Personalized politics: Evidence from the Czech and Slovak Republics

What role do political party leaders play in individual vote choice? Recent literature argues that leaders are increasingly important for decisions at the ballot box. Moreover, scholars suggest leaders may be particularly consequential in volatile, under-institutionalized party systems, like those of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Accordingly, we investigate the extent to which leader evaluations matter for individual voting decisions, and whether these evaluations are more consequential than ideological proximities between voters and parties. We also explore whether leaders matter more for leader-centered, ideologically blurry, and populist parties. Through a comparison of the 2017 Czech and 2020 Slovak elections, we find that leader evaluations are strongly associated with voting decisions and that these evaluations tend to be more consequential than ideological proximity. We also show that leaders are more important for parties with strong “brands” – those that have most differentiated themselves from their competitors.     

Pain tolerance: Economic voting in the Czech Republic

Several theoretical explanations have been proposed to explain the mixed evidence of economic voting in post-communist countries. Using aggregate-level data, this article relaxes the assumption of parameter constancy and employs rolling regression analysis to track fluctuations in parameters over time. The results contradict the existing theories of economic voting in postcommunist countries. As an alternative explanation, the article suggest that voters have a level of pain tolerance below which the economy will not play a role in evaluations of the government; voters will use economic indicators to punish and reward incumbent government only if the economic indicators exceed their pain tolerance. For example, in the Czech Republic, voters will not start punishing the incumbent party until inflation climbs above 13.44%. However, Czech voters are less tolerant of unemployment and will punish the incumbent when unemployment exceeds 8.82%.     

Information exchange networks at the climate science‐policy interface: Evidence from the Czech Republic,Finland, Ireland,and Portugal

Scientifically informed climate policymaking starts with the exchange of credible, salient, and legitimate scientific information between scientists and policymakers. It is therefore important to understand what explains the exchange of scientific information in national climate policymaking processes. This article applies exponential random graph models to network data from the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, and Portugal to investigate which types of organizations are favored sources of scientific information and whether actors obtain scientific information from those with similar beliefs as their own. Results show that scientific organizations are favored sources in all countries, while only in the Czech Republic do actors obtain scientific information from those with similar policy beliefs. These findings suggest that actors involved in climate policymaking mostly look to scientific organizations for information, but that in polarized contexts where there is a presence of influential denialists overcoming biased information exchange is a challenge.     

Havel versus Klaus: Public Policy Making in the Czech Republic

In Central and Eastern Europe, we can observe and analyze an ongoing social experiment euphemized as the process of the transformation of totalitarian countries with centrally planned economies into democratic countries with market economies. This article offers an analysis of what has been happening in the Czech Republic in this regard. Attention is given to the impact of political philosophies (those represented by names of Václav Havel and Václav Klaus) upon legal and institutional changes. Key terms for better understanding of these processes are the free market, civil society, civic sector, and participation of citizens in public affairs. Channels, developmental threats, and opportunities for public policy formation and implementation are studied as well.     

Church-State Separation and Church Property Restitution in the Czech Republic

This article aims to present the recent change in the church-state relations in the Czech Republic. The change consists of restitution of church property taken away by the communist regime and the financial separation of churches and religious societies from the state. The article briefly overviews the church-state relations in Czechoslovakia before 1989 especially with regard to the issues of property and finance. The focus is on the legislation of 2012 and the contracts between the state and churches and religious societies that both resolved the restitution of church property taken by the communist regime and initiated the process that will lead to a complete financial separation of churches from the state.     

应对金融危机与劳动法治

一、问题的提出 改革开放和入世以后,我国逐步融入日趋全球化的世界经济。这次金融危机,尽管对我国的冲击程度不如欧美,但对于企业,特别是涉外企业,也带来较大的负面影响。     

Reconstruction of the state: Lobbying against political corruption in the Czech Republic

High level of distrust in political elites accompanied with a strong perception of corruption in Czech Republic has led to an increase of several anti‐corruption nongovernmental organisations' activities. About 18 organisations have created in 2013 an open coalition and established a project called “Reconstruction of the State” (Rekonstrukce státu). This project is oriented towards political parties and political elites to lead them to adopt nine anti‐corruption legislative proposals. This paper analyses how the project operates in its formal and informal aspects, which communication means are preferred and how the lobbyists interact with the politicians and political parties. Apart from the analysis of publicly available pieces of information from the project's website and official printed materials, semistructured interviews with activists and field research were performed. It can be seen that Reconstruction of the state has been most successful regarding agenda‐setting, but in the context of the legislative process, it has to face many obstacles either from legislators themselves or competitors with different goals.     

