The Economy of Czech Republic



The Economy of Czech Republic

Introduction

Czech Republic is a new European Union (EU) member state in east-central Europe, sharing borders with Slovakia and Poland on the east and Germany and Austria on the west. What is now the Czech Republic was the portion of former Czechoslovakia that appeared under the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union after 1945. Czechoslovakia was one of the states opened for tourism for Soviets who had the personal connections to get a permit to go abroad as part of a tourist group. Czech people, especially those in the Communist Party or government, also gained the practice of appealing to informal networks after more than 50 years of being in the sphere of the Soviet Union political and economic interests.

After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the socialist mode of development was left behind, and in 1993, the state was split into two countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. To some extent, due to its joining the EU in 2004, the Czech Republic—with more than 10 million people—experiences intensive migration inflows and outflows, although ethnic Czech people still constitute the majority of its population (about 95 percent).

The role of networks within power authorities in new EU member states like the Czech Republic is noticed in different spheres due to the continuity of some strong ties, common biographical experiences, and values between actors. Informality and the use of contacts in the Czech Republic are sometimes described as important and functional characteristics during the period of transition, when old institutional norms were rejected but new ones needed to be formulated. Despite this impact of informal networks into postcommunist state development through establishing interpersonal trust and common field of interests, the old-regime networks are perceived in a rather negative way, as they managed to survive after the Velvet Revolution, with some actors even keeping their positions in power.

Czech Republic Political Positon

As argued by various studies, the most widespread types of informal connections in Czech Republic power circles are political, education based, and colleague based. One example is the professional networks that were established during the communist period, based on shared knowledge and skills in a common field. These continue to have an effect in the post communist context, as they have become a platform for forming different interest groups, especially visible in the case of the first “think tanks.”

The role of professional networks in the civic movement in the early 1990s was important, because connections between former employees of academic institutions were based on the shared interests and ideas of the first think tanks after the Velvet Revolution. Previously, they were involved in the Civic Forum—the political platform, which gave birth to a new elite alternative to communism. Ties developed during the socialist period, when scientists and engineers worked in state academic institutions and were involved in civic activities to help to explain why these people could create good relations with political authorities under the new system. Founders of the first think tanks benefited from international ...