Lecture
                                           Changing Values

                                             9. 5. 2005

                                              Content

*      Introduction

*      Main characteristics of the Czech political context

*      Changing priorities, public choice's failures Change of values





                                           Basic sources:

                                            Introduction

*      A size and a structure of the public sector is given mainly by prevailing public opinion,
ideology, and values

*      A political scene (as a designer of Public Policies) more or less reflects above-mentioned

*      Understanding these aspects is a crucial condition for a rational and correct evaluation of
economic roles of government

                Main periods in the post-communist transformation process in the CR

*      The second half of 1989

*      The period between November 1989 and the summer of 1990

*      The first half of the "nineties"

*      The period between 1996 and the early elections of 1998 

*      The period from the second half of 1998 to the beginning of 2001

*      Recent years



                         Main characteristics of the Czech political system

*      Pluralist democracy

*      Multiparty system (not just two main parties)

*      Difficulties in reaching majority government

    See graphs



               Contemporary parliament parties ranked in order from left to the right



          Results of elections 2002 for the Chamber of Deputies of the  Parliament of CR: 



                    Election into the Senate of the CR held in November 2004:   

                                      Income inequalities are:



                          Attitudes towards preferred income inequalities

                                                                      *       Source: Řeháková, 2000

*      Comparing 1991 and 1999:

  --    Inequalities are considered to be higher and less fair

  --     Larger support for an opinion, the government should reduce it.

  --    Stronger  tendency towards egalitarianism within general public



Additional Literature:

Vecernik: Earnings distribution in the Czech Republic. Survay Evidence of the Past Decade. Praha
2000

  

                                     Attitude towards Democracy

*      Variables:

  --   Is democracy (with all its problems) the best possible form of government?

  --   Are you satisfied with the  development of  democracy in our country?

      "Democracy may have problems but it`s better than any other form of government" (in %) 

  Are you satisfied or not at all satisfied with the way democracy is developing  in our country?
                                               (in %)
                                 Source: EVS 1999 in Vlachová, 2001

                                        Vlachova´s findings:

*      In both cases the level of satisfaction and support is lower than in the consolidated
democracies of Western Europe.

*      The evaluation of the performance of democracy depends most on the values and attitudes -- on
political culture than on trust in institutions.



            How does the government care for selected groups? (Sirovátka, Rabušic 1998)

                                          Change of values

*      Inglehart´s value concept distinguish Materialists, Post-materialists and "Mixed".

*      Some outcomes from comparison 1991-1999 (Řeháková,2001)

*      The concept of the post-materialism is described in the main Inglehart´s article: "The Silent
Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-Industrial Societies." American Political
Science Review 1971, 65:991-1017.

                                   Inglehart´s four-item battery 

*      4 Questions on "most important goal" of the country and then "second important one" from
follows:

*      A -- Maintaining order in the nation,

*      B -- Increase a participation in important government decisions,

*      C -- Fighting rising prices,

*      D -- Protecting freedom of speech

                                          Shift in values
                                         the case of the CR



*      Post-materialistic attitude is certainly present in the Czech population.

*      Present especially among younger people and those with higher level of education.

*      Connected more to rightwing political parties (different to western countries)

*      Less xenophobia, better relationship to environmental protection, more liberal, less
paternalistic...