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Czech Parliamentarism: the Issue Of www.ssoar.info Czech parliamentarism: the issue of stability, professionalization and accountability Mansfeldová, Zdenka Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung e.V. an der TU Dresden Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Mansfeldová, Z. (2007). Czech parliamentarism: the issue of stability, professionalization and accountability. Totalitarismus und Demokratie, 4(1), 103-118. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-310976 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Deposit-Lizenz (Keine This document is made available under Deposit Licence (No Weiterverbreitung - keine Bearbeitung) zur Verfügung gestellt. Redistribution - no modifications). We grant a non-exclusive, non- Gewährt wird ein nicht exklusives, nicht übertragbares, transferable, individual and limited right to using this document. persönliches und beschränktes Recht auf Nutzung dieses This document is solely intended for your personal, non- Dokuments. Dieses Dokument ist ausschließlich für commercial use. All of the copies of this documents must retain den persönlichen, nicht-kommerziellen Gebrauch bestimmt. all copyright information and other information regarding legal Auf sämtlichen Kopien dieses Dokuments müssen alle protection. You are not allowed to alter this document in any Urheberrechtshinweise und sonstigen Hinweise auf gesetzlichen way, to copy it for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the Schutz beibehalten werden. Sie dürfen dieses Dokument document in public, to perform, distribute or otherwise use the nicht in irgendeiner Weise abändern, noch dürfen Sie document in public. dieses Dokument für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke By using this particular document, you accept the above-stated vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, aufführen, vertreiben oder conditions of use. anderweitig nutzen. Mit der Verwendung dieses Dokuments erkennen Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen an. Czech Parliamentarism: The Issue of Stability, Professionalization and Accountability Zdenka Mansfeldová Zdenka Abstract Mansfel- dová, PhD, is a head of In Ländern auf dem Weg der Transition wird das the Political Parlament zunächst zum Symbol politischer Reprä- Sociology sentation, und das Ziel besteht darin, die legislativen department Grundlagen des demokratischen Staates zu schaf- and deputy fen. Dagegen treten in der Phase der Konsolidierung director at andere Funktionen (wie die der Vermittlung) in den the Institute Vordergrund und die Evaluierung der Arbeit der of Sociology Legislative wird infolge dessen schwieriger. Der Bei- of the Academy of trag zeigt, wie sich die Abgeordnetenkammer der Sciences of Tschechischen Republik im Laufe von eineinhalb the Czech Republic, Prague. Her re- Jahrzehnten entwickelte. Die verfügbaren empiri- search interest is political sociology, in schen Daten zeigen, wie neue parlamentarische Eli- particular institutionalization and repre- ten hervortraten und sich veränderten und welche sentation of interests, both their political Rekrutierungsmuster entstanden. Insbesondere wird representation (parties, parliament) and die Hypothese geprüft, wonach „politische Amateu- non-political interests’ mezo-structures, re“ durch „politische Profis“ ersetzt worden seien. primarily social dialogues. I. Introduction Parliaments of ECE countries have undertaken the process of political modern- ization by adopting successful Western models and by returning to their pre-war democratic traditions. This resulted in parliaments assuming a dominant role in the process of system consolidation.1 The virtual monopoly of the parliament in political life, also described as “over-parliamentarization”,2 is now facing the 1 The article presents results of the work sponsored by grant number 1J 004/04–DP1 from Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic. 2 Cf. Attila Ágh/Sándor Kurtán (Ed.), The First Parliament (1990–1994). Hungarian Centre for Democratic Studies, Budapest 1995; Attila Ágh, Parlamentarization as a Region-Specific Way of Democratization in East Central Europe. In: Susanne Kraatz/ Silvia von Steinsdorff (Ed.), Parlamente und Systemtransformation im Postsozialisti- schen Europa, Opladen 2002, p. 43–61. Totalitarismus und Demokratie, 4 (2007), 103–118, ISSN 1612–9008 © Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2007 104 Aufsätze / Articles dual challenge of globalization and Europeanization.3 Although the term over- parliamentarization is usually used to describe the beginning of the transforma- tion period when parliaments were “the essential institutional framework for de- mocratization of society as a whole”,4 the typical hyperactivity of