Suchergebnisse

The aim of the paper is to analyse the impact of political instability on inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) in transition economies (CEE, Balkan and Post-Soviet countries). Regarding standard indexes of political instability, there is a shortage of data within the selected sample of countries. Therefore, we propose alternative proxies for political instability. Furthermore, we distinguish between two types of political instability being omitted in thematic literature: elite (minority or weak governments) and non-elite (violent protests, civil wars, coups). The paper provides two-step empirical analysis: correlation analysis and regression models using standard OLS. Both analyses compare the effect of selected proxies for political instability on inflow of FDI and FDI per capita. In summary, it is not possible to prove the effect of political instability on inflow of FDI in transition countries in unambiguous way. Despite it, a few statistically significant variables seem to be perspective for future research; subindex Political Stability within Governance Matters by the Word Bank and Group Grievance within Failed State Index by the Fund for Peace (non-elite); Herfindahl Index Government and a dummy for (non)presence of parliament election (elite).

The Czech economy was characterized by a high nominal & real appreciation that was caused by great foreign direct investment inflow in 2002. The paper analyzes the effect of the Czech currency appreciation on industrial branches & the industry as a whole using a simple model based on a corporate accounting. The Outcome of the model is then compared with actual y-o-y data of non-financial corporations in 2002. There is significant difference between industrial branches in sensitivity to appreciation. Foreign owned branches are able to limit the negative impact of appreciation, whereas the worst situation is in branches owed only by residents & the public. The property structure, in addition to the labor intensity of production, has had a great effect on corporate finance after the rapid crown appreciation. 3 Tables, 3 Figures, 14 References. Adapted from the source document.

Focuses on foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, & Slovakia (CECs), where FDI penetration jumped to remarkable high levels in recent years. Foreign investment enterprises are more profitable, export-oriented & technologically superior compared to domestic companies. FDI is perceived as a main channel of technology transfer & potential source of spillovers in host economy, though, estimates of technology transfer show mixed picture in the CECS. FDI spurs restructuring & productivity growth in foreign investment enterprises but FDI rather crowds out domestic companies as spillovers are confirmed only to domestic companies with sufficient technological absorptive capacity. The paper concludes with some policy implications regarding FDI promotion & innovation policy. 6 Tables, 1 Figure, 66 References. Adapted from the source document.

This article focuses on a comparative analysis of the organization of contemporary Czech parliamentary parties. It emphasizes the structural and functional differences between the new parties—ANO (meaning "yes" in Czech) and Dawn of Direct Democracy—and older parties. The theoretical section presents the basic organizational types – in particular, the concept of the business-firm party. The following organizational aspects of parties are then compared: membership, form of funding, the role played by ground organizations, the position and composition of top party bodies, the role played by the party leader, and media resources. This analysis reveals that ANO and Dawn have a more exclusive membership than older parties and have centralized more power into the hands of the party leader, who is supported both by formal statutes and by informal structures. In the case of ANO, the central leadership dominates over lower-level ground organizations; Dawn forgoes them altogether. Its missing institutional base accelerated Dawn's implosion in 2015. ANO is characterised by a high degree of professionalism and control over key media, both of which were missing in the case of Dawn. ; This article focuses on a comparative analysis of the organization of contemporary Czech parliamentary parties. It emphasizes the structural and functional differences between the new parties—ANO (meaning "yes" in Czech) and Dawn of Direct Democracy—and older parties. The theoretical section presents the basic organizational types – in particular, the concept of the business-firm party. The following organizational aspects of parties are then compared: membership, form of funding, the role played by ground organizations, the position and composition of top party bodies, the role played by the party leader, and media resources. This analysis reveals that ANO and Dawn have a more exclusive membership than older parties and have centralized more power into the hands of the party leader, who is supported both by formal statutes and by informal ...

This article examines the relationship between transitional justice and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author aims to answer the question how, to what extent and on the basis of what mechanisms transitional justice contributes to reconciliation. In the first, descriptive part of the article she introduces the term and the mechanisms of transitional justice, and in the second, analytical part she examines their concrete form in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their contribution to the process of reconciliation, which is understood here as a renewal of relationships between individuals and a recognition of one's own responsibility for past wrongs. The author concludes that transitional justice contributes to the reconciliation process only in a limited way because of its low trustworthiness, its low visibility and the overly small investments in its measures. To bring about a societal change transitional justice needs to be implemented better, in a more thorough and sensitive way and especially visibly, above all in terms of restorative justice and truth telling. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents the initial results of a research project on the politics of local referendums in the Czech Republic, situating the Czech experience in the context of other Visegrad states. Data on Czech local referendums from 20002005 have been compiled from multiple sources -- local and national newspapers, data from municipal, district and regional authorities, interviews, and statistical indicators -- to ensure the completeness and comprehensiveness of the dataset. The article conceptualizes local referendums as the product of often arduous civic campaigns that, in the light of local political opposition, frequently fail to carry out the referendum. The study thus takes a referendum campaign's level of "success" as the dependent variable, and considers a range of demographic, political and civic factors as independent variables. Quantitative as well as case-study evidence is provided. The article finds that of the 114 local referendum campaigns that were initiated from 20002005, 82 referendums were ultimately held, of which about 48 were initiated by environmental NGOs or directly addressed environmental issues. The key variables determining the success of local referendum campaigns are municipal size, referendum theme, and the legal capacities and campaign strategies of the referendum initiators. In that regard, environmental NGOs have demonstrated a high level of organizational and political efficacy in comparison to other actors. Adapted from the source document.

We analyze corruption and economic freedom links to public finance and investment in new EU members. In terms of the public investment our results show that improvement in economic freedom is linked to increases in public investment while lowering of corruption is linked with increase or decrease with respect to public investment. As a complementary finding we show that increases in public investment are also linked with the ambiguous effect. In case of public finance our estimates suggest that debt usually decreases as economic regulation goes down while the effect on budget deficit goes both ways. On other hand, as corruption declines both budget deficit and debt decrease. Based on our results we generalize that measures taken to lower corruption and economic regulation should lead to improvements in fiscal position in most of the new EU member states. Adapted from the source document.

Direct action constitutes an important repertoire of action for environmental movements. Direct action is a way to bring attention to problems but it is also a goal and a value in itself. The paper deals with two different concepts of direct action: the liberal concept, which views direct action in instrumental terms, and the anarchist concept, which rather understands direct action in terms of values and as a preferred way of acting. The article particularly pays attention to environmental direct action, which further develops the anarchist concept of direct action as a preferred way of doing things. On the basis of an empirical research that was carried out, it answers the questions of how Czech environmental organisations have employed these different concepts of direct action, why their use of the liberal concept is very limited and why direct action as a preferred way of doing things has not yet become a part of the repertoire of collective action. The article finds an explanation for this in the very specific historical experience of the Czech environmental movement, which has tended to dialogue with power rather than confrontations with it, the political ostracism of the movement in the 1990s, and the different developments of the environmental and anarchist milieus, which did not allow for an overlapping of these milieus that would serve as the basis for the development of the practice of environmental direct action. Adapted from the source document.