Public affairs in the Czech Republic: an exploratory study of the current situation

The main goal of our research study was to describe and analyse the state of the field of public affairs (PA) in the Czech Republic. So far, PA has been outside the scope of academic interest, and no study has yet analysed the issues or development of PA in the Czech Republic. Therefore, this study not only brings a unique insight into the practice of PA professionals but is also the first of its kind. Our main focus was to describe the current situation and build a solid background of the profession and emerging field for further research: firstly, we characterise professionals working in the field (what is their professional background, education, income and goals); secondly, we want to define what are the main issues they deal with professionally (such as politics, lobbying and the energy sector); thirdly, we will describe the market itself and the level of professionalisation and institutionalisation; and finally, we wanted to analyse how PA as a field is understood and perceived by professionals. In our conclusion, we also state openly a few challenges we met during our research, and we set the next goals. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Structuring of Political Cleavages in Post-Communist Societies: the Case of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Although sharing institutions for over seventy years, and transition pathways from communism, the two successor states of the former Czechoslovakia have faced distinct challenges in state-building and divergent economic fortunes. The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which these differing social economic problems have influenced the ideological bases of party politics and mass electoral behaviour in the two societies. Using data from national samples of the population of each country conducted in the spring of 1994, our analysis points to the existence of distinct issue cleavages dominating party competition in the two states: in the Czech Republic, partisanship relates mainly to issues of distribution and attitudes towards the West; in Slovakia, by contrast, these issues are only secondarily important in shaping voters' choice of party, while the main focus concerns the ethnic rights of Hungarians. The distinctive nature of the issue bases to politics in the two countries suggests one reason for the greater degree of political conflict evident in Slovak politics since the split and, more generally, provides evidence of the role of social conditions in shaping new political systems.     

Citizens of California: How the Golden State Went from Worst to First on Immigrant Rights

California has accomplished a remarkable shift in its historical development on immigrant rights, from pioneering and championing anti-immigrant legislation from the 1850s through the 1990s, to passing robust pro-immigrant rights policies in the last two decades. In this article, we unpack California’s policies and historical shift on immigrant rights, and develop a typology of regressive, restrictive, and progressive variants of state citizenship. We then advance a theory of how California’s progressive state citizenship crystallized in 2014 by cumulating and gaining sufficient strength in particular elements – of rights, benefits, and membership ties – to constitute a durable and meaningful form of state citizenship. Our work builds on, and speaks to, a fast-growing literature on immigration federalism and a robust literature on semi-citizenship and alternative types of citizenship. Situated in federalism, state citizenship operates in parallel to national citizenship, and in some important ways, exceeds the standards of national citizenship. While many states have passed various policies intended to help undocumented immigrants such as state driver licenses, in-state tuition, financial aid, health insurance for children, our concept and theory of state citizenship formation considers how California’s policies took more than a decade to develop and reach a tipping point, transforming in 2014 from integration policies to a more durable crystallized state citizenship.     

Serving Clients When the Server Crashes: How Frontline Workers Cope with E‐Government Challenges

Implementing e‐government in the contemporary American state is challenging. E‐government places high technical demands on agencies and citizens in an environment of budget austerity and political polarization. Governments developing e‐government policies often mobilize frontline workers—also termed “street‐level bureaucrats”—to help citizens gain access to services. However, we know little about how frontline workers cope in these challenging circumstances. This article fills this gap by examining frontline workers implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Based on a qualitative analysis, the authors find that frontline workers “move toward clients” when coping with stress: they bend the rules, work overtime, and collaborate in order to help clients. They are less inclined to “move away” or “move against” clients, for instance, through rigid rule following and rationing. In other words, frontline workers try to serve clients, even “when the server crashes.” Frontline workers, then, can play a vital role in the successful implementation of e‐government policies.     

Decentralization in the Czech Republic: The European Union, Political Parties, and the Creation of Regional Assemblies

This study begins with an exploration of the external (EuropeanUnion) and internal (Czech political parties) forces that shapedthe creation of regional assemblies in the Czech Republic. Theinstitutional and administrative requirements of EU regionalpolicy served as a catalyst for the creation of Czech regionalgovernments. Domestic struggles over decentralization, particularlyamong Czech political parties, are reflected in the number andboundaries of the regions as well as in the slow transfer ofpolicy competences from the national government to regionalgovernments. This study also examines the November 2000 regionalelections and places the results in the context of the 2002parliamentary elections. Party support clustered by region,but the position that parties took on the creation of regionalassemblies did not impact electoral success in the regionalelections, nor did party success or failure in the regionalelections forecast electoral fortunes in the parliamentary elections.The regional and national elections reflected low voter turnout,relatively strong support for the Communist party, and a dramaticrise and fall of party coalitions.     

