Changing Values Lecturer: Jakub Dostál Content lHow did comunism/ socialism appear in Czechoslovakia lPost-communist transformation process in the Czech Republic lMain characteristics of the Czech political system lChanging the attitudes of the People lSummary l l Introduction lA size and a structure of the public sector is given mainly by: lIdeologocial assumptions and values lprevailing public opinion lReally? lIn the beggining of Comunism in Czechoslovakia were election! l1946 – Winner - Communist Party of Czechoslovakia with 38 % votes l40 % votes in Czech lmore than 30 % in Slovakia (in Slovakia won – Democratic party 62 % votes) lPeople freely vote for communism lwhy? lWild years l1914 – 1918 World War I l1930s Great depression l1939 – 1945 Nazi occupation l and World War II lPoor economic situation lCommunism – not a bad idea? lGiving the land after Sudeten Germans to the people (pushed by communists) lVery cheap or free l½ of villagers voted for Communist party lInfluence of Soviet union lCommunist win the elections with 38 % votes in Czechoslovakia and 40 % votes in Czech lWas it less or many? lElections after the Velvet revolution: l1990 – winner Civic forum 53, 15 % (98 % eligible voters!) l1992 lwinner Civic democratic party and Christian democratic party l29, 73 % (Czech) 33, 90 % (Czechoslovakia) l1996 – winner Civic democratic party 29, 62 % l1998 – winner Social democratic party 32, 31 % l2002 – winner Social democratic party 30, 20 % l2006 – winner Civic democratic party 35, 38 % l2010 – winner Social democratic party 22,08 % lA size and a structure of the public sector is given mainly by: lprevailing public opinion lIn tolatiarian regimes mainly before establising lBut exceptions: lAnnexation, occupation, war economy, disaster, etc. lIdeological assumptions and values lA political scene (as a designer of Public Policies) more or less reflects above-mentioned lUnderstanding these aspects is an important condition for la rational and correct evaluation of economic roles of government lChanging values and beliefs lBasic condition for any macro-structural transformation lCzech republic is not an exception l1989 - After 40 years of Communism lPublic oppinion – not this way! lDemonstrations lHunderds of thousands people in the streets lGeneral strike l75 % citizens, most of companies and institutions lNot this way – what did it mean? lCommunism x Democracy lSocialism x Market Economy lclassless, egalitarian and stateless society lprivate ownership is not allowed lpower has a group of people who decide the course of action ldemocratic principles lprivate ownership is allowed lgovernance carried out by the people directly or by elected representatives Post-communist transformation process in the Czech Republic Post-communist transformation process in the Czech Republic 1)„Velvet Revolution“ lNovember 1989 lFall of communism totalitarian regime 2)November 1989 - summer of 1990 lNew political representation appears lConstitution of the new pluralistic l parliament system lMainly its institutional framework l1989 Privatization lVoucher privatization lcitizens are given or can inexpensively buy a book of vouchers that represent potential shares in any state-owned company lmainly been used in the early-to-mid 1990s in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe lSuch as Russia, Polland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Czechslovakia lSummary of privatization in CZ lPrivatisation pass over formally quickly and simply lBut lot of money was stolen during l the privatization l50 bilions CZK - proved lHundreds of bilions CZK was stolen according the law or without proving lAccording some opinions it was still cheaper that slower form of privatisation l 3)The first half of the „nineties“ lEstablishing administrative settings of the complex market systém lRule of Czech ring wing lReformulation of social policy lAway from universalism and target benefit targeting lCzech and Slovak partnership problem lIt led to split up in 1992 (oficially 1.1.1993) l 4)The period between 1996 and the early elections of 1998 •Economic crisis and growing social differentation •Rise of social tension between those who: •Felt they gained on transformation •Felt they lost on transformation •Clash between: •Increasing influence of the democratic left wing parties •Winner of the election in 1998 •Decreasing influence of the right wing parties 5)2nd half of 1998 - beginning of 2001 o„The opposition pact“ oThe main rivals – the left wing and the right wing party oStrongly critizied by