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This paper presents a comparison of time delays in the awarding of public sector contracts in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The problem of these time delays has not been adequately addressed in the academic literature. The authors analysed the factors impacting on time delays in each country. A significant portion of GDP, in all countries, is allocated via public procurement. This paper compares the length of procurement procedures in the Czech Republic and the UK and the reasons for delays. The authors highlight the absence of public policies on procurement in the Czech Republic. A basic prerequisite for improving the results of public procurement is for all actors in the process to be involved and committed: officials and politicians and the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the strategy of the Czech economic policy as regards the current enlargement process of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The authors discuss the validity of the Maastricht criteria for the new European Union (EU) member countries, as well as the risks and puzzles of both real and nominal convergence processes. The paper shows that current fiscal policy is the main limiting factor of the speed of the Czech Republic `s entry into the EMU. The paper concludes by arguing that the Czech Republic should endeavor to join the EMU as quickly as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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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]

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the development of Czech innovation policy which started to get its shape in the first years of the 21st century. The article traces its origins to a number of interlinked factors - the introduction of European regional policy in the Czech Republic, the increased inflow of foreign direct investment into R&D-intensive sectors and also the devolution of power to Czech regions that were established in 2001 and gave a new, regional dimension to research and innovation policy. It pays particular attention to the process through which the regionally-based innovation policy advocated by the European Union (EU) has been translated and adapted in the context of a new EU member state. As an illustration of the efforts at the regional level to make a better use of the potential of R&D and innovation in the regional development, a case study of a regional innovation strategy of the City of Prague is analysed. The City of Prague was selected for a critical analysis of an innovation system and innovation policy due to the fact that it is a region with significant but until now not fully exploited innovation potential and, in addition, its first innovation strategy has been recently adopted. The innovation strategy is closely scrutinized and the process of its elaboration is critically examined within the European and especially national context. The authors demonstrate that there is a lot of conceptual ambiguity and confusion associated with the process of transferring the experiences of Western European regions to the Czech Republic. The authors believe that at least some of their observations and analysis of weaknesses of the process through which the regional innovation strategy (RIS) has been carried out will have relevance for other Czech regions and even for other regions in the new EU member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is threefold. First, to provide an assessment of the accounting system operated in Czechoslovakia during the period of the so-called centrally planned economy (i.e. the command economy). Second, to provide a characterization of the new accounting system introduced in 1993. Third, to provide some indication of developing tendencies likely to become significant in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article attempts to contribute to the discussion on housing affordability and the use of affordability measures for normative purposes. The approach applied in this article is based on the estimation of economic quasi-norms on rent levels in rent-controlled (social) housing by looking at total public costs at different rent levels. The quasi-norms determining rents could be used for estimation of quasi-norms determining 'optimal' housing affordability ratios. As quasi-norms are set according to an econometric simulation output, they are less subjective than the usual normative decisions of policy-makers. This approach may have a significant relevance for some transitional countries and therefore the Czech Republic is used as a case study. The results show that there is a relatively large scope for further increases in rents in the Czech rent-controlled housing sector and scientific research can be thus employed to inform rent-setting and, via that, 'optimal' levels of housing affordability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on education generally find that higher education has a positive impact on various aspects of life. Nevertheless, studies focused on elderly people and their psychosocial health and development seldom view higher education as an important factor. Our aim was to explore the relation between higher education and ego integrity, a measure based on Erikson's concept of psychological maturity in later life. We used four national samples of non-institutionalized elderly people from Cameroon (N = 238), China (N = 254), Czech Republic (N = 167), and Germany (N = 240). Relationships between ego integrity and several possible moderator variables were tested by multivariate regressions in each sample. Between-subject ANOVA was employed to test differences in ego integrity between university educated and non-university educated people. We found that ego integrity is affected by culture in interaction with gender and the level of education attained. University-educated people reported higher ego integrity than persons with lower education in three of four cultural samples, which suggests a relatively stable relationship between university education