Willingness to Cooperate with the Police in Four Central European Countries

Social order and security depend on mutual cooperation between the police and the public. Since the majority of crime is not detected by the police itself, informal control is needed to ensure order in society. This article aims to describe the circumstances under which people´s willingness to cooperate with the police is enhanced. Recent studies show that public compliance and cooperation with authorities who carry out criminal proceedings are linked with the extent to which people perceive these authorities as trustworthy and legitimate. Importantly, trust in police procedural fairness leads to the perception that institutions of justice are legitimate, which in turn enhances people´s willingness to cooperate with them in order to fight crime and disorder. This normative perspective is supported in many European countries. However, evidence exists that instrumental judgements, which focus on one´s self-interest and on outcomes of the justice system, could also be important in some countries. Drawing on procedural justice theory, we examine the importance of normative and instrumental factors in eliciting people´s readiness to help the police fight crime in four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, and Poland. While the procedural justice pattern, i.e. the normative perspective, holds well in the Czech Republic and Hungary, in other analysed countries trust in police effectiveness or fear of crime, i.e. instrumental judgements, are relevant too.     

Both too much and too little: From elite to street crime in the transformation of the Czech Republic

A social capital theory of crime proposes that both excessively high and low levels of trust lead to crime. Low levels of trust are associated with predatory forms of street crime, while high levels of trust can lead to white collar crime and political corruption. This paper explores the role of social capital and trust in the causation of under and upperworld forms of crime in the rapidly changing circumstances of the Czech Republic. Connections between social capital and crime are the product not only of the transition to a market economy, but also of the problems of the pre-transition Czech society. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Crime and the Czech Republic: Summary observations

Increased levels of street and organized crime activity have accompanied the transition from totalitarian rule to a freer political climate both in the Soviet Union and in its former east European satellites. A conference in the Czech Republic involving officials from the host country and visiting practitioners and academics largely from the United States considered methods for dealing with burgeoning crime issues. The article summarizes the tone and content of the discussions as well as the substantive issues addressed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Regulation of Telecommunications in the Czech Republic

Abstract:   Since the fundamental upheaval of the political, social, and economic climate of the Czech Republic in 1989 successive governments have striven hard to develop a functioning market economy in which investors, both domestic and foreign, enjoy sufficient stability and legal certainty in which to thrive. The rapid development of the telecommunications sector was to act as a catalyst for the general improvement of the entire national economy, whilst at the same time helping the country to meet its policy goal of creating the conditions precedent to its successful integration into the European Union. The purpose of this article is to trace the progress of the Czech telecommunications market to date and to assess the regulatory framework adopted by the Czech government in light of its stated policy goals. After giving a brief history of the development of the market and the corresponding development of a regulatory régime this article shall turn to examine the current legal position after the adoption of the recent Law on which came into force on 1 July 2000. As well as suggesting necessary modifications and amendments due to certain flaws or omissions in the Act, modifications arising from the adoption by the EU of its new regulatory framework for communications shall also be suggested.     

The effect of multiple-office holding on the parliamentary activity of MPs in the Czech Republic

This article deals with multiple-office holdings by legislators in the Czech Republic during the VI. Chamber of Deputies, 2010–2013. First, both positive and negative theoretical consequences of simultaneously holding multiple political offices are depicted. Then, a uniquely detailed database of member of parliament-periods is constructed for quantitative research. Multiple-office holding is demonstrated to be a frequent behaviour among Czech deputies. The analysis results suggest that some of the deputies’ parliamentary performances were influenced both positively and negatively. Multiple-office holders probably save time on certain activities, and focus more strongly on others. Different mandates held simultaneously by deputies affect their activity differently; local and non-executive mandates’ effects tend to be positive compared with regional and executive mandates’ effects.     

