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There is some indication that discrimination as well as low levels of life satisfaction render young people at risk of cyberhate victimization. Adopting a socio-ecological perspective, this paper examines whether supportive family, peer and school environments may buffer against the effects of perceived discrimination and low life satisfaction on cyberhate victimization. Data from four countries (N = 3396) of the EU Kids Online IV survey on children aged 11–17 (51% girls) revealed a positive association between perceived discrimination and cyberhate victimization, but this impact was moderated by supportive family and peer environments. A negative association between life satisfaction and cyberhate victimization was mitigated by peer support. However, no associations with the school context were found. The current study provides new insights on how social support on different levels of the social environment may buffer against potential risk factors for cyberhate victimization and can inform decision-makers towards intervention and prevention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes a classification of interest promotion methods used by small EU member states which draws on lobbying literature in order for us to better understand how small states pursue their preferences in Council negotiations. It explores a single case study of the Czech Republic’s efforts to influence the 2012 revision of the European Union’s Generalised System of Preferences scheme through the lenses of this classification. The empirical part of the paper is based on original research interviews with European and Czech stakeholders who participated in the studied negotiations. While the dossier was considered important, the Czech Republic failed to employ more elaborate methods of interest promotion and thus came away with a sub-optimal outcome. Rather than explaining this by pointing to a lack of socialization of Czech representatives (and thus a lack of effective competence), this deficiency can be better explained by the low salience of the general policy area for the Czech Republic, which prevented the country from developing a favourable position from which to react promptly to the related developments and deploy the lobbying tools at its disposal. The article suggests that the lobbyist-like character of a small member state’s performance in the Council may have wider consequences for the flexibility of the country’s EU policy and the ability of its governments to pursue specific European policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are only two European Union (EU) states where hard coal is still mined: Poland and the Czech Republic. One of the key interest groups in the hard coal mining industry are trade unions. They are particularly strong in this sector, almost entirely controlled by the state, in Poland—without their approval, it is in fact impossible to implement any significant reforms. The main goal of the article is to explain the influence of trade unions operating in the hard coal mining sector in Poland and the Czech Republic on the results of the reforms of this sector carried out in 2015–2019. The framework for empirical analysis is the theoretical output on interest groups and the power resources approach. Measuring the influence of an interest group on the decision-making process is one of the greatest challenges in research on interest groups. However, the empirical analysis allows us to conclude that the purposes of mining trade unions both in Poland and in the Czech Republic were consistent, that the shape of the reforms introduced in 2015–2019 was convergent with these goals, and that the activity of trade unions had a very big impact on these reforms. However, in the long run, hard coal mining in Europe is in decline and trade unions are only trying to stop what is inevitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unfavourable demographic trends are exerting more pressure on public pension systems in all European countries, and the need for alternative sources of pension provision is increasing. Personal pension products can be considered as a possible solution to the problem of providing adequate pensions. The pan-European personal pension product (PEPP) is the first standardised pension product subject to a uniform EU regime. Now that the regulatory framework for PEPP has been established at the EU level, it is up to the Member States to create an appropriate legal environment in order to promote the successful development of PEPP. This article examines the role of voluntary pension funds and the readiness to implement PEPP in the selected countries. We focus on the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, where the role of private pension funds is growing. We examine how PEPP can fit into the national pension systems and make some proposals regarding regulatory measures to be taken in order to ensure that PEPP is not at a competitive disadvantage against national pension products. We find that PEPP may fill the pension gap in countries where public pensions are the main source of retirement income and the role of occupational pension schemes is insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development towards a ‘Europe of the Regions’ is accompanied by a complex system of cooperation and interdependence between the different levels of policy-making. In this article, we ask how European integration affects the party composition of regional governments. We argue that the European Union (EU) classification system of regions — the ‘Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics’ (NUTS) — establishes incentives to form similar coalition governments among regions that belong to the same NUTS area. We test our argument by analysing government formation in the Czech regions and thus in one EU member state whose regions benefit financially from EU structural policy. The results show that there is empirical evidence to support our main hypotheses: even when controlling for variables that reflect standard coalition theories and for patterns of party competition in the national sphere, we find that coalitions are more likely to form if the respective parties are also part of the government in the regions that belong to the same NUTS area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article deals with changes in the journalistic profession and journalistic practices in the early 2000s in three new European Union member states: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. It can be argued that Eastern European journalists face changes and challenges related to the 'proletarization' of journalistic work, commercial pressures, and 'dumbing down' as well as changing work practices related to new technologies. Yet they face these changes in the specific context of post-communist societies where the links between media and politicians often directly influence the professional practices and standards of journalists. We concentrate on developments in these three countries in relation to three areas: 1) dominant values in the journalistic profession and their change in the past 10 years; 2) influence of structures of ownership and market forces on practices and processes of journalism, and 3) influence of technological changes on journalistic practices and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) has a crucial influence on the institutional development of corporate governance structures in Central Eastern Europe (CEE). As most political forces in the region favoured quick entry to the EU, one outcome has been an asymmetrical power balance between European regulators and national socio-economic configurations. We identify the EU's objectives and strategy with regard to the restructuring of corporate governance as crucial to understanding the role the EU is playing within the transformation of governance structures in CEE. Using the case of the banking and financial sector in the Czech Republic we analyse the changing regulatory framework of corporate governance. Central to our analysis is the role of the European Commission, which as a transnational actor, has played a major role in promoting and advocating regulatory policies conducive to further embedding socio-economic structures in CEE into the transnational political economy of neoliberal capitalist restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains, first, why there was a uniform emergence of equal opportunities legislation across East Central European states in the late 1990s and early 2000s and, second, why the speed of adoption varied across countries. The author deviates from a traditional comparative focus on domestic factors and instead treats her two case studies—Poland and the Czech Republic—as part of an international system in which external actors can exert a simultaneous but differential effect on domestic policies. The author argues that the European Union (EU) accession process prompted equal opportunities legislation in both countries but domestic actors mediated this influence in different ways. In Poland, legislation was delayed due to an organized opposition to EU gender equity laws and its close ties to parties of the Right in government, two factors absent from the Czech case where laws passed earlier. The author also suggests that the EU's financial and political resources may enable it to reshape these domestic actors in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to make a three-fold contribution to the study of Euroscepticism in the wider Europe. First, it presents a two-dimensional conceptualization of party positions on European integration in general, and of Euroscepticism in particular, distinguishing between diffuse and specific support for European integration (i.e. 'support for the ideas of European integration' and 'support for the EU'). Second, it analyses the location, type, and electoral strength of party-based Euroscepticism in the four candidate countries of East Central Europe - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Third, it contributes to the ideology vs. strategy debate, showing that ideology is the dominant explanation for both types of support, although strategy at times plays a role in explaining specific support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.