Suchergebnisse

This paper examines the landscape of policy work conducted by NGOs with respect to the social inclusion agenda. Based on a qualitative case study of integration policy in a Czech city, the paper focuses on the relations between collaborative and critical policy work of NGOs. In this case, while the collaborative position is mainly justified by apolitical expertise, long-term professional experience and compliance with official standards of social work, the latter calls upon community-based knowledge and political participation. We argue that despite indisputable long-term benefits of collaborative policy work it includes risks of paternalism, accountability deficit and exclusiveness. These risks become more significant with increasing shared understanding and mutual interdependence. In this situation there is a room for the episodic external critical capacity to challenge the governance structure and enforce the accountability of collaborative networks.

This article examines the construction of self‐employment in public policy debates, focusing on how political actors define self‐employment and on the moral implications of these categorisations. Employing critical discourse analysis and the social construction of a target population, the authors examine verbatim transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Czech parliament between 2021 and 2023. These debates reveal how legislators perceive the value of self‐employment as a part of the economy. The study explores the underpinnings of such public policy debates, as well as the moral consequences of categorising self‐employment. We argue that by foregrounding some morally loaded argumentations and, in particular, discursive constructions, politicians (as both discursive and policy actors) make some parts of the experience of self‐employment invisible and neglected by policy; as a result, this contributes to the precarity of the self‐employed.

Policy Analysis in the Czech Republic is a vital addition to the International Library of Policy Analysis series. It is not only the first comprehensive overview of the historical development and current state of policy analysis in the Czech Republic, but also in the post-communist Central and Eastern European region. As such, it provides a unique picture of policy analysis that in many respects profoundly differs from 'Western' policy analysis textbooks. Written by leading experts in the field – including practitioners – it outlines the historical development of policy analysis, identifies its role in academic education and research, and examines its varying styles and methods. This unique book offers indispensable reading for researchers, policy makers and students