapt to a “normal” life in the Czech Republic. Indeed, the very term migrant is mainly associated with someone who, according to the mental projections of the respondents, is “different” at first sight, fails to fit in and integrate into the majority society, does not look for work thus becoming dependent on the social system of the host country. In other words, for Czechs, people who come to settle and work are excluded from the socially constructed category of migrants.

Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2021

AbstractSeveral important events occurred in Czech politics in 2021. The cabinet of Prime Minister Babiš primarily focused on tackling the COVID‐19 pandemic. Four cabinet changes were made, two affecting the Health Minister and two affecting the Foreign Minister. The Constitutional Court repealed several sections of the electoral law governing the general election, leaving only a few months to pass a new electoral law before the next general election. In the October 2021 election, the SPOLU electoral alliance won the popular vote, while the governing party ANO gained the most seats under the new electoral law. The election was a disaster for left‐wing parties, as Social Democrats and the Communists gained no seats in the lower house. A new coalition government, led by political science professor Petr Fiala, was formed at the end of 2021. President Zeman was hospitalised for several weeks, casting doubts about whether he was able to fulfil his presidential duties.

Continuity in Discontinuity? Spatial Patterns of Electoral Behaviour in the 2021 Czech Parliamentary Elections

This article examines the spatial factors that shaped the 2021 parliamentary elections. Building on a great deal of research in electoral geography and spatial analysis, it focused on specific spatial elements of voting behaviour that have not been previously studied, and on the key time-specific factors that shaped the electoral map and party system in the 2021 elections. Employing a quantitative approach to aggregate electoral and socio-demographic data, the study maps the electoral dynamic by exploiting the unique political situations that were characterized by a competition between two blocs – the two centre-right coalitions, SPOLU and the Pirates and STAN, and the populist ANO and SPD parties. Despite profound changes in the party system, the spatial stratification of Czech politics remained unchanged. Quite the contrary, the societal cleavages shaped the spatial voting patterns even more intensively. Additionally, the study shows that regional context factors modified the overall nationwide trend. Varying from region to region, factors included religiosity, local patriotism, the role of local entrepreneurs, and the effect of a popular local leader.

Staatsrechtliche Konzepte der tschechischen und slowakischen Innenpolitik aus der Zeit vor der Entstehung der Tschechoslowakei

From the very beginning, the settling of the Czech and Slovak questions was closely linked to the question of how the fate of the entire Habsburg Monarchy would unfold. Even though a number of political parties were active by 1914, almost all Czech politicians regarded the Habsburg union of states as a constant in the world order and had not set for themselves the goal of creating an independent state. One person who deviated from the defining line of Czech politics was the pro‐Russian politician Karel Kramář. After the outbreak of the First World War, Czech politicians initially remained wary. Later, activism prevailed among them, and the Czech Union (Český svaz) and the National Committee (Národní výbor) became their organisational platforms. At the beginning of 1917, activist politics culminated in the rejection of the demand for the ʺliberation of the Czecho‐Slovaks from foreign ruleʺ stipulated in the Ententeʹs proposal for peace negotiations. Also in the constitutional statements of most Czech deputies read out at the opening of the Imperial Council and in the projects of the late summer and autumn of 1917, which addressed the creation of a common Czech‐Slovak state within the framework of the Habsburg monarchy, the preservation of a reorganised Habsburg monarchy was taken for granted. In early 2018, however, the idea of an independent Czechoslovak state began to gain ground among Czech politicians at home. In the spirit of this idea, the so‐called Epiphany Declaration and the drafts of the political law and the economic law of early October 1918 were drawn up, whose content was subsequently incorporated into the first laws of the Czechoslovak state.

„Hajme mužně pravdy, práva...“: Fotografické album osobností ze Sbírek Bohuslava Duška v Archivu Národního muzea

„Let us manfully hold truths, rights...“ Photographic album of personalities from the Bohuslav Dušek Collection in the Archives of the National Museum One of the traces of Bohuslav Dušek’s extensive collecting and patronage activities is the archival collection stored in the National Museum Archives. It includes (under the inventory number 1744) a photographic album containing portrait photographs (business card format) of important personalities of Czech political, cultural and public life in the second half of the 19th century. The collection of photographs is both an important iconographic source for the history of Czech society in the 19th century and a very interesting insight into the production of important photographic studios of the time. Apart from the content analysis of the photographic album (represented photographic studios, personalities, the role of the photographic album in society), attention is also paid to the question of the physical condition of the album as an artefact forming part of the national cultural heritage.

