Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6)

Populism and Growing Welfare State Agenda: Elections of 2013 and 2017 in Czechia

Tomáš Sirovátka, Lucie Novotná, Steven Saxonberg

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 567-591 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2023.026  

Although previous studies show that welfare policies are important for populist voters, few studies have analysed in depth the social policy proposals of different types of populist parties. Since the Czech Republic is one of the few countries with a strong centrist-populist party that has been in power, this article concentrates on the Czech case and compares this centrist-populist party to the largest right-wing populist party and the main non-populist parties. We argue that the centrist and rightist Czech populist parties have developed different types of welfare agendas. The centrist-populist party supports encompassing and universalist policies...

Manoeuvring towards Success: Reconstruction of the State and Its Effective Campaign Countering Corruption and State Capture

Jaromír Mazák, Lucie Němcová

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 593-616 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2023.027  

In the period from 2013 to 2017, the Czech Parliament passed five bills against corruption. A civil initiative called Reconstruction of the State was heavily involved in the process. Before the 2013 elections, the initiative prompted the candidates running for an MP mandate to publicly commit to supporting selected legislation proposals. The initiative used a variety of advocacy and campaign tactics to support passing the bills after the elections. This paper uses process tracing to answer the following research questions: (1) What path led to this success?, (2) Is there sufficient evidence about the actual role of the initiative in seeing the proposals...

Vibrant Civil Society in Slovakia? NGOs Supported by the CEE Trust Are Still Largely Dependent on External Financing After 20 Years

Dalibor Jurášek

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 617-643 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2023.055  

Large-scale funding of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) by states and corporations (external funding) can impact their functioning and diminish their civic character. It is therefore of importance to understand whether and how NGOs can become financially independent of external funding. In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), many NGOs were kickstarted by large sums from foreign state and corporate sponsors with the hopes of creating an independent civil society reliant on domestic sources: a ‘vibrant civil society’. However, did these NGOs become financially independent? This article examines a sample of 14 NGOs in Slovakia financed...

Between Politicisation and Depoliticisation: Restitution of Church Property in Czech Republic

Veronika Frantová, Petr Haas

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 645-664 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2023.032  

Elaborating on the process of the restitution of church property in the Czech Republic after the fall of the communist regime, this paper stresses the discursive dimension of this process. To obtain information on the main arguments for and against restitution, we selected two mainstream daily newspapers, the centre-right Lidové noviny and centre-left Právo, and the ‘official’ church media of the two largest churches seeking restitution in the Czech Republic: Katolický týdeník, the official paper of the Roman Catholic Church, and the monthly Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren magazine, Český bratr. All selected sources covered the 1990–2019...

From Neoliberal Restriction to Control of the Roma–Towards Post-Neoliberal Ethnic Welfare

Lucie Trlifajová, Filip Pospíšil

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 665-692 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2023.053  

The article examines how neoliberal reforms can pave the way for welfare racialisation, turning a delegitimised minimum-income scheme into a tool for racial-hierarchy enforcement. We follow the development of Czech minimum-income scheme legislation from 2014 to 2021, after a series of neoliberal (workfarist) reforms reinforced the restrictive and controlling aspects of the system. The analysed period is characterised by the greater involvement of politicians representing the poorest regions of the Czech Republic and by calls for further restrictions. Analysing parliamentary debates from this period, we show that the delegitimised social system is no...

Amanda C. Cote: Gaming Sexism. Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games

Světlana Nedvědová

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 693-695  

Louisa Allen: Breathing Life into Sexuality Education

Barbora Benešovská

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 695-700  

Elisabeth Anderson: Agents of Reform. Child Labor and the Origins of the Welfare State

Sergiu Delcea

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2023, 59(6): 700-703