other parties and also by society o stabilisation of political condition enabled: othe completeness of institutional changes in the economic and political realm oRevival of economic investment l l lBUT lRaised expenditures led to marked deficits lCommunist preferences started raising 6)Recent years, since 2001 oConflict between rapid changes and trends oConstant lack of funds, especialy for oresearch and science ouniversity education ofor improving the salaries of teachers and health care workers oold age pensions 7) lYounger population (minority) are facing the elder population (majority) lThe importance of solving the relation between: lGeneration lRegions lEthincal groups lGender related problems lClassical left-right wing system often loses its function in respect of there function lDevelopment of the political spectrum in the Czech Republic lChanging priorities and values lSources of possible conflicts of interests and values Czech public opinion in these days lIn many respect relatively liberal lIt is shown by declarative attitude to: lAbortions lDivorces lRegistred partnership of homosexuals letc. lBut there is some fear in the society of: lImmigrants lMinorities lArabs, Romani… lConcerning the satisfaction with the post 1989 development l1st position for a years between CEE countries l1st years of transformation: ldid not raise such visible feelings of social uncertainty and poverty lDid not lead to such a dramatic lack of standard of living lSubsequent worsening of economic condition from the half on 90s lLed to the left-wing orientation in the Czech republic lAbout 1996 lSatisfaction with democracy has begun decreasing l„democracy is the worst form of government“ lexcept all those other forms that have been tried from time to time l Main characteristics of the Czech political system Main characteristics of the Czech political system lPluralist democracy lMultiparty systém lLot of elections lBorough representatives lMunicipality representatives lRegion representatives lNational representatives lChamber of Deputies lSenate lPresident lEU representatives Main characteristics of the Czech political system lThe most important ellection – Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic l2010 election to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of Cech Republic: l27 parties went to the elections l5 parties got to the Chamber of Deputies l5 % and more Transformation of the Public Sector Source: Czech Statistical Office Contemporary parliament parties ranked in order from left to the right right KSČM – ČSSD – VV – ODS – TOP09 left Communist party ‚Socdem‘ party Civil democratic party „Public affairs“ Results of elections 2010 (2006) for the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of CR: ODS (Conservative Party) 20,2 % (35,4 %) ČSSD (Social Democrats) 22,08 % (32,3 %) KSČM (Communist Party) 11,27 % (12,8 %) TOP 09 (Conservative Party) 16,7 % (new) VV (right-centre party) 10,8 % (new) ¨Newly out of the Parliament: KDU-ČSL (Christian Democrats 4,4% (7,2 %) SZ (Green Party) 2,4% (6,3 %) Source: CZSO’s election server http://www.volby.cz poll = 62,60% (in 2006: 64,47%) Percentage of Population Voting in the Czech Republic Source: CZSO’s election server http://www.volby.cz Transformation of the Public Sector Source: Czech Statistical Office Current composition of the Senate of the CR (according actual political membership Source: CZSO’s election server http://www.volby.cz Party Rep. % ČSSD (social democratic party) 36 45,00 ODS (conservative party) 23 28,75 Bez politické příslušnosti (independent) 13 16,25 KDU-ČSL (christian democratic party) 4 5,00 KSČM (communist party) 2 2,50 Severočeši.cz (local north boheamia party) 1 1,25 TOP 09 (tradition, responsibility, prosperity – conservative party) 1 1,25 Comparing the election's results of left wing parties in the Czech Republic Changing the attitudes of the People Foreigners in the Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) lDuring the communism: limited migration lCzechoslovakian citizen to other countries lEspecially western but not only! lForeign citizens to Czechoslovakia lHuge place for: lfear from the uknown lprejudices 4228800-the-peoples-of-different-nationalities-are-keeping-for-hands After the end of the communism lForeigners in the Czechoslovakia in half of the 1980´s l34–37 thousands of people lFrom 1991 this number become significantly increasing l220 187 in 1999 l406 2011 in 2011 lMore than 200 000 foreigners only in Prague! Number of foriegners in the Czech Republic l Number of foreigners