Social and Political Transformation in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The most apparent recent social change in the Czech Republic is the emergence of a new class structure. A large percentage of the population began their private activities in small business, while a part of them managed to become middle-scale entrepreneurs. During the privatisation of the large companies, realised mostly by the voucher method, different groups competed to achieve positions in the top economic elite. Analyses of social mobility and of the factors of the income distribution have shown that the following groups have a higher chance of being successful in the ongoing social de-equalisation: the younger generations, better-educated people, managers and private entrepreneurs and those former Communists who left the party after the political changes in 1989. These social processes are being accompanied by a gradual change in the political elite. In this field, the most successful are the younger middle-aged, new political activists pushing through the radical liberal economic reform. In spite of the clearly right-wing character of the ruling coalition, a democratically acquired social consensus exists for the time being, although some signs of social and political polarisation are visible. In the near future, two main alternatives of development are possible: a) the continuation of the liberal democratic reforms (whether it be a conservative, centrist or left democratic variant or a compromise combination of them is of less importance) and b) a populist and authoritarian interruption of the transformation processes (be it a radical leftist or rightist variant). The realisation of the first alternative is not only desirable from the point of view of joining the European Union in the foreseeable future, but also more likely given both the objective and subjective conditions within the Czech Republic. Post-communist societal changes are indisputably substantial and therefore also complex. They cannot be reduced to mere economic transformations, nor even to a simple combination of changes in economics, technology and education. Some crucial shifts in the social and political sphere, such as the installation of democratic political institutions and a reversal in the beliefs of numerous groups of people, can be considered the preconditions of the global societal changes. Some other social and political processes,