Suchergebnisse

This study offers an analysis of the role of private security companies (PSCs) in the Czech Republic that builds on the model of global security assemblages developed by Abrahamsen and Williams. It applies this model to the Czech experience with the privatization of security since the end of the cold war by utilizing available data, complemented with information derived from structured interviews with the owners of PSCs operating in the Czech Republic. It suggests that the Czech market with commercial security services exhibits several specific characteristics, including the relatively high total number of registered PSCs (7000+) and their professional associations (16), the size of the gray and black markets involving PSC services (30 to 40 percent of the entire market), and the phenomenon of so-called "reverse revolving doors," whereby former owners or top managers of PSCs directly, or through family members, enter into, or establish their own, political party. Overall, however, this study confirms the key conclusions from previous applications of the model regarding the partial disassembly of the Czech state's security functions and the corresponding re-articulation of relations among public and private actors in the provision of security. Adapted from the source document.

This study is an attempt to outline some initial insights into the practice of PA professionals in the Czech Republic. The main goal of our research study was to describe and analyze the state of the field of public affairs (PA). Our main research focus thus was to describe the current situation and build a solid background of the profession and emerging field for further research: first, we characterize professionals working in the field (their professional background, education, income and goals). Next, we attempt to define the main issues they deal with professionally (such as politics, lobbying, the energy sector, etc.). This is followed by a description of the market itself and the level to which it is institutionalized. Finally, we attempt to analyze how PA as a field is understood and perceived by domestic and foreign professionals working in the Czech Republic. In our conclusion, we also state openly a few challenges we encountered during our research and set goals for future research. Adapted from the source document.

These reflections on the state & problems of Czech sociology after twelve years of free development include thoughts on its seven weaknesses that either at present or at least potentially pose a threat to Czech sociology, deprive it of the ability to compete, & lower the level of its prestige in society & the value of its scientific results. These weaknesses include: (1) the division of Czech sociology into qualitative & quantitative sociology, including the intolerance that accompanies this state; (2) the uncritical acceptance of only the most basic & superficial results of sociology by the political sphere in the form of percentages & speculations relating to them; (3) the somber state of under-financing in academic sociology; (4) the difficulties affecting post-secondary school teachers on the one hand & researchers at the Academy of Sciences on the other; (5) the need for cooperation with other sociologists in the region; (6) cooperation with Europe & the world; & (7) morals & integrity, without which, in the author's firm opinion, it is impossible to conduct sociological research.

The aim of this paper is to specify the content & institutional structure of Czech (& Czechoslovak) sociology in the 1990s. For this purpose three domains of sociological production were selected: articles in the Sociological Review & the Czech Sociological Review, sociological grant projects funded by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, & books published by the Sociological publishing house SLON. These sources, which provide a very good representation of contemporary Czech sociology, are analyzed both from content (the most frequent themes) & institutional (authors & their workplaces) perspectives. This is followed by a synthesis of the partial findings.

Commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Czech professional economic journal Politicka ekonomie by publishing in Volume 2003 articles that will deal with its history, development, peripeties, twists, & turns. Issue No. 5 is focused on the period 1971-1978. 6 References. Adapted from the source document.

The rebirth of Czech sociology after the normalization period required a prolonged period of time. Nowadays, the attained level of scientific work, particularly thanks to the improvements at the universities, is distinctly better than seven years ago when a similar discussion began. However, it is time to pay attention to some principles according to which Czech sociologists could achieve consensus & corresponding progress in their scientific work. The main responsibility lies in both the empirical & theoretical grasp of the historically unique processes of postsocialist societal transformation & modernization; this can be realized only through their active participation in international cooperation. Serious interpretations & generalizations of the postsocialist experience require far closer contacts, serious & systematic discussion & both direct & indirect cooperation among empirical research, its methodology, the history of sociology & sociological theory than it is usual nowadays; all this could create favorable conditions for the natural emergence of significant research projects in both basic & applied science.