The offender in the community: Implications of the experience in the United States for the new Czech Republic

This paper reviews America's community corrections history in order to draw relevant penal policy implications for the Czech Republic in their transition to democracy. The review reveals the implementation of numerous community-based correctional programs that have resulted in mixed results, at best. The paper concludes that if the Czech Republic is to advance a new and professional, effective penal system, they must address five critical areas: dealing with the Romany underclass, establishing intermediate sanctions, promoting a professional correctional work force, confronting the media coverage of crime, and managing the politics of crime policy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Minors and informed consent: a comparative approach

The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe provides in article 6 for special protection of persons who are not able to give free and informed consent to an intervention in the health field, e.g. minors. According to the second paragraph of this article it is up to domestic law to decide whether and under which conditions a minor is capable of taking autonomous decisions in the health field. In the present article an overview is given of the legal regulations in place regarding the position of minors in a health care setting in the EU Member States that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine namely Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. As the overview will show, the legal position of minor patients in a health care setting varies from country to country. This in view of the system they have opted for as well as the age and circumstances under which minors are allowed to take health care decisions autonomously.     

Legacies of a culture of inequality: The Janus face of crime in post-communist countries

This paper explores the role of the specific structure and culture of inequality of the communist and post-communist countries in the simultaneouswave of elite crime and violent crime in Central and East Europe. Under thelayer of homogeneity, which had been imposed on the region by ethnic cleansingduring and after World War II and by the continuous policies of communistregimes, a substructure and subculture of inequality emerged, which becamedominant during the transition phase. Among the consequences of the ``hour-glass' society (Rose) and feudalization of society are closely knit networks at the top and the bottom of society, clientelism as a pattern of linking them, and non-egalitarian and collectivist value patterns. This specific cluster combines factors that contribute to both high-level corruption and violence. Pathways of development during the transition periodindicate a bi-partition of the ``geography of crime' in the region. The relative ``success stories' of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic withboth declining rates of corruption and lethal violent crime (homicide) are in stark contrast to many of the successor states of the Soviet Union. It is argued that strong institutions based on civil rights and the rule of law areimportant factors responsible for this difference.     

规范性政治哲学的道德基础:柏拉图与亚里士多德

柏拉图继承苏格拉底的伦理反思,拒斥习俗主义,把国家与社会统一于道德之中,并以道德统摄城邦政治和社会生活。政治对人的要求是“应当做……”,所以,我们将它概括为“产生于道德的政治哲学”。亚里士多德则把政治看作是道德实践,将政治与社会分别开来,政治的目的是实现人的善,它对人的要求是“能够做……”。所以,我们把它概括为“产生道德的政治哲学”。柏拉图与亚里士多德共同奠定了一切规范性政治哲学的道德根基。     

Eurozone debt crisis and bond yields convergence: evidence from the new EU countries

The present article examines 10-year bond yields convergence between each of the new EU countries and Germany, including a structural break that embodies the effects of the current sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. The analysis is based on a new definition of bond yields convergence that can be interpreted either as strong or weak monetary policy convergence, depending on whether the conditions of uncovered interest-rate parity and ex-ante purchasing power parity hold or are violated, respectively. The empirical results provide evidence of either strong or weak monetary policy convergence to Germany only for five new countries, namely Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia. In contrast, for the rest of the new EU countries the empirical evidence suggests lack of monetary policy convergence to Germany. The latter result could be probably explained by the increased risk premia in these countries, as a result of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis.     

The status of the extracorporeal embryo in German law (Part I).

The legislator, in the German Federal Republic, has opted for a specific legal solution in relation to the protection of the embryo. Carola Müller, in this article, describes this regulation as well as the reasons that have led to its adoption. The article finishes with an exposition of the existing social discussion in German society and the effect that the law has had.     

The status of the extracorporeal embryo in German law (part. II).

The legislator, in the German Federal Republic, has opted for a specific legal solution in relation to the protection of the embryo. Carola Müller, in this article, describes this regulation as well as the reasons that have led to its adoption. The article finishes with an exposition of the existing social discussion in German society and the effect that the law has had.     

Two Decades of Value Change: The Crystallization of Meritocratic and Egalitarian Beliefs in the Czech Republic

Two decades ago, scholars predicted that the economic and political transformations underway in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe would be accompanied by fundamental shifts in societal values and norms. Unlike political reforms, changes in societal norms were believed to take place gradually, as individuals became increasingly socialized by new institutions and conditions. In this article, we analyze change in a core set of societal norms??beliefs in distributive justice??in the Czech Republic over the last two decades, and locate those trends in regional perspective. What we find is that, over time, the negative association between egalitarian and meritocratic norms has increasingly strengthened, suggesting a crystallization of those norms as opposing value sets. In addition, attachments to those norms are increasingly structured by respondents?? socio-economic status. In order words, the research confirms that subjective norms in the Czech Republic are increasingly shaped by objective social status in ways common in advanced democracies, and that we can speak not only of a crystallization of the value system, but of a corresponding ??re-stratification?? of justice beliefs in relation to social position.     