The Genesis of Political Distrust Towards the “Sixty-Eighters” in Czech Politics Over the Course of 1989

The Genesis of Political Distrust Towards the “Sixty-Eighters” in Czech Politics Over the Course of 1989

ЧЕСЬКА ПОЛІТИКА ТА РОЗПАД АВСТРО-УГОРЩИНИ (1917-1918 РР.)

The article analyzes the development and manifestations of the Czech national movement at the final stage of the First World War in the crisis of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The reasons for the decline of the policy of Czech «activism» at the level of the Czech parliamentary representation and leading political parties have been clarified. At the same time, the growth of anti-war and anti-Austrian sentiments among the population of the Czech Republic is highlighted. The changes in Czech-German relations caused by the attempts of German nationalists to establish German rule in the Czech Republic on the one hand and the resistance of Czech politics on the other are described. At the same time, emphasis was placed on the fluctuations of the domestic political course of the monarchy, which gradually lost its traditional role of arbiter in interethnic relations and a safeguard against political radicalism during the war. The main projects of reforming the empire, which directly concerned the Czech lands, are highlighted. The influence of foreign policy factors that accelerated the collapse of the Habsburg Empire in this period is highlighted: changes in the attitude to the preservation of Austria-Hungary, the Entente, USA entry into the war, the Russian Revolution, the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Peace. The aspirations of Czech and German national radicalism based on the right of nations to self-determination are analyzed. The circumstances of the approval of the concept of an independent sovereign Czechoslovak Republic as the main project of Czech state-building among emigrant circles and its popularization in the Czech lands are clarified.

Between anarchism and communism: Independent socialists and the attempt for a fourth power in the Bohemian left in 1923–1925

The presented study first summaries the development of Czech anarchism (independent socialism), or its nationally orientated part before World War I and its becoming mainstream in Czech politics between 1914 and 1918 culminating in a merger with national social party. It further describes the marginalisation of this stream in Bohemian politics in 1918–1923 given the calming of the post‑war situation and the radicalisation of this group, which culminated in its exclusion from the ranks of the socialist party. The main theme of the text is an analysis of the attempt by this group to build its own party entity in 1923–1925. In looking for the cause of the failure of this attempt, I argue that the Czechoslovak political landscape was stabilised, which made it difficult for new parties to form, even though they could rely on several nationally known personalities and several thousand activists. As a result of the radical left‑wing orientation of the independent socialists, they did not aim for social democracy after realizing their failure, but for the ranks of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), which was close to it mainly because of the Czech anarchists’ admiration for the Bolshevik revolution. In conclusion, I argue that the people representing this stream did not have much success in the Communist Party, because they differed from the members of this party in their rather middle‑class habitus and, as former members of the Socialist Party, they had biographies that were suspicious for the KSČ and they did not gain much respect as it was a group that had been unsuccessful in previous years and was quite small compared to the membership base of the KSČ. The failure of the Czech independent socialists does not deviate from European trends, where the political groups between the Social Democrats and the Communists did not gain a foothold even in other countries in the 1920s and 1930s, because the dilemma of going with Moscow or remaining on the platform of parliamentary democracy did not allow for compromise.

Posting Workers as a New Model of Global Labour? Dilemmas of Economics, Politics and Ethics

Research background: Labour migration, i. e. the transnational movement of foreign workers on the European markets and their integration, is among the key topics of both Czech and European politics. I devote my paper to the regulation of work-related migration in a wider perspective of the global labour market in a specific type of labour migration „posting workers“. Purpose of the article: The paper focus on economic, political, and ethical problematic aspects of posting workers within the European Union in connection with the European Commission’s revision of Directive 96/71/EC with an emphasis on posting workers to the Czech Republic. Methods: I will to analyse the key patterns of the reactions and discourse strategies of selected Czech stakeholders regarding the proposal for a revision of Directive 96/71/EC, in particular that of selected government representatives. For this purpose, it will be used the method of discourse analysis (especially methods developed by Ruth Wodak). Findings & Value added: I would like to demonstrate, using the revision of Directive 96/71/EC as an example of new renovating models of global labour, as a part of the process of integration of the global market in the era of globalization, that the mechanism of posting workers creates a hybrid single European labour market, changes international relations, and contributes to the transnational flexibility of labour.

