Suchergebnisse

The East-Central European post-socialist transformations have now reached a new stage, with the need to address the problems of further modernisation & maintenance in the context of the EU. The role of elites in this process is as intermediators between the influence of the European context & the needs & interests of differentiated internal social structures. Their attitudes & behaviour exhibit a high degree of internal fragmentation & division corresponding to various strategical orientations favouring various societal models. The post-socialist Czech economic elite was initially reproduced out of former state socialist managers & their cadre reserves. After the first phase of economic developments, inspired by neo-liberal radical privatisation & elements of 'shock therapy', & once the new, more European phase ushered in many new factors, there was a distinct decline in the number of 'old-new' economic elite on the scene. In the empirical part of the article the results of several surveys are used to briefly describe the changes in the composition of the Czech economic elite in the 1994-2005 period & to summarise their attitudes & behaviour. The analysis concludes that the current image of a liberal & pro-European Czech elite is consistent with the stable & remarkable progress of the Czech economy since 1999, the considerable wealth, strong profits, & high salaries enjoyed by top elites, & the enhancement of their role in the European economy. There are also some limitations & weak points that diverge from this general picture. The article's conclusions touch on the question of the role of the economic elite in the progress of arriving at more consensual attitudes & behaviour among societal elites as a whole, favouring further economic growth, modernisation & the strengthening of social cohesion in the context of the EU.

Explores the connections between elite & non-elite changes (ie, longer-term shifts in stratification & class systems) driving transitions from state socialism, using the example of Czechoslovakia before, during, & after the 1989 collapse of state socialism & post 1993 with its emergence as an independent Czech Republic. The development of a range of people holding midlevel positions inconsistent with their economic & political statuses as well as their education & other social & cultural capital is discussed as forming the basis of a dissident movement. The appearance of a new elite between the Velvet Revolution (Nov 1989) & the rise of a sovereign Czech Republic (Jan 1993) is examined in terms of economic & cultural elite circulation. By the mid-1990s, the Czech Republic was led by moderately conservative elites supported by younger & middle-aged, relatively well-educated, & enterprising people of Western orientation. Differences between political, economic, & cultural elites are evidenced. Processes of intragenerational mobility into elite statuses, 1988-1993, are considered to illustrate gains & losses among various Czech elite groups. Profiles of economic, political, & cultural elite are provided on the basis of 1994 survey data from 1,509 members of old state socialist & new postsocialist elite groups. Elite attitudes are also briefly assessed, drawing on 1994 survey data from 423 elites. Postindependence developments among Czech elites are scrutinized in light of changing economic & political conditions, showing how the democratic means of political elite alternation worked to unseat one set of elites & install previously marginalized elite groups. Findings indicate that the complexity of social & political realities does not allow for unequivocal support for explanations of elite change centered on elite reproduction or elite circulation. 24 References. J. Zendejas

Explores the connections between elite & non-elite changes (ie, longer-term shifts in stratification & class systems) driving transitions from state socialism, using the example of Czechoslovakia before, during, & after the 1989 collapse of state socialism & post 1993 with its emergence as an independent Czech Republic. The development of a range of people holding midlevel positions inconsistent with their economic & political statuses as well as their education & other social & cultural capital is discussed as forming the basis of a dissident movement. The appearance of a new elite between the Velvet Revolution (Nov 1989) & the rise of a sovereign Czech Republic (Jan 1993) is examined in terms of economic & cultural elite circulation. By the mid-1990s, the Czech Republic was led by moderately conservative elites supported by younger & middle-aged, relatively well-educated, & enterprising people of Western orientation. Differences between political, economic, & cultural elites are evidenced. Processes of intragenerational mobility into elite statuses, 1988-1993, are considered to illustrate gains & losses among various Czech elite groups. Profiles of economic, political, & cultural elite are provided on the basis of 1994 survey data from 1,509 members of old state socialist & new postsocialist elite groups. Elite attitudes are also briefly assessed, drawing on 1994 survey data from 423 elites. Postindependence developments among Czech elites are scrutinized in light of changing economic & political conditions, showing how the democratic means of political elite alternation worked to unseat one set of elites & install previously marginalized elite groups. Findings indicate that the complexity of social & political realities does not allow for unequivocal support for explanations of elite change centered on elite reproduction or elite circulation. 24 References. J. Zendejas

The Czech Republic since 1989 : structures and actors.
The main aim of this article is to communicate the recent results of certain studies - or of analysis arising therefrom - which have been carried out on the structure of Czech society. In this way, the authors hope to give an exact outline of the new structure which is gradually taking shape during this first phase of post-communist transformation. For this purpose, they first of all go back to the end of the 1980' s, recalling what type of social structure it was that the Czech Republic began to break away from, and what were the underlying causes of this about-turn.
And again, who are the prime movers in this change, who cleared the way for society's current transformation ? A description of the characteristics of their group may serve as a succint summary of the social context within which political development has taken place over the last five years. It may also serve to highlight the social environment of new political élites. Finally, this article seeks to answer the following questions : are we seeing the emergence of a new social differentiation within the Czech Republic ? What are the factors having the most marked bearing on this ? Which social groups are « winners » and « losers » during the process of differentiation ? Is it already possible to identify the lineaments of these new social structures in more concrete terms ? What possible, and what probable, direction are society's efforts at restructuring likely to follow in the near future ?

"There are a number of significant social cleavages and political conflicts within the population of the European postsocialist societies. The first one concerns the cleavage between the decreasing number of people who benefited from the 'Ancien regime' and those who took advantage of the new developments over the past 12 years. The second one concerns cleavages based on ethnic differences, which are more important in South Eastern than in Central Europe. The third cleavage is the rapid polarization between the rich and the poor, which developed in the relatively egalitarian Czech social structure as a consequence of the rapid privatization and the sudden liberalization of both the economy and other spheres of life. These cleavages as well as some other conflicts influence the contemporary existing political relationships which - under Czech circumstances - are characterized by a relative balance of four main political currents. The optimal solution for the hybrid coexistence of these cleavages and conflicts would consist in strengthening the role of forces which are important for the development analogously to the more advanced postindustrial European models of social and political arrangements." (author's abstract)

Vorgelegt werden Ergebnisse des EG-Projekts "Ostmitteleuropa 2000", soweit sie sich auf die Tschechische Republik beziehen. Ziel der Untersuchung ist es, ein Bild der sozialen, politischen und wirtschaftlichen Wandlungsprozesse in der Tschechischen Republik in der Perspektive des kommenden Jahrzehnts zu zeichnen. Im einzelnen werden folgende Fragestellungen behandelt: (1) sozialer Wandel in der Tschechischen Republik; (2) internationale Beziehungen und internationale Rahmenbedingungen der Entwicklung in der Tschechischen Republik; (3) demographische Entwicklung und Arbeitsmarkt; (4) wirtschaftliche Transformation und Wirtschaftsentwicklung; (5) Gesellschaft und politisches System; (6) Bildungswesen, Wissenschaft und Technologie; (7) regionalpolitische Aspekte des Transformationsprozesses. (BIOst- Wpt)