The Sociological Data Archive (SDA) was founded in 1998, & it is the only institution that systematically provides access to data files from quantitative sociological surveys. The main access to the data library is provided on the Internet. The SDA also pays great attention to promoting secondary analysis & the employment of existing data sources & cooperates in organizing large research projects, especially the Czech participation in the ISSP. The SDA is a member of the CESSDA (Council of European Social Science Data Archives). This also means that the Archive can mediate access to materials stored in other social science data archives in Europe. The full inclusion of the SDA's services into an international network is connected to the adoption of international standards (DDI, XML technology), which is planned for the future. In recent years two qualitative data archives have also been established, the Czech Archive of Qualitative Data & Documents & the Digital Archive of Soft Data MEDARD. The Czech Statistical Office provides data services in the field of official statistics.

This paper seeks to find out to what extent the process of EU accession has influenced legal regulations concerning the creation & functioning of social & political actors. Through the analysis of various statutes & changes made to them, the paper tries to determine the role the EU plays in amending assembly legislation. The actors under scrutiny include political parties, professional organizations, labor unions, & civil society organizations. The paper concludes that the most influenced field of actors was the area of chambers of professionals which was obliged to conform to requirements for the free movement of people & services in the European Union in order to comply with European law. The Czech Republic was quite leisurely in their harmonization of statutes, with the majority of them passed just before accession to the EU. An interesting part of the problem concerns the question of political party membership, which is still reserved only for Czech citizens. However, European citizenship, with its voting rights to the European Parliament & local magistrates, is arguably going to push slowly for change even in this domain. Adapted from the source document.

In the article, issues relating to the sociopolitical measures aimed at increasing flexibility in managing the relationship between the spheres of work & family on the individual level of life strategies are examined within the framework of the gender theories of organization. The environment of management is described as a gender regime in which an organizational masculinity functions. This a priori establishes unequal conditions for the formation of women's career patterns. On the basis of a case study of the life strategies of women in managerial positions & other results drawn from research on the management environment from a gender perspective, the author identifies strategies employed toward women, who in the management environment are in the position of tokens, by the gender regime & its actors in the highest positions of the organizational hierarchy, & identifies the strategies that in connection with these conditions are created by women who desire to succeed in an environment set up in this way. The certain degree of flexibility that on the individual level can be achieved in the management environment is founded on a gender contract, which in the end continues to disadvantage women because it emerges in connection with the given structure of set rules of the environment. If flexibility is to be introduced as a nondiscriminatory mechanism, organizational masculinity as such must be called into question.

The Individual Action Plan (IAP) is an Active Labour Market Policy measure that should be used by local public employment service offices. It is an active & preventive tool targeted at the young & long-term unemployed. In this paper we focus on identifying both its officially prescribed goals at the supranational & national level & on its real operational goals at the local level in the case of the Czech Republic. Identically to other EU states, we observe a high level of goal modification (i.e. regional policy discretion) in the Czech Republic. The results of the research are: (1) a typology of IAP's operational (& related individual access) goals, & (2) the observation that the IAP in the Czech Republic is modified due to a particular bureaucratic & professional approach. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

This article deals with the Czech discipline of International Relations addressing its recent historical evolution as well as its current state. It relies on the concepts of field, capital, doxa & habitus developed by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. It argues that the discipline was founded in the late 1950s as a part of the political field, entering the field of science as late as the 1990s. Therefore, the main dichotomies of the field were defined politically for most of the time, e.g. reformist communists vs. orthodox communists or anti-communists vs. communists. Nowadays, the dichotomy refers to the role of theory, which splits empirical & descriptive research from theoretically oriented research. This analysis also takes into account the professional trajectory of the author & his embedded position within the discipline. References. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of this study is to analyze the current use of public diplomacy in foreign relations. It attempts to show how necessary public diplomacy strategy is for the formation of diplomatic relations. The first part of the study focuses on the analysis of changes in political communication in international relations. Presented are factors such as the transnationalisation or medialisation of foreign policy and the role of soft power in international relations. Then it presents a three dimensional model of public diplomacy that takes into account short-term and long-term goals. The main part of the text presents a change in the operation of today's foreign policy actors. This mainly concerns classical diplomacy, which has transformed its role, primarily by heavily engaging professional public affairs agencies and non-state actors in foreign policy. The article also cites examples from Europe and the United States of America of successful and unsuccessful strategies of public diplomacy. Adapted from the source document.