in 2011 lUkraine 106 040 lSlovakia 80 967 lVietnam 55 585 lRussia 27 321 lPoland 19 048 lGermany 15 702 lBulgaria 7 387 lMoldavia 6 732 lUSA 6 385 lMongolia 4 882 lRomania 4 805 lBelorussia 4 072 lKazakhstan 3 727 lAustria 3 256 lItaly 2 925 lFrance 2 703 lNetherlands 2 672 lCroatia 2 382 lSerbia 2 144 lBosnia and H. 2 023 lArmenia 1 896 lMacedonia 1 665 lMontenegro 1 467 lOther 30 487 Attitudes towards preferred income inequalities lComparing 1991 and 1999: lInequalities are considered to be higher and less fair lLarger support for an opinion, the government should reduce it lStronger tendency towards egalitarianism within general public lSource: Řeháková, 2000 l l Income inequalities are: 1991 1995 1999 Too large 30,3 44,4 48,8 Rather large 39,0 37,1 40,1 Accurate 11,7 13,9 9,6 Rather small 15,0 3,9 1,4 Too small 4,0 0,7 0,1 Source: ISSP (1992, 1999), ISJP (1995), in Řeháková, 2000 Are you personally gaining or losing as a result of the social policy? (in %) l l (Definitely) Gaining Neither gaining nor losing (Definitely) Losing Czech Rep. 1999 9 23 46 Netherlands 1995 21 37 29 Note: The answer undecided, I cannot tell represents the % remaining to reach 100%. Source: Sirovátka, 2002 Two dimensions of attitudes towards democracy lVariables: lDemocracy (with all its problems) is the best possible form of government l (↑ implies principial support for this political regime) lAre you satisfied with the development of democracy in our country? l (assessment of the real functioning) „Democracy may have problems but it`s better than any other form of government“ (in %) Definitely agree Agree Disagree Definitely disagree Denmark France Germany NL Spain 71,8 61,3 52,5 48,1 41,7 26,8 32,0 42,8 48,2 52,1 1,1 5,3 4,1 3,3 5,1 0,3 1,4 0,7 0,3 1,2 Czech R. 40,5 52,2 6,7 0,6 Slovakia Lithuania Russia 31,9 22,3 11,9 52,5 66,6 50,5 12,6 10,2 31,8 3,0 0,9 5,8 Source: EVS 1999 in Vlachová, 2001 Are you satisfied or not at all satisfied with the way democracy is developing in our country? (in %) Satisfied Dissatisfied NL 73,5 26,5 Germany 70,8 29,2 Spain 60,5 39,5 France 49,4 50,6 Czech R. 37,7 62,3 Lithuania 30,3 69,7 Slovakia 23,4 76,6 Russia 6,9 93,1 Main findings concerning the evaluation of democracy lIn both cases the level of satisfaction and support lis lower than in the consolidated democracies of Western Europe. lA majority of the Czech public still have pro-democratic orientations lAt the same time, the former l „euphoria“ lwas replaced by considerable criticism land discontent with the way the democracy in the CR works l lAfter the refusal of communist regime lCitizens declared sympathies with the liberal way of thinking lexpressed huge support for reforms lImmediate social consequences of this reforms was minimal lLong-run social tension lConnected with other problems lLack of finance in health system lStrong need to improve old-age pension system lMidle of 90s lLarge part of population turn to social democratic or socailistic way of solving the problems lcorrelation between subjective feeling of economic uncertainty and left-wing orientation has markedly incerased lPublic has adopted a quite critical view of the current social policy lThe Czech public strongly emphasised lreciprocity between social security contribution and social benefits lWhen real reciprocity between contribution and benefits was declining Summary Summary lCommunism did not appear from nothing in Czechoslovakia – there was the election in 1946 lNew political representation in 1989 appear after the election lChanging the values and beliefs played the significant role lValues and beliefs of citizens keep changing even after 1989 lDifferent results in election lIt is often reflecting current problems in society lIt is possible that they will change also in future! lF. i. economic crisis, war have potential to change overall political orientation of citizens lMoreover the political system could even in future reflect changes of citizens´ values and beliefs lIn both directions l Basic sources: • Večerník, J., Matějů, P. (eds): Ten Years of Rebuilding Capitalism. Czech Society after 1989. Praha: Academia, 1999. • Večerník, J.: Czech society in the 2000s. Part 4. Prague: Academia, 2009. • Sirovátka, T.: Opinions of Czechs about the Welfare State. Sociologický časopis/Czech Sociological Review, 2002 38 (3): 327-344. • The thematic issue of the Czech Sociological Review, Spring 2001, dealing with Czech Values in the 1990s. The server of the The Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the CR http://www.soc.cas.cz