Zdenka Mansfeldová

The Parliament of the Czech Republic, 1993–2004

The first decade of the Czech democratic parliament has seen the development of a newly conceptualised, bicameral parliament in a new state. We identify general tendencies towards stabilisation similar to Western European parliamentary practices. Another trend is the gradual change from organising the parliament according to the majority principle to that of consensus. There is also a long-term clash over the powers of the Senate and a gradual erosion of the dominant role of the Chamber of Deputies.

Central European Parliaments over Two Decades – Diminishing Stability? Parliaments in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia

This paper compares the development in four Central European parliaments (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia) in the second decade after the fall of communism. At the end of the first decade, the four parliaments could be considered stabilised, functional, independent and internally organised institutions. Attention is paid particularly to the changing institutional context and pressure of ‘Europeanisation’, the changing party strengths, and the functional and political consequences of these changes. Parliaments have been transformed from primary legislative to mediating and supervisory bodies. Though Central European parliaments have become stable in their structure and formal rules as well as in their professionalisation, at the end of the second decade their stability was threatened.

Social Partnership in the Czech Republic

Since 1989, Czechoslovakia, later the Czech Republic, together with other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, has been faced with a whole range of problems closely connected in the realm of public policy and policy making. These countries are expected to pass not only from totalitarianism to a pluralistic society and representative democracy but also from a centrally controlled economy to a market one. Reform strategy, which has meant rapid privatisation, the liberalisation of prices (a strategy called ‘shock therapy’) and an invitation to foreign capital investment, has needed a certain political and institutional background not only to solve expected problems but above all to make reform socially acceptable and bearable. However, the necessary intermediary structures were not yet fully established at the beginning of this transformation process. The institutional vacuum was filled by new political parties and other institutions which became substitutes for the non-existent intermediary structures. In these conditions, the federal government and the two national governments decided to co-operate with the trade unions and with newly established small business unions in an institution called tripartite — a corporate form of interest mediation. It was created by government and corporate institutions; mechanisms and objectives did not present a problem in the political discussions at that time. It arose as a negotiating and advisory body whose task it is to discuss questions of economic and social development. This chapter looks at the role the tripartite has played in the Czech Republic.

The Impact of the EU on the Czech Party System

The Czech Republic is notorious in Europe for the fact that there is no clear consensus on the benefits of EU accession or the future development of the European Union among the political elite. The level of public support for the integration project has also been quite low compared to other post-communist countries, especially before the accession referendum campaign in 2003, causing the Czech Republic to be labelled a ‘nation of Eurosceptics’ (Hanley, 2004). This Eurosceptic image has been strengthened by the media attention given to statements of the current Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, who has been opposed to the adoption of the European Constitution since its beginning and favours purely economic cooperation among European countries. Moreover, in the European Parliament elections in 2004, Eurosceptic parties gained almost 70 per cent of Czech seats in the European Parliament. These results prompt consideration of whether Czech citizens really are so sceptical about European integration and, if they are, what effect this has on party alignments.

Identity Formation of Elites in Old and New Member States (with a Special Focus on the Czech Elite)

The European Union (EU) and the concept of creating a new supranational political institution has been going through an unusually dynamic period of development in recent years. It has to do not onl...

Wahlen im Transformationsprozeß der Tschechischen Republik

Ausgangspunkt fur eine Analyse der Rolle von Wahlen im Transformationsprozes des tschechischen politischen Systems ist die Tatsache, das die ersten freien Wahlen in der Tschechoslowakei, d.h. in der Tschechischen und Slowakischen Republik, erst nach der sogenannten „samtenen Revolution“ vom November 1989 am 8. und 9. Juni 1990 stattfanden. Es waren die ersten freien Wahlen seit 1935, weil die ersten Nachkriegswahlen im Mai 1946 keine ganz freien Wahlen mehr waren. Das politische Spektrum war schon zu dieser Zeit durch die sowjetische Hegemonialmacht beschnitten. Sie verbot die einflusreichen rechtsorientierten Parteien, die in der Zwischenkriegs-Demokratie regelmasig in den Wahlen gesiegt hatten (vgl. Broklova/Brokl 1991; Broklova 1996). Das Parteienspektrum wurde dadurch kunstlich nach links verschoben. Dies wurde damals damit begrundet, das die Parteien rechts der Mitte mit den nazistischen Okkupanten kollaboriert hatten. Nach dem Wahlgesetz von 1946 waren lediglich Burger der tschechischen, der slowakischen oder einer anderen slawischen Nationalitat wahlberechtigt; von den anderen Nationalitaten nur jene Burger, die am antifaschistischen Widerstand teilgenommen hatten (Broklova 1996: 43).

Parteiensysteme im Entstehen — vier Fallbeispiele und ein Diskurs

In dem Wahlkampf vor den „ersten freien“ Parlamentswahlen in Ungarn 1990 dominierte — wie in allen ehemaligen realsozialistischen Landern — die Konfliklinie Pro- oder Antistaatssozialismus zwischen den politischen Akteuren und hat die meisten politischen Sachfragen (z. B. Ausarbeitung von konkreten Programmpaketen fur die Handhabung der okonomisch-sozialen Krise) fur kurze Zeit in den Hintergrund gedrangt (Bayer, 1991, 242–248).