The Roads to Transformation: Budgeting Issues in the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic 1989–1992

The Czech and Slovak Federal Republic no longer exists, but by the time of its dissolution, the transformation from a socialist to a democratic model of budgeting to another was well under way. This article illustrates some of the major issues facing countries attempting to remodel their systems of budgeting and financial management toward a more liberalized and democratic society.     

History and Culture in Russia and Ukraine: How to Complicate a Crisis of European Security

Russia’s annexation of Crimea was a major blow to the post-World War II security order in Europe and could well be the start of a new Cold War. This is especially the case since it was followed by the initiation of a proxy war in eastern Ukraine. The two works reviewed here deal the current crisis and provide historical background. Although there are actual concrete “national interests” involved in the Russian-Ukrainian relationship, the differences in how history is remembered complicates any attempt at resolving the issues.     

Local Revolutions in Central Europe, 1990 to 1994: Memoirs of Mayors and Councilors from Poland, Slovakia, and The Czech Republic

The consequences of the introduction of municipal autonomy inPoland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia are analyzed from thememoirs of 131 mayors and councilors concerning their firstelectoral term during the period 1990 to 1994. The analysisfocuses on the mechanisms of mobilization and selection of anew local elite. Subsequently, the most frequent motive of thememoirs is discussed, namely, the want of local integrationand tactics applied by local leaders to enhance integration.The recovery of local roots and traditions is the most frequentway to reach this objective, but it appears to have two-sidedconsequences. On the one hand, the fostering of local identityenhances communal integration and active citizenship. On theother hand, it initiates a drive toward municipal fragmentation.Also, the situation of local minorities may worsen in the process.Thus, the study demonstrates some more general phenomena comingfrom the assertion of local autonomy in Central Europe.     

How Weakly Institutionalized Parties Monitor Brokers in Developing Democracies: Evidence from Postconflict Liberia

Political parties in sub-Saharan Africa's developing democracies are often considered to lack sufficiently sophisticated machines to monitor and incentivize their political brokers. We challenge this view by arguing that the decentralized pyramidal structure of their machines allows them to engage in broker monitoring and incentivizing to mobilize voters, which ultimately improves their electoral performance. This capacity is concentrated (a) among incumbent parties with greater access to resources and (b) where the scope for turnout buying is higher due to the higher costs of voting. Using postwar Liberia to test our argument, we combine rich administrative data with exogenous variation in parties' ability to monitor their brokers. We show that brokers mobilize voters en masse to signal effort, that increased monitoring ability improves the incumbent party's electoral performance, and that this is particularly so in precincts in which voters must travel farther to vote and thus turnout buying opportunities are greater.     

How Information Scarcity Influences the Policy Agenda: Evidence from U.K. Immigration Policy

This article explores how patterns of information supply on policy problems influence political attention. It advances two central claims. First, different policy areas are associated with distinct practices in monitoring policy problems: Some produce abundant, ongoing, and reliable information, while others yield scarce, sporadic, and/or unreliable data. Second, these variations in information supply are likely to influence political attention, with information‐rich areas associated with a more proportionate distribution of attention, and information‐poor areas yielding punctuated attention. The article tests these claims through comparing U.K. political attention to asylum and illegal immigration. Asylum is observed on an ongoing basis through bureaucratic data, court hearings, and lay observations, producing more constant and proportiate political attention. Illegal immigration is observed sporadically through focusing events, usually police operations, eliciting more punctuated attention. These insights about political attention may also help explain why policy responses may be punctuated or incremental.     

Power within Parties: The Strength of the Local Party and MP Independence in Postcommunist Europe

This study argues that organizationally stronger local party branches are more powerful within the party than organizationally weaker branches: they can better perform the tasks central to the party, which include communication with, and mobilization of, voters. I further argue that this subunit power should be manifested in the parliamentary behavior and status of MPs: those from districts where the local party organization is strong are more likely (1) to behave independently in parliament and break party unity and (2) to hold leadership positions in parliamentary committees. I find support for these propositions in the analysis of 12 legislatures from four postcommunist democracies—Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, and Poland. The results remain robust against various alternative explanations.