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Immigration became an especially thorny and publicly discussed issue with the so-called Refugee Crisis beginning in 2015. The stance of the Czech and Polish governments was dominated by strong anti-Muslim and anti-immigration rhetoric. Still, both countries have witnessed a steady increase in mainly short-term immigration from various Asian countries such as Bangladesh or Pakistan ever since. This paper analyses Czech and Polish migration policies against the backdrop of a historically constructed notion of anti-illegal immigration policy, and category of temporary migration, coupled with the problematic nature of debt-financed migration in Asia. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Czechia and Poland (2018-2021), in-depth and semi-structured interviews with migration experts, academic and grey literature, official documents, and the method of Accidental ethnography, this paper argues that silencing of actual labor immigration in political communication while employing anti-migration rhetoric represents a discursive gap typical for liberal democracies. It further concludes that rendering migrant labor as a temporary commodity and turning a blind eye on recruitment of international migrants represents a continuity practice of migrant labor subordination within the nation-state, originating during colonialism and the advent of capitalism in the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to propose a typology of Czech consumers with respect to their attitudes toward the country of origin when purchasing beverages. Attention is paid to four commonly purchased beverage categories: beer, wine, tea and coffee. Using the Computer Assisted Web Interviewing method, the total number of fully completed questionnaires obtained was 396. The selection of respondents was determined by gender and age quotas. The measurement of attitudes involved utilizing a set of 22 statements concerning the beverage origin which were evaluated on a five-point scale. As confirmed by the research results, in each beverage category, the country of origin influences consumers' purchasing decisions differently. When purchasing wine, Czech consumers most commonly verify the country from which it originates. The origin is also important to them when it comes to beer, with the strongest preference for beer produced in their own country. The country from which the beverage originates has a considerably lower importance for coffee and is the least important when buying tea. Based on respondents' attitudes toward the country of beverage origin, four consumer segments were identified, namely "Experimenters," "Picky consumers," "Patriots," and "Pro-European consumers." Factor and cluster analysis were used for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influx of populism in Europe revived the values of illiberal, authoritarian government. This affects the democratic character of Civil–Military Relations (CMR) in the post-communist countries in particular. We analyzed the development of CMR in Czechia (1992–2022) under the influence of populism (2010–2022). Applying the CMR concept of the shared-democratic-values-perspective, our study provides empirical evidence that persistent shortcomings in formal institutional and informal socialization of Czech officers by values of democracy open a dangerous back door for spreading the values of military populism in the Czech Armed Forces. We argue that such development in the last 10 years has resulted into a formation of illiberal alliances between populist leaders and the military elite and poses a risk of the army being misused to politically support the authoritarian populist government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the sources and processes of management learning in four large, former state enterprises in the Czech Republic. These enterprises have all been privatized, but have not enjoyed foreign direct investment, which is often cited as a major source of post-communist management development. The findings indicate that current managerial knowledge in the enterprises has originated from a variety of domestic and foreign sources, but that the flow of ideas has been affected by a number of important filters, arising from the complexity of the Czech context, and the motives of the enterprise managers. In particular, the paper documents the continuing role of managerial knowledge emanating from pre-1989 sources, a factor which may have crucial implications for the nature of the emerging institution of post-communist Czech management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how different meanings of knowledge (transnational, comparative, statistical, local, and personal) relationally stabilise the agential position for the legitimation of educational reform across state and non-state actors. Analysing the materiality and systems of reason of proposals to reform education in the pre-election debates in the Czech Republic, the focus is placed on different patterns of legitimate and legitimating actorship, assembled from global and local relations. Through an ecological conceptualisation the research identifies the problematisation and decomposition of actorship into contradictory assemblages of both traditional actors (teachers and politicians) and relatively new ones (NGOs). The relationship of the civil sector and the state structures allowed the emergence of new non-state, non-professional actors (NGOs) who aggregate their expertise from transnational data and legitimate both their position as experts and the particular educational change. This has consequences for non-experts as politicians and teachers. The transnational and European context penetrated into the Czech educational sphere not through an elite class of system actors but through the representatives of NGOs. Rhetorically saving education from degradation, NGOs engage in spreading the transnational data and externalise the legitimation of educational reform and thus become the bearers (although agentially limited) of the European space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to evaluate the moderating role of social media influence before and after the trip in Vietnam and Czech Republic. Primary data, gathered during time lag data surveys conducted among international tourists travelling to the Czech Republic and Vietnam, was analyzed with the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) in R. The findings revealed that social media influence with higher level positively strengthened the connection between tourist motivation and the post trip destination image. Furthermore, social media had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between tourist satisfaction and ecotourism loyalty. However, there are strong differences between the destinations of developed and emerging economies. For Czech Republic, as developed economy, social media influence plays a more important role as a value-expressive mechanism at the post-trip stage whereas for the developing economy of Vietnam, social media plays a more important role as an information source before the trip. This study extends the Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT) by introducing the moderating effect of social media influence, which first time measures this moderating effect before and after the trip accounting for the dynamic nature of the destination image as an antecedent of ecotourism loyalty. Limitations, theoretical implications, and recommendations for practice and further research are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need to end anti-Semitism in Czech Republic. It talks about Neve Salom Sinagogu Vakfi, the largest place of Jewish worship in Istanbul which survived the shooting incident of 1986 and bombings in 1992 and 2003. Topics discussed are Czech sympathy towards Israelis, violence in Gaza, Israel's anger towards Turkish Jews, and identity crisis in Czech Republic.

