Search

This paper attempts to show what effects Europeanization has had on the pro-life movement in the Czech Republic. The first section of the text outlines a multifaceted concept of institutional theory based on historical institutionalist ideas. Next, it looks at one specific institutional process, Europeanization, informed by the work of Radaelli as well as della Porta's and Caiani's work on mobilization in the European Union. The following section defines the relevant actors in the Czech pro-life movement. Finally, the paper applies this concept of Europeanization of social movements to the Czech pro-life case. The paper concludes with observations that Europeanization of the Czech pro-life movement is uneven, manifesting itself among some actors, though not all, and in some areas of Europeanization. Charitable organizations as well as one highly visible activist group are highly associated with processes of Europeanization; on the other hand, in most cases, other activist groups in the pro-life movement in the Czech Republic are more highly influenced by more general trends in interest-group internationalization. These insights may pave the way for additional research on trends both of the European pro-life movement as a whole, as well as serving as a touchstone for improving such theoretical concepts as "Europeanization" vis-à-vis "globalization" or "European integration". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 paper examines the impact of EU integration on the foreign policy of the Czech Republic. It surveys Czech foreign policy since 1989, focusing on five distinct periods of the Czech Republic's relationship with the EU. The paper concludes that EU integration has had only a limited impact on Czech foreign policy in comparison to domestic political factors. EU membership also does not appear to have altered basic perceptions of Czech foreign policy interests, which remain largely determined by (pre-1989) historical experience and perceptions of geopolitical vulnerability. However, the Czech Republic has also sought to use the EU to achieve its key foreign policy goals, especially during its EU presidency in the first half of 2009, and EU membership has influenced the development of Czech policy towards Eastern Europe. In these regards, at least, Czech foreign policy can be said to have been 'EU-ised'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares profiles and policy-related activities of policy workers (PWs) in thirteen Canadian provinces and territories with PWs in the Czech Republic regions. Canadian data come from 13 separate surveys conducted in provinces and territories in late 2008 and early 2009 {N = 1357). The Czech data are from analogical large-scale survey carried out at the end of 2012 (N = 783). First, the paper compares basic characteristics of Canadian and Czech PWs. In the two countries the proportion of men and women is similar and PWs are equally highly educated. Examining other characteristics, however, reveals substantial differences. When compared with the Czech PWs, Canadian PWs tend to be older, more often having social science educational backgrounds, more frequently recruited from academia, stay in a single organization for a shorter period of time and anticipate staying in their current position for only a short time. Second, a comparison of policy-related work activities discerns three basic clusters of policy tasks: policy analysis work, evidence-based work, and consulting/briefing. Canadian PWs are much more involved in evidence-based work, especially in evaluation and policy research. They also deal more with policy analysis activities such as identification of policy issues and options. In contrast, Czech PWs are more engaged in consulting with the public and briefing managers and decision-makers. The article concludes with implications for further research and theory building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the section of officials in the central administration who belong to the ministerial staff of the Czech Republic. It examines those persons engaged in the creation of analyses, strategies, and management activities. The study is based on original research conducted by the ministries of the Czech Republic in 2013 (N = 1351). The article seeks to discover what the make-up of this group is in terms of gender, age, and education levels at the chosen ministries, as well as to report on the types of experiences the group has had. The analysis shows that ministerial officials are in fact a gender-balanced group of employees, predominately university-educated. The overall median age of employees in all ministries is 42 years. On the other hand, there are certain inter-ministerial differences, as explained in detail in this paper. Based on results of the empirical research, conclusions have been drawn that may also serve as an inspiration for similar investigations in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe that address similar issues as found in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to better understand the current practice of arts therapy in educational institutions in the Czech Republic comparing it to that in health-care institutions and other working environments. The research goal was to analyze the prevalence of the different fields of arts therapy, the main difficulties of clients, the therapeutic forms, the ways of interdisciplinary cooperation, and the groups of therapists (according to their age and duration of practice). The data collected from the first national survey using "The Practice of Arts Therapies" questionnaire were analyzed with descriptive and inductive statistics (Chi-square test). The 142 respondents who participated in the study were contacted mainly through professional associations. The significant characteristics of arts therapies in educational environments are linked to the diffusion of the respective arts therapy fields (music