Little Moscow on the Vltava river – Russian communities in the Czech Republic in the context of socio-political order and homeland security

The central concern of this paper is the growing influx of Russian migrants to the Czech Republic and the consequences for political and social order. With nearly 40,000 migrants, Russians are the fourth biggest foreign community in Czechia. Due to their material status, the history of bilateral relations, and the significant role of their homeland in Czech politics, the growing Russian community poses a problem for Czech society. The fear of Russian dominance – in political as well as economical dimensions – as well as resentment about the communistic era, is still present among Czech people. Although most Russians come to Czech to study or to do business and are not engaged in political activity, relations between migrants and the host society can be strained. Mutual prejudices make themselves felt in moments of the political crisis between two countries, such as the recent row over Soviet monuments in Prague. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Russian community could easily become a tool for Kremlin propaganda. Russians appreciate the opportunity to live in a rich, liberal and democratic society and even though they keep strong emotional ties with their homeland they are not keen to affirm all of Moscow’s deeds.

Czech education in nature traditions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine Czech traditions of outdoor games and sports, turistika activities and education in nature programmes, which have continued to develop during periods of oppression and provided opportunities to preserve the Czech culture.Design/methodology/approachA review of the historical, cultural and political context of education in nature traditions in Czech was proposed.FindingsLate 19th century organisations such as the Turistický klub and Sokol were instrumental in developing a range of indigenous turistika activities involving active movement. The early 20th century influences were the Czech scouting movement, summer camps and Woodcraft. Charles University provided the first tertiary outdoor educational programmes in Prague in the 1950s. Their foundation course “Turistika and Outdoor Sports” is still compulsory for all students studying physical education and sport. Turistika activities and outdoor sports and games continued to be developed throughout the liberalization of the socialist regime in the 1960s.Practical implicationsFollowing the Prague Spring in 1968, and under the guise of the Socialist Youth Union organization, new experimental forms of outdoor education emerged.Social implicationsSince the Velvet Revolution in 1989 organisations have reconnected with Czech outdoor traditions that flourished before 1948 and other organisations have developed education in nature programs. The commercial sphere, which did not exist before 1989, has now been established in the outdoor area. However, traditional participation in turistika activities has been impacted by other external motivations as a broader range of opportunities have become available and accepted, and tourism outside of Czech and Europe has become increasingly popular and accessible.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper is to provide an overview of Czech political and cultural history and how it has shaped people's relationship, particularly children and youth, with the outdoors.

Technological Change and Innovation as Security Threats

Technological change and innovation, together with the related development of science, have been perceived as drivers of social and economic progress and public optimism in the globalizing world. Indeed, in the past centuries and especially decades, there has been a huge advancement of humankind that can be both felt and measured. However, people have also learned that science and technology can be misused or abused, or they can have unintended consequences (cf. nuclear fission). Especially in times when the public feels that the change is fast and unprecedented, they also provoke fear and resentment. Science, technological change, and innovation can be presented and perceived as security threats, i.e. securitized. It seems that, now, we are living in one of such historical periods. The goal of the paper is to analyse if and how technological change and innovation are presented or perceived as security threats, especially in the Czech political and public discourse. To reach the goal, we can ask the following research questions: Are science, technological change, and innovation securitized? What are the concrete examples of emerging technologies and innovations that are securitized? (e.g. artificial intelligence and robotics, biotechnologies) Is the narrative present in the Czech political and public discourse? Is the securitization process successful? What are the lessons learned and recommendations for policy?

The European Parliament Elections and Czech Political Parties: Much Ado About Nothing?

The paper inquires divergences in electoral programs of four Czech political parties (the ČSSD, KDU-ČSL, KSČM, and the ODS) as delivered for all the previous European Parliament elections. The aim of this study is to compare the use of national and European themes as delineated in programs. It is assumed that, in many cases, the programs contain topics and aspects which are specific and valid for elections on the national level instead. Thus, the paper elaborates on one of the characteristics of the second-order elections theory as exemplified in the Euro-elections. Results of the analysis showed a significant superiority of national affairs over the European issues in the examined samples. Although the number of political parties varies in individual periods, the study has also confirmed the assumption drawn from the theory of second-order elections. Therefore, political parties utilize political programs for the European Parliament elections as of national interest with domestic affairs, not European. Furthermore, the study considers dissimilarities among political parties in positive and negative attitudes toward the EU. Hence, sundry approaches to European affairs may be identified across the Czech political parties.

