The article presents an analysis of the performance of regional governments - the institutions representing the self-governing regions in the Czech Republic. The authors try to answer the question of whether regional governments function similarly or whether they vary in terms of performance, and if they do vary, how structured and how large are these differences. After a review of the position occupied by the regions in the Czech public administration system, and after assessing the ways in which regional government performance can be understood and measured and the accessibility of necessary data, indicators are proposed and used to create an aggregate index of regional government performance. An analysis based on these indicators shows that there are considerable differences between regional governments in terms of the structure and the level of their performance. Based on the performance index it was possible to distinguish regions with above-average, average, and below-average regional government performance. The territorial distribution of these groups and some other factors confirm the validity of these measurements.
This article deals with intercultural contact in branches of multinational companies or corporations founded in the Czech Republic by German, Austrian or Swiss owners. Multinationalbusinesses (large ones in particular) are trying to regulate the communication within the company. This is achieved predominantly by introducing an official corporate language in the company, employing people fluent in the language, and promoting language courses. Our research, based on the analysis of questionnaires and semi-structured interview data, has shown that the foreign employees seldom adapt to the language of the local employees, while the adaptation of the local employees to the language of the foreign ones is not only usual but also expected. The regulation of the communication therefore results in the promotion of primarily asymmetrical language adaptation, which benefits the German, Austrian and Swiss owners and the German-speaking foreign employees delegated by them (the so-called expatriates). However, the companies examined also promote the use of English to a considerable extent, which provides a basis for symmetrical communication between local and expatriate employees. and Der Artikel handelt über den interkulturellen Kontakt in multinationalen Unternehmen, die nach 1989 in der Tschechischen Republik durch deutsche, österreichische und schweizerische Unternehmen gegründet wurden. Multinationale Unternehmen (insbesondere die großen) versuchen die Kommunikation innerhalb des Unternehmens zu regulieren. Dies geschieht vor allem durch Einführung einer Firmensprache im Unternehmen, Anstellung von Mitarbeitern, die der Sprache mächtig sind, und Förderung von Sprachkursen.
In 9 % der Unternehmen ist das Tschechische die einzige Firmensprache, in 55 % übernimmt diese Aufgabe das Deutsche, in 16 % das Englische, in 15 % Deutsch und Englisch, in 5 % Deutsch und Tschechisch. Was die Sprachkurse betrifft, werden in 64 % der Unternehmen Deutschkurse, in 19 % Tschechischkurse und in 48 % Englischkurse gefördert.
Unsere auf Fragebögen und teilstrukturierten Interviews basierende Untersuchung hat gezeigt, dass sich die ausländischen, nach Tschechien entsandten Mitarbeiter nur selten an die Sprache