therapy being the most prevalent), the main difficulties of pupils (learning difficulties/multiple disabilities or no obvious problems), and to the length of practice of the respondents. The results can be used for the creation of a research-based map of Czech arts therapies in educational institutions and for further development of this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the main types of methodological approaches to the examination of subjective working life quality. In particular, it points out their common traits and differences and therefore shows their potentials as well as weaknesses in different survey purposes. Analysis of Czech worker survey data is based on the dual concept of the quality of working life, which is addressed in the first parts of the study. Two basic dimensions of the concept are described as a problem of a combination of objective characteristics and their subjective perception by workers. A system of three main levels which can produce relevant information for working life quality analysis (micro-, meso- and macro-) is introduced. Special attention is paid to a discussion of various types of survey questions (simple question, one-dimensional set of items, multi-dimensional set of items). The paper shows which kind of information they can deliver and how they work in different survey data analyses. At the same time, their different potentials in the case of meritory analysis are discussed. In connection with two fundamental objectives that may be pursued in the study of working life quality, i.e., the construction of an aggregate indicator and comprehensive analysis, the options and pitfalls involved in the merging of these different areas are commented on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the gender wage gap as well as male and female earnings as a function of within-firm tenure in the Czech Republic during 2004-2008. Using segmented regression, the wage gap and tenure were found positively correlated for approximately the first five years of within-firm employment, after which the correlation was near zero. Returns on tenure were greater for men than women, with a statistically significant breakpoint at the seven-year mark for men. These findings confirmed the outcome of other researchers who attributes the gender wage gap to the life and work cycles of women. The model of deferred compensation, in which women are more likely to select out of companies that defer compensation, may help explain the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do women perform worse than equally able men in stressful competitive settings? We ask this question for competitions with a high payoff--admissions to tuition-free selective universities. With data on an entire cohort of Czech students graduating from secondary schools and applying to universities, we show that, compared to men of similar general skills and subject-of-study preferences, women perform similarly well when competition is less intense, but perform substantially worse (are less likely to be admitted) when applying to very selective universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses several issues surrounding the decision of the U.S. government to downgrade the military obligations expected of the newer European state members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The newer NATO members, or the generally pro-U.S. states that joined NATO during its 1999 enlargement, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, are not yet the kind of partners that U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld imagined them to be.

Attitudes. Cultural Transformation of the Czech Society against the Background of Its Economic and Political Transformation. The article analyses the phenomena of integration and stability of the Czech society emerging from the heterogeneous processes of economic, political, and cultural transformations. The starting point of the analysis is two contradictory theories: the theory of value pattern originating from structural functionalism of Talcott Parsons, and the theory of interests and attitudes related to a position within social and power structure originating from the constructivist structuralism of Pierre Bourdieu. The main difference between the two theories is that, according to Parsons, value orientations come from a symbolic order and social action is integrated upon shared common values, while Bourdieu asserts that attitudes are determined by the interests and resources inherent in the position within an objective social space. The essential question of the paper is whether it is possible to identify a dominant cultural value pattern in the Czech society and whether it is relevant to apply the structural functionalism methodology to the case of contemporary Czech society. The article uses surveys of value orientations and social justice perceptions in the Czech Republic. Due to the unclarity of theoretical backgrounds of these surveys and the coexistence of three basic types of social relationships in the Czech society only hypothetical conclusions refering to the main question can be drawn. There is no dominant value pattern in the Czech society because life strategies, value orientations and a dominant ideology of justice are determined by a class and status position. It does not mean that the Czech society is individualised, on the contrary, it is a differentiated social structure that plays the major role in differentiating the attitudes of the Czech population. Hence, it would be relevant to apply the Bourdieu's theory of social space to the study of value orientations and attitudes of the Czech population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article critically examines Czech and Slovak discourses on the so-called 'core' of the European Union. It argues that despite their similarities as small Central European states, Slovakia and the Czech Republic exhibit