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The quality of democracy depends on both politicians and citizens. While most attention has focused on politicians, this paper looks at citizens. There has been some scepticism about whether the postcommunist public is prepared to rule their countries. The legacies of communism and the rigours of the transition may have produced citizens whose opinions are unstable and ill-informed and therefore a poor basis for democratic policy making. This paper tests this proposition by considering the nature of public opinion in the Czech Republic. Its main conclusion is that postcommunist public opinion is more reasonable than conventional wisdom suggests. Opinions on most policies change slowly if at all and when they do change the changes are prompted more by gradual shifts in mores than by political manipulation. This suggests that citizens in the region are prepared to have a significant voice in policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the implementation of EU environmental policy in the Czech Republic, focusing on the transposition and application of three key directives. It argues that, while the Czech Republic has had difficulty complying with EU environmental law since accession, overall its performance in this area does not conform to pessimistic scenarios of post-accession compliance. A key positive factor affecting the implementation of EU environmental policy in the Czech Republic, and a major reason for optimism about future Czech compliance with EU environmental law, is the active role of Czech environmental NGOs in the monitoring and enforcement of EU rules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]