and ego integrity when controlling for gender, age, and working status. These findings highlight the importance of education in late adulthood. In terms of policies and practice, they underscore the importance of reduction of educational inequalities as well as desirability of improved access to higher education, expansion of opportunities for the achievement of complete education in later life, and facilitation and support of lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the development of Czech adult education policy over the past twenty years. It comments on the fact that the processes of globalization and Europeanization represent the most significant factor of that policy. The introductory part presents the historical development from the mid-nineteenth century until the end of the communist regime. The subsequent analysis of the impacts of globalization on Czech education policy emphasizes local manifestations of and connections to the ideas and trends that may be traced in the vast majority of nation states. Examples include the influence of international organizations on the education policies of individual countries through expert opinions and policy documents as well as the phenomenon of vocationalism. Regarding the specific features of the national example under analysis, the article applies a concept of glocalization that surpasses the view of globalization as mere unification. It shows that globalization and Europeanization are clearly reflected in Czech education policy, while revealing that various forms and connections of policy transfer also display nationally specific characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article critically reviews the development of Czech immigration and integration policy with special emphasis on that part of migration policy that Czechia implements relatively independently of the EU. The main objective, then, is to shed light on factors that have influenced immigration and integration policy formation. The key question of whether integration policy is being formed in Czechia and what direction Czechia is taking is answered in the following steps: description of migration policy including the role of the EU, discussion of the influence of the apolitical nature of the migration policy and analysis of the influence of alien and security discourse on the integration of immigrants into Czech society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

Student assessment in the Czech Republic is still rather traditional, with classroom practice continuing to focus on summative assessment. The country has regularly participated in international surveys, but the findings from these only started to influence educational policy during the past decade, when Czech students’ performance fell markedly in all assessment domains. The principal response has been to introduce standardised school-leaving examinations at different points in the primary and secondary school systems. The examinations have several widely acknowledged shortcomings, however, and in the meantime assessment for learning remains a neglected area. The improvement of evaluation and assessment practices in the Czech Republic is hindered by low levels of expertise among teachers, principals and policy-makers, and the private sector testing agencies that have become very active in the country suffer from the same weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article considers women's and men's roles in the labour market and the different ways in which care-work is shared in Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Effective policy measures can prevent parenting of young children becoming one of the greatest risks of falling into poverty. The authors discuss to what extent the prevailing ideals of care influence the policies in relation to parenting as a source of social risks. The two post-communist countries—Slovenia and Czech Republic—show different trajectories in the development of childcare policies. The article shows that Czech social policies have reproduced the traditional ideal of full-time mother-care without preventing poverty and social exclusion of families with young children of pre-school age. In contrast to this, policies in Slovenia support female employment, with the ideal of professional childcare alongside parental care-sharing, which also helps to improve the economic situation of families with small children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of the CAP on the Czech Republic. Specifically, it focuses on implementation of the CAP and its economic, social and political effects, as well as the domestic debate about CAP reform. It argues that CAP implementation has gone fairly smoothly and the economic and social effects of the CAP have been generally positive or at least neutral. It also argues that while the CAP has had only a minimal impact on domestic politics, the domestic politics of agriculture could inhibit a strong Czech position in favour of CAP reform, even though the Czech Republic would generally benefit from further liberalization of the CAP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been considered one of the crucial factors of a successful economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe. This article investigates the role of FDI in the privatisation and restructuring of the Czech motor industry in the 1990s. In particular, it examines how governmental policies towards FDI affected FDI inflows, the immediate effects of FDI at the enterprise level, and the contested nature of this change. Advantages of foreign ownership for Czech enterprises, such as access to investment capital, access to sale and distribution networks of parent companies and technology transfer are discussed, as well as examples of failures of FDI to result in a successful enterprise restructuring. The information presented is based upon in-depth interviews with top managers of twenty component suppliers, governmental officials and vehicle makers in the Czech Republic as well as on the secondary data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]