significant differences in how the geopolitical imagination of their political establishments re-presents the countries' position in the center-periphery relations. The article does a two-step analysis. First, it discusses the cultural roots of the contemporary geopolitical imaginaries, tracing them back to formative periods of national history. Then, it analyzes present day establishment discourses on the 'EU core', concluding that the Czech foreign policy debate demonstrates a much stronger tendency towards deliberate self-marginalization and is characterized by competing securitization discourses, one of which warns of the danger of marginalization outside of the 'core' while the other attempts to securitize European and German 'hegemony'. The Slovak discourse, on the other hand, is characterized by an underlying constitutive fear of the Self, related to past experiences of anti-Western authoritarianism. This stimulates a much more Euroenthusiast Slovak attitude towards the 'core'. The article contributes to the social constructivist debate by arguing that small states can display different attitudes towards European integration based on their identities and historical experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last quarter century, women's reproductive behaviour underwent a marked change in Czechia. The 2011 census showed a fall in cohort fertility below two children per woman by the end of her reproductive span. Factors behind changes in fertility, particularly from a cohort perspective, have not been sufficiently analyzed. The aim of this article is to determine the main factors influencing cohort fertility in Czechia. The main objective is to test the impact of the most frequently discussed factors of fertility at the individual level. The analysis is based on anonymised individual-level data from the 2011 Czech Population and Housing Census. We used the method of causal modelling to monitor the impact of various factors on cohort fertility. It was confirmed, that the key factor behind fertility levels was the marital status (married women are more likely to become mothers than single women). Other important factors included woman's income (a higher income raises the chance of remaining childless or having only one child) and achieved educational level (the level of childlessness increases as the level of education rises). Future fertility rates in Czechia will depend mainly on the extent to which university educated women will be capable to reconcile work and family life in order to fulfil their reproductive ambitions. By analysing the differences in cohort fertility among various population groups and identifying the factors that may affect fertility levels across these subpopulations, it is possible to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind changes of reproductive behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union currently faces many problems, including its image among the public in member states. This article goes back in time to the Grand Accession from 2004 to remember a rather positive approach of candidate countries to the EU. The aim is to investigate whether and how the whole movement has influenced public diplomacy activities as it represented a significant political impulse in many candidate countries. This study examines the pre-accession strategy and later activities at the strategic documents level. Using the documentary analysis, text focuses on the occurrence of some terms associated with good image and presentation in documents as well as changes in conceptual apparatus that was used. The results show that there is a difference in influence of the pre-accession strategy on the information and communication strategy on European affairs and public diplomacy or general presentation abroad. Differences arise primarily in the terminology used, the frequency of documents adopted and the extent to which they are being met. Each area is also managed by another government body. Principles of the campaign and communication on European affairs with domestic public became an integral part of domestic information policy and the occurrence of its documents has intensified over time. On the other hand, general presentation and good image of a country, even if presented in concepts of foreign policy and government statements, until recently has had almost no practical impact on the activities of state authorities. It is nevertheless considered an impulse for the authorities to give a broader reflection on the good name of the country abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a methodological approach to the topic of the racial discrimination of Roma people in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation draws on three models of modus vivendi between Roma people and the majority, including the concepts and forms of direct and indirect discrimination. The core methodology employed in this article is the legal and sociological analysis of various national and international statistics as well as practices of the courts, which are focused upon throughout. The fieldwork within this article deals with the various attitudes of Roma parents to the introduction of Roma assistants in primary schools in the Czech Republic and is enriched with in-depth interviews conducted with Roma teaching assistants. Data from original research in three Czech elementary schools are compared with forms of discrimination in Bulgaria and in the Russian Federation regarding their educational systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of alternative media is confronted with endless discussions about its key features and practices, which allow academics and media practitioners to differentiate alternative media from mainstream media. This article critically contributes to this debate by deconstructing and complicating the dichotomy between alternative and mainstream media. In a first part, the defining components