Using a large, matched employer-employee data set, the authors investigate the impact of company and industry collective bargaining agreements on wages in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (CE3). They also examine the changing characteristics of the union wage premium in different cohorts of establishments. Their results challenge the common idea of weak unions in the CE3 by revealing a union wage premium whose characteristics depend on the level at which collective bargaining occurs. They find that industry agreements increase wages for low-skilled workers, while company agreements increase medium- and high-skilled wages. Their second finding is that the union wage premium is unevenly distributed between cohorts, with substantial cross-country variation. Wage premiums are concentrated in the transitional cohorts in the Czech Republic and Poland and, to a lesser extent, in the pre-transitional cohort in Hungary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on a case study of a long-term public controversy over the construction of a highway bypass (around Plzeň, Czech Republic). Two principal variants of the bypass were proposed. One of them began gradually to appear preferable, increasingly attractive for experts, but remaining only on paper. In the meantime, however, the other variant became more realistic, pushed through mainly by local politicians and actually constructed. This article shows how purification of science from politics (and vice versa) played a key role in the development and ending of the case. Initial expertization of the case switched to its sharp politicization, when people got frustrated from protraction and indecisive evidence of accumulated expertise. This turned to be fatal for those who consistently staked everything on "pure facts." This article concludes by outlining some general consequences of such a development for both democratic decision making and the political relevance of expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interior thermal insulation system based on hydrophilic mineral wool is presented in this paper. Basic thermal and hygric parameters of the applied materials are given. The design and development of the thermal insulation system including its verification in semiscale experiments are described. Finally, an example of the application of the designed system in the reconstruction of a historical building in Prague is shown, and the results of in situ experiments are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of organizational transformation has emerged from the foundations established by contingency theory and research. While institutional approaches to organizational analysis have preferred to focus on the tendency towards organizational continuity and inertia, recent developments have begun to consider institutional pressures leading to change, and to provide clues about how contingency and institutional theories might complement each other in improving our understanding of organizational change. The evidence presented in this paper, drawn from a study of organizational transformation in the Czech Republic, allows exploration of the relationship between transforming state enterprises and the wider processes of social, economic and institutional change. The values, motives and actions of the key enterprise managers are shown to be essential factors in explaining both the process of transformation in state enterprises, and the role of institutional factors in that process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unpredictable spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, national lockdowns, and public health measures implemented in the Czech Republic had a negative effect on older adults' mental health and loneliness. The 2,631 older adults in 2020 and 2,083 older adults in 2021 used in this study formed a nationally representative sample of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Almost every third older adult experienced feelings of loneliness in both stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. Loneliness increased in 2021 in those individuals who reported their physical health as poor, who felt nervous, sad or depressed, and who had ever left their home since the outbreak. According to age-related drivers of loneliness, feelings of loneliness were prevalent (40% vs. 45%) among younger retirees in both waves. In both data sets, declared feelings of sadness or depression were the strongest sustainable predictor of loneliness (2020 and 2021 models, OR = 3.69; 95% CI [2.90, 4.69] and OR = 2.55; [1.97, 3.30]). Being a woman and feeling nervous equated with a higher likelihood of feeling lonely compared to counterparts. Policy makers should therefore aim to carefully improve psychosocial and health-related consequences faced by this vulnerable population during the pandemic and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to describe factors influencing the feeling of safety which significantly influences also the subjective well-being and life satisfaction among Czech seniors. The sample consisted of seniors in the age 55 and above, the total number of respondents was 3,071. In the beginning of presented study two crucial questions were asked. Do the Czech seniors feel safe? What are they mostly afraid of? The reported feeling of safety was higher in seniors who perceived their health as good or very good, almost 90% of these seniors reported they felt safe. The survey results showed that the seniors' sense of safety was also influenced by the fact whether they lived with someone or alone where the living alone decreased the feeling of safety significantly. Hypothesis testing revealed that also gender affects the reasons why seniors do not feel safe, as well as household's members and by the place of residence. The survey