Financing Enterprises in the Czech Republic: Debt and Firm-specific Variables

This paper investigates the effects of firm specific variables on indebtedness, and thus financing decisions in the Czech Republic during the first years of transition. By estimating a Structural Equation Model with latent variables, the paper analyses the determinants of credit demand and supply in order to understand to what an extent they testify the transformation of both enterprises financing strategies and credit allocation policies and thus the emergence of a new financial discipline.     

Robberies in Prague

This paper is concerned with the issue of robberies in the Czech Republic, primarily in the capital city, Prague. Statistics show that there has been a sharp rise in the number of robberies recorded in the Czech Republic following the political upheavals of 1989. In spite of this, current Czech criminology does not give proper attention to this kind of criminal activity. For this reason, the authors will attempt not only to summarise research efforts hitherto undertaken in this field and place them in a wider international context, but also to offer basic and criminologically relevant data on offenders, victims and some other significant factors, making use of official crime statistics as well as special police statistical records, including data obtained through the authors' own analysis of a sample of court files.     

Velvet Disillusionment: Czech Performing Arts and Twenty-Five Years of Transition, 1989–2014

ABSTRACT

The performing arts sector of the Czech Republic faces significant challenges twenty-five years after the Velvet Revolution, which ushered in swift and dramatic political, social, and economic change. Early policy decisions, subsequent privatization efforts, and neglect, compounded by the country's foray into the muddy waters of the free market, have left artists and administrators seeking solutions and searching for solvency. Empirical research, primarily in the form of surveys, site visits, and interviews with prominent Czech artists and administrators, significantly informs this article, which explores the state of Czech performing arts twenty-five years after the fall of Communism.     

The Dynamics of Capital Structure in Transition Economies

This paper uses a dynamic unrestricted capital structure model to examine the determinants of the private companies' target financial leverage and the speed of adjustment to it in two transition economies, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. We explicitly model the adjustment of companies' leverage to a target leverage, and this target leverage is itself explained by a set of factors. The panel data methodology combines cross-section and time-series information. The results indicate that the Bulgarian corporate credit markets were less supply -constrained than those of the Czech Republic during the period under investigation. Bulgarian?companies adjusted much faster to the target leverage than Czech firms. The speed of?adjustment related positively to the distance between target and observed ratio for Bulgarian companies while the relationship was neutral for Czech companies. The conservative policies of Czech banks and the exposure control were likely responsible for the slower adjustment among the larger companies while the opposite were true for Bulgarian banks and companies.     

Capital Market Imperfections, Uncertainty and Corporate Investment in the Czech Republic

In this study we examine private investment behavior of firms in the Czech Republic. A special feature of the study is that the investment equations include variables which may give some more insights into the role of capital market imperfections as well as the effect of uncertainty. Our results find support for the accelerator model. We find evidence for cash-flow effects on Czech corporate investment. It is striking that indeed smaller longer privatized firms face relatively less cash flow restrictions. Financial structure doesn't matter as much as we expected. We find that smaller firms react positively to more uncertainty.     

The European Arrest Warrant and the Sovereign State: A Marriage of Convenience?

The article aims to analyse the extent to which mutual recognition and mutual trust in the criminal law area are developing in the EU in the context of the implementation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). First, an overview of the decisions of the Constitutional Courts in Germany, Poland, Cyprus and Czech Republic will be given. These decisions are evidence of a tension, on the one hand, between mutual recognition and state sovereignty and, on the other hand, between the powers of the European institutions in criminal matters and the fundamental rights of the individual. Second, national case‐law in the UK, Belgium, Spain and Italy will be examined. Third, an analysis of the recent decision of the European Court of Justice of 3 May 2007 will be carried out. Finally, a global assessment of the EAW will be made. Is this instrument effectively promoting normative mutual trust among the judicial authorities in the EU? Should it be amended or is it the wrong response at the wrong time? Some suggestions will be put forward, in light of what is considered to be the nature of the EAW and the birth of this instrument as part of the mutual recognition agenda.