of alternative media are discussed, looking at their relationship with the social context, their content and their organizational structure. At the same time, some of the tensions embedded in the concept of alternative media are laid bare. In the second part of the article we present an analysis of three local Czech magazines which are perceived and labelled by their publishers as ‘alternative’, though, as we show, they hardly meet the criteria described by alternative media theory. The ambiguity in the alternativeness of these media organizations not only raises questions about their labels (and whether we should accept their self-definitions), but more importantly also raises the issue how alternative media theory can deal with this type of organization. Instead of describing these media as hybrid, we suggest that they remain positionedwithinthe category of mainstream media, though at the same time they aredifferentfrom the ideal-typical conceptualization of mainstream media. The notion of alternative mainstream media is proposed, together with a plea for alternative media theory to protect the alternative media signifier more and to further unpack the notion of mainstream media. [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]

Deconstructing and explaining the Czech involvement in Afghanistan's post-war reconstruction are the key roles of this study. The notion of strategic narrative has recently been gaining popularity with security analysts. This work considers the applicability of this concept and its links to the genuine motives for the Czech presence in the ISAF mission. State-building efforts in Afghanistan have come increasingly to reflect a war of attrition and the political need to justify these unpopular activities has grown. This analysis of the Czech engagement in Afghanistan is the first of its kind: it draws systematically on primary data - particularly opinion polls - to link domestic political and public preferences to the country's participation in the ISAF mission and NATO more generally. The analysis takes in Czech activities in Afghanistan, public opinion and the contestation of the country's involvement by its political elite. It shows that there is a disconnection between official decision-making processes and popular beliefs as well as between the government and the political opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proclamation of the Charter for Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in December 2000 at Nice, France, followed by its inclusion within the failed Constitutional Treaty and its current status as a legally binding document under the Treaty of Lisbon, charts the changing fortunes of European Union politics dealing with fundamental rights protection. This article outlines the main rationales and hopes behind the enactment of the Charter and notes that through the process of political conditionality it may have been devalued from its very conception. The article suggests that, following their accession, Poland, and later the Czech Republic, used the Charter and Lisbon Treaty negotiations, including their opt-outs from the Charter, to engage in a game of power politics that had both domestic and European undertones. This politics of power game-play reflected a need by both states, and Poland in particular, to respond to both the political conditionality that they had been required to sign up to as part of the accession process and to emphasise how membership had improved their negotiating power. The article suggests that the consequence of this action by both states has not only further devalued the Charter but potentially undermined the rights of Polish and Czech citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to contemporary societal trends, social services are becoming more important in welfare state architecture than in the past. In the proposed article we deal with the question as to whether the development of selected Czech social services is following (dis)similar trends when compared to other EU countries. Two areas of social services (childcare and elderly care) will be analysed with a focus on the key aspects of governance in child care and elderly care: financing, regulation and service delivery, how they have developed over the past ten years in the Czech Republic in comparison with other states which represent different welfare policies (liberal United Kingdom, conservative Germany and social-democratic Denmark). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of norms in the foreign policy making of Central and East European states in the 2000s. It deconstructs the normative foundations of the so-called ‘Atlanticist’ orientation of Central and East European states, going beyond the standard ‘neorealist’ notion whereupon strategic and security concerns lead small states to align with superpowers. The case studies of the Czech and Slovak republics demonstrate that norms, such as human rights and democracy, have an autonomous and traceable effect on state behaviour. More specifically, we argue that norms have translated themselves into policy outcomes via the agency of influential ‘norm entrepreneurs’, such as ex-dissidents and their associates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a survey of scholarly articles and books written about the historiography of Slovakia since 1993. It analyzes the themes that Western scholars focus on when writing about the history of the second Slovak Republic, particularly focusing on the role that previous efforts to gain independence, or autonomy, played in the decision to split Czechoslovakia into Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Some of the literature discussed includes the books "The Czech and Slovak Republics: Nation versus State" by Carol Skalnik Leff, "Defining the Sovereign Community: The Czech and Slovak Republics" by Nadya Nedelsky, and "Nature Protests: The End of Ecology in Slovakia" by Edward Snajdr.