results have brought an intriguing finding that more than one fourth of Czech seniors reported that one of the reasons why they feel insecure is their fear of migrants. A detailed analysis of the primary data set is focused on factors determining Czech seniors' feeling of safety and identification of possible specific features of the senior group with concerns about migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vulnerable populations are often excluded from research interviews, as they are considered too difficult to reach. If included, they often face barriers that obstruct active participation and collaboration among participants, such as low literacy levels, a lack of confidence, and mistrust. Based on a body of texts that deal with the inclusion of vulnerable participants, I have developed a methodology aimed at promoting substantive social impact on researched communities. I propose visually based worksheets as a tool to give voice to often silenced individuals, to contribute to social change and justice. In this article, I explore the possibilities of visual methods to facilitate interviews and encourage greater levels of participation. With the use of selected visual methods—image elicitation, drawings, diagrams, and card-based games incorporated into graphic worksheets—I demonstrate how to address low levels of participant cooperation and understanding of interview tasks. This article is based on extensive fieldwork in the form of interviews with people living in poverty in the Czech Republic. Through the example of five of the 17 worksheets I designed, I illustrate the motivations and thought processes that stand behind their creation. The worksheets are aimed at the inclusion of vulnerable populations and bringing their voices into the research while focusing on crucial topics such as housing history, debts and obligations, debt repayment, and financial distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines gender aspects of tactics of the alter-globalization movement. Focusing mainly on two transnational collective actions in Prague in 2000 and in Genoa in 2001, the research draws on participant observation, interviews with activists and analysis of the movement's alternative media. The feminist activism within the movement, the gendered tactics and their representation in the alternative media are analysed using the concept of diffusion. Although feminists are involved in the protests, and local Czech feminist activism was incited by the international mobilizations in Prague in 2000, they are often marginalized because of the emphasis on masculine confrontational and violent tactics used in demonstrations. The movement's alternative media further reproduce gender stereotypes. The visual representations of the tactics are traditionally gendered -- women are depicted as fairies, men as fighters; this is because the movement does not want to appear weak and feminine, and seeks to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants are our source of oxygen and nutrients on earth. Therefore, conservation of biodiversity is vital for the survival of other species. With the developing technology, plant species can be examined more closely. Image processing, which is a subject of computer science, has an important role in this field. In this study, an image processing–based method has been developed to automatically separate the petiole region of the plant leaves. To determine the boundary line of the petiole region, the cumulative pixel distributions of the input images in binary format according to the X - and Y -axis are analyzed. Accordingly, optimum thresholds and petiole boundary points are determined. The proposed method was tested on 795 leaf images from 90 different plant species that grow both as trees and shrubs in the Czech Republic. According to the results obtained in experimental studies, it is thought that the proposed method will make an important contribution especially in studies such as automatic classification of plants and leaves and determination of plant species in botanical science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The usage of mobile health (mHealth) applications is rapidly increasing. This research has been aimed mostly at reviewing existing mHealth apps and their functionality. However, studies from users' perspectives are rather scarce. This exploratory study addresses that gap and, using cross-sectional survey data, seeks to reveal the socio-demographic and individual characteristics of users who utilize specific functions of mHealth apps. The data were collected via an online survey through websites oriented toward eating habits, exercising, dieting, and weight loss. From the original sample (1002 users; M = 24.8, standard deviation = 6.9; 81.6% females), the final sub-sample of 406 participants aged from 13 to 39 years (M = 23.8, standard deviation = 5.3, 86.9% females) who reported usage of mHealth apps was examined. The analyses revealed demographic and individual differences in predicting usage of various functions of mHealth apps. The drive for thinness was associated with functions for weight monitoring and planning functions. Excessive exercise was associated with weight monitoring, socializing functions, and functions for planning and monitoring goals. These findings imply that mHealth apps should be individually tailored to incorporate components such as risk-specific warnings or the provision of information related to seeking professional help for at-risk audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines how the earnings structure in the Czech Republic and Slovakia changed after the collapse of those countries' Communist governments. Tests of four similar micro-data sets show that returns to education rose significantly with the transition to non-Communist