this period can be also observed, though in another context, at the turn of the millennium. The aim of this paper is to show the course of development taken by the Czech Parliament, or more precisely the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, in over one decade of democratic parliamentarianism. The data we have about MPs allows us to identify how new parliamentary elites were formed and changed, and the recruiting patterns that developed. We shall try to validate a hypothesis that there was a shift among MPs, the MPs moving from being “political amateurs” to “professional politicians” and experts. The period under analysis covers five terms of the Czech Parliament, starting with the 1992 elections. The result of the first elections was the formation of a repre- sentative board that became the first parliament of the independent Czech Republic. In some cases our analysis covers the period of 1990 to 1992, i.e., the period after the first free elections. The period between 1990 and 1992 was cru- cial for the creation of democratic institutions and the basic crystallization of the political spectrum. This period is analyzed when there is a need to illustrate the rupture caused by the political change and the period during which new trends were initiated. This article relies almost exclusively on data from systematic and longitudinal research in the Czech Parliament done during the last 15 years by the Department of Sociology of Politics at the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The Institute of Sociology conducted five waves of questionnaire surveys between 1993 and 2003, four of which were tar- geted at MPs and one on both MPs and Senators. Table 1: Overview of surveys conducted by the Institute of Sociology 1993–2003 Term 1992–1996 1992–1996 1996–1998 1998–2002 2002–2006 Date of research 1993 1996 1998 2000 2003 No. of interviews 136 146 161 179 169 % of the MPs 68,0 73,0 80,5 89,5 84,5 Note: The Chamber of Deputies has 200 members. 3 Cf. Petra Rakušanová, Role of Central European Parliaments in the Process of Euro- pean Integration, paper prepared for the 19th World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) in Durban, South Africa, 29. June – 4. July 2003. 4 Ágh, Parlamentarization, p. 43. Mansfeldová, Czech Parliamentarism 105 1. A Bit of History On 28. October 1918, the Czechoslovak Republic came into being as a successor state after the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A unicameral Czechoslovak Revolutionary National Assembly was established. The 1920 Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic (adopted on 29. February 1920) was built on the principle of a democratic government where people exercise their power through elected representatives. The new Constitution provided for a bi- cameral Parliament called the National Assembly, which consisted of two cham- bers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies had 300 MPs elected for six years; the Senate consisted of 150 senators elected for eight years. Elections to both chambers were held according to a proportional representation system. The bicameral system was one of the most controversial issues, and opinions clashed over it.5 The two-chamber model was later re- adopted in the new Constitution, passed on 16. December 1992. Parliament started to transform after the revolutionary events of 17. Novem- ber 1989. The first change was the so-called co-optation of MPs. MPs of the Federal Assembly and of the Czech and Slovak National Councils were replaced as a result of agreements made at a roundtable between the most important po- litical parties and various civic movements, primarily the Civic Forum. These agreements provided for how many MPs were to represent each of the parties and movements in the legislative bodies. In January 1990 the Constitutional Law on Recall of MPs No. 14/1990 Coll. was adopted. Under this law, MPs could be recalled based on the decision of the central bodies of political parties or the cen- tral body of the National Front. The overwhelming majority of MPs resigned be- fore the law was even adopted. According to Reschová,6 the first round of mass resignations was submitted on 22. December 1989. The process of resignation was almost completed when the law entered into effect, but resignations contin- ued until 30. January 1990. Under this law only 19 MPs were recalled in the Chamber of the People after the bill came into force. In total, almost 50 % of the MPs of the Federal Assembly and 32 % of the MPs of the Czech National Council were replaced by newcomers. From these new representatives, a portion was lat- er elected to the Parliament in the first democratic elections in June 1990. In the FA’s Chamber of the People, 20,6
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