The new security challenges began to be emphasized in Czech strategic documents as early as the beginning of the 1990s. As a result, the Czech Army has been undergoing its radial and essentially continuous transformation since the beginning of its existence in 1993. The elimination of these threats became an important task for the Czech military. In contrast with the situation in the other armies of consolidated democracies, the ideal of the military professional has not changed much in the Czech Republic. It still is a combination of a warrior, technician, and manager. In 1989-92, there were some processes taking place in Czechoslovakia in the area of civil-military relations that, in many respects, differed from the development in Western Europe. The most important of these was the process of the de-politicization of the army in the sense of freeing it from Communist Party influence and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the prospects for new European Union (EU) member countries in pursuing their foreign policy objectives in relations with China. Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia cherished an idea of making China an alternative economic partner. However, after 1989, China perceived these states as minor, almost unimportant partners, regardless of their efforts. Their profile was raised by EU accession but there was little change in their strength in terms of bilateral relations with China. The article investigates the failures and partial successes of the Czech and Slovak relationships with China, comparing their different approaches to the balance between focusing on political and human rights issues and the pursuit of economic and business interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, through an examination of the discourse by the elites and public opinion, I discuss how the Czech Republic conceived of its place and security in the world in the first five years following its independence. In doing so, I argue that how the Czechs have collectively conceived of themselves had an impact on the strategic choices the Czech Republic had to make to adjust to international change resulting from the end of the Cold War, and on the type of armed forces it decided to develop. The emerging Czech security identity and strategic culture observed during that period indeed brought connections to policy choices, and as such made NATO membership a policy priority, and the development, within evolving financial constraints, of capable armed forces taking active part in Alliance activities the number one defense priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the social and political situation of the Roma ethnic group in Eastern Europe, focusing on issues such as discrimination and ethnic violence in the decades which followed the collapse of Communist rule. Examples are drawn from the history of the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Romania. Instances of forced sterilization of Roma women in the Czech Republic are described. Ethnic violence involving Muslim Roma in Kosovo is discussed. The history of Roma enslavement in Wallachia and Moldavia, which lasted into the nineteenth century, is also noted.

This article investigates whether the Visegrád Group (VG) is proving capable of a successful transition from preaccession to postaccession cooperation in the expanded European Union (EU). Prior to EU accession, the VG agenda mainly emphasised political cooperation around strategic goals of EU and NATO membership, acting as an incubation chamber and the organising framework for joint policies and actions. The article finds that pessimistic prognoses for postaccession VG cooperation in circulation around the time of EU entry rather underestimated the VG's staying power and its usefulness as a vehicle for serving some of the requirements and challenges of the actuality of the "return to Europe." The postaccession agenda seems to have opened up many new avenues for cooperation on both intra-VG and external affairs, including towards the EU, and seems to have given rise to the kind of substantial practical cooperation agenda that eluded the VG during the preaccession period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents reflections on the Chechen conflict according to the perspectives of the Czech society. It is stated that because the conflict began soon after Czechoslovakia gained independence after more than forty years of Soviet domination, the attitudes of Czech have not been impartial. Western media describe Czech public opinion as highly influential towards effective solution against terrorism in the area.

The article focuses on contingency planning for the company as an integral part of the company management. The authors are trying to look at this is me holistically and as a major factor responsible for creation of contingency plans the authors perceive holistic competence (social maturity, the expertise and skill applications) of the manager in relation to the requirements of holistic competence of members of the management. Only then it is possible to carry out a thorough analysis, risk identification, and set the relevant crisis scenarios. Problems of crisis are based on the research, which was carried out, aiming to evaluate who and how participates in companies operating in the Czech Republic in the creation and the use of contingency planning. The research questions were directed to the area of emergency planning and to the requirements for persons who is responsible of implementing these contingency plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]