governments. For example, returns to education rose from 2.4% to 5.2% for Czech men between 1984 and 1993. Though women had, in general, higher returns to education than men did, returns for men increased more with the regime change. Among both sexes, those with academic secondary education experienced particularly large earnings increases. Returns to experience, on the other hand, fell. Earnings structure changes appear to have been larger in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia, probably because transition occurred more rapidly and deeply in the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND - In the Czech Republic, education in addiction science consists of a distinctive and interconnected system of non-medical healthcare education on the Bachelor's (Bc) and Master's (MA) levels, followed by a doctoral study programme (PhD). Addictology (addiction science) as a new term is defined as a distinct and independent field of scientific inquiry on addictive behaviours and the risk environment of substance use, aiming at scientific and professional excellence relevant to society. AIMS - This case study seeks to identify, describe and explain important events in shaping the historical context of the Czech education and research programmes in addictology. DESIGN - The historical review is based on qualitative content analysis of central written documents. RESULTS - In the 19th century Czech territory, problematic alcohol use was addressed through self-help activities in the second half of the nineteenth century. During the 1950s and 1960s, a new generation of Czech psychiatrists emerged with an interest in alcohol treatment and in research of hallucinogenic drugs. A patient education bulletin Apolinárský zápisník [Apolinar Diary] was launched in 1951 and was later also used for education of treatment professionals in connection with other self-help and quasi-self-help activities. The monographs Alkoholism (1957) and Toxicomany (1973) conceptualised the core of abstinence-oriented historical traditions and developments. A separation of approaches to legal and illegal drugs can be observed in the 1970s. In 1967, a new and intensive training model was introduced for psychiatrists and psychotherapists, leading into specialisation in psychotherapy and addiction. Because of the Iron Curtain, Czech practitioners had to develop their own concept of addiction and ideas on training psychotherapists so they could not be labelled western or anti-state, or be subject to intense state control. CONCLUSIONS - The final profile of the study programmes is the outcome of a long-term process that commenced in the 1950s but with roots in the interwar years, when addictology in the Czech Republic reflected traditional healthcare-oriented models of training and education. In this context the historical development in Czecholovakia and later Czech Relpublic can be characterized as a combination of early interest in self-help activities followed by the development of specialized treatment programmes both affected by a futher 40 years behind the "iron curtain" and intensively confrontated with harm and risk reducation interventions after the Velvet revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we draw on the social network and international entrepreneurship literatures to examine the role of structural and relational embeddedness of international networks in firm internationalization. Based on a sample of 169 small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic, we found that firms with chief executive officers who had developed strong and diverse international networks exhibited greater knowledge of foreign markets prior to internationalization. However, contrary to our expectations, no relationship was found between network density and such knowledge. In addition, our findings indicate that foreign market knowledge prior to the first international venture had a positive impact on venture performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the reform of the Czech military from the perspective of the possible blurring of police and military functions. The understanding of security has changed in recent years and the European militaries have taken up nontraditional tasks both within and outside Europe. Moreover, the fiscal conditions have provoked further reconsideration of the role of military. The Czech Republic’s armed forces have undergone a number of reforms since 1989. The article focuses on three factors distinguishing the military from the police: territorial scope, use of force, and responsibility before the law. It concludes that although the Czech military has become more flexible, it does not use all its potential in practice, especially domestically. The article suggests that despite the adaptation to the new security environment, the military continues to be distinct from police. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article investigates how users in the Czech wireless network community invented a technology for sending data over visible, red light. For five years, this was the most affordable method for connecting computers. The development of this technology was guided by the idea that it should be controlled by its users. With reference to this experiment, it is argued that a shared ethical and/or political vision can contribute to the establishment of norms within user communities encouraging their members to share information with each other. Thus, it is suggested that ethical and political convictions can be crucial for enabling collective innovation processes. This highlighting of normativity is intended as a complement to the common premise in Innovation Studies that users innovate to satisfy unfulfilled needs. In opposition to this view, it is argued that the needs of users are not a constant but something which emerge together with the transformation of the user community and the technology in question. Particular focus is placed on the tension between, on one hand, the norms and ethical— political motives of the user community, and, on the other hand, the needs satisfied through product development, both stemming from the same innovation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines changes in shopping behavior in two postcommunist countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, by replicating Bitgood and Dukes's study of pedestrian choice point behavior. It also extends the former study by applying the methodology to a different type of intersection and subjecting the results to a random resampling statistical test. A survey conducted via naturalistic observation in selected Czech and Slovak shopping malls is presented. Is the movement of shoppers disorganized and unplanned, or is there a tendency to use the principles of the economy of movement, which suggests that pedestrians tend to move in a way involving the least number of steps? A randomization resampling test with 100,000 samples was performed on the data obtained in shopping malls. It can be concluded that pedestrians tend to avoid unnecessary steps by economizing their trajectories (t = 11.34, p = .00013). The results, thus, show that a qualitative change occurred in the shopping behavior of Czech and Slovak shoppers (as compared with year 2002), and there is an obvious tendency to minimize the total distance in correspondence with the principles of the economy of movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to account for both continuity and change in network structures and relationships by analyzing how a country's political approach to institution building shapes the reproduction of industrial networks. While firm-level actors may develop tenacious socio-economic relationships, the authority structure of a network emerges from the ways certain constituent firms align themselves with public institutions. I empirically examine this approach by analyzing the evolution of Czech industrial networks during and after communism. The fragility, eventual stability, and subsequent changes in networks come not from purely 'intra-network' factors, but rather from the political approaches of the government toward institution building. In short, this article aims to renew our focus on the origin and evolution of social capital and networks by enjoining network analysis with recent work in political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do east-central European bureaucrats more resemble their socialist-era predecessors or their member-state counterparts? Are socialist patterns persisting, or are we witnessing isomorphism toward a European Administrative Space (EAS)? Or both? I examine these questions through the Czech and Slovak cases. I begin by contrasting two ideal types: state- socialist administrative space and EAS. I present evidence from a survey of 296 Czech and Slovak managers and argue that Czech and Slovak administrations occupy interstices between state-socialist and European ideals. Although there is some evidence of convergence, Czech and Slovak administrations operate in spaces considerably distant from the EAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the democratization efforts of the post-communist European states, Czech Republic and Slovakia, and examines the factors that are obstructing the development of democratic national security systems. The lack of expert personnel for the suggested scheme of civil-military relation in a democratic state and a process for coordinating the existed national security expertise, are hindering the progress of the states towards democratic national security system. Challenges faced by post-communist militaries include various societal and military values, the structural and ideological reforms of their forces and others.

Presents information on a study which examined the attempts to privatize the Czech Republic's health care system from both a social and economic perspective. Implementation of mass privatization; State of health under the command economy in the Czech Republic; Transformation of the health system.

Analyzes the idea of Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, regarding the power of a truthful word, the strength of a free spirit, conscience and responsibility. Preachments about basic human rights; Havel's role before and during Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution; Emphasis on the potential of truth and humane values the transformation of human consciousness; Power of the word for good or ill.

At the beginning of the 90's, when the process of transition from a centrally planned to a free market system got underway in the Czech Republic, the main focus of scientific and research activities changed substantially. After 1989, during the transition period, the main focus shifted from production to the output side of organizations; to boosting sales and finding potential customers. The current academic programme concentrates on new topics directly connected with the changing economic environment of Czech organizations. There have also been substantial changes in the financing and organization of research in the Czech Republic. The former central ministry level of decision making, which specifies research topics and how they will be financed, has been completely transformed. One of the biggest current challenges facing the Czech Republic is the necessity to develop public management and to increase civil service standards, because in many areas of Czech administration, like legislation, the courts, police, financial institutions, health care, and education, the legislation and efficiency of the civil service do not match those of countries within the European Union.