The rise of new populist political parties in Czech parliamentary elections between 2010 and 2017: the geography of party replacement

ABSTRACTThis article examines the territorialization of party replacement in the Czech Republic between 2010 and 2017. Using spatial analytical techniques, we found that despite the significant success of new populist parties, which considerably transformed the parliamentary strength of individual parties, the “new” geographical patterning of party support was far from real transformation. Historically, most of the rightist and center-right parties relied on higher support in areas with a high development potential and the developmental axes related to them, whereas established left-wing parties found support in areas with a low development potential. The elections of 2010 and 2013 were exceptions to this pattern, but the elections of 2017 interrupted this deviation when geographical support for some of the new populist parties (those which had succeed in 2013 already) moved mostly to underdeveloped areas. However, as the programmatics of most of the new populist parties are relatively unclear (especially on the left-right ideological division), one can hardly speak of class realignment, but rather of spatial re-stratification of Czech politics: traditionally leftist and rightist voters largely abandoned “their” (established) parties, but on the other hand, their voting mostly did not contravene the Czech spatial division between leftist and rightist regions.

Not Quite What You Expected: The Curious Case of Brexit Scrutiny in the Czech Parliament

AbstractThe aim of the article is to explore how the Czech bicameral parliament has reacted to the process of the United Kingdom's (UK's) withdrawal from the European Union (EU). Drawing upon insights from the theoretical expectations of parliamentary power, the inquiry researches the ways that Czech legislatures have developed in terms of engaging with and influencing the Brexit process. In this regard, the Czech case is exceptionally interesting and worth exploring, since the EU agenda has become a highly politicised issue within the Czech context. The significance of this inquiry has been further highlighted by the high level of party-based Euroscepticism typical of Czech politics as well as the frequent changes that the Czech party system has been undergoing in recent years. Throughout the in-depth analysis of parliamentary scrutiny activities—conceptualised as comprising four aspects: (i) the institutional adjustment; (ii) articulation of priorities; (iii) interactions with the government and (iv) parliamentary party politics—the article considers how these activities compare between both chambers of the Czech Parliament.

Full of surprises, or surprisingly not? The peculiar case of Czech Brexit policy

ABSTRACTThe article provides a qualitative in-depth analysis of Czech Brexit policy (that is, a Czech policy on Brexit). There are many reasons why one might expect Brexit to be a high-profile, politicized issue in Czech politics. Yet, as the article shows, this has not been the case. Rather, the issue of Brexit in Czech politics has been characterized by a low level of politicization, with the Czech position on Brexit having largely complied with the EU’s united front. Drawing upon the extant literature on Brexit and EU27 member states, the article discusses two main reasons for the low level of politicization of Brexit in Czech politics: (1) the character of Czech bilateral relations with the UK and (2) the degree of the country’s exposure to Brexit implications.

КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНІ ОСНОВИ ЗОВНІШНЬОПОЛІТИЧНОГО КУРСУ ЧЕСЬКОЇ РЕСПУБЛІКИ

In the 1990s the Czech foreign policy objectives were to secure its proper place in international relations after the end of the Cold War, which included the entry of a number of international intergovernmental organizations (IMF, World Bank Group organizations, OECD, EBRD, NATO, EU, etc.) and the development of friendly relations with neighboring states and partners. In this sense, there is no reason to identify the foreign policy of the Czech Republic during this period only as a course aimed at "returning to Europe". In the early 1990's, most Czech political actors shared the idea of "return to the West" and "liberal democracy", the differences in their vision of the models of the geopolitical orientation of the Czech Republic make it possible to distinguish between the interaction of the three main foreign policy ideologies in the process of adopting foreign policy decisions: atlanticism, continentalism, and autonomy. Different interpretations of the essence of "liberal democracy" led to the emergence in the Czech politics of two ideological trends that had a significant impact on the vision of the foreign policy priorities of the Czech Republic: economic universalism (aimed at eliminating institutional barriers to the free flow of goods, services, money), and moral universalism (oriented towards the spread of democracy and the protection of human rights, which is a priority in foreign policy). Followers of economic universalism (primarily V. Klaus) actively advocated the development of economic ties with Russia and China, while the followers of the ideology of moral universalism (V. Havel and his followers) actively opposed it. The article also investigates the influence of foreign policy prejudices on the formation of the foreign policy of the Czech Republic, among which the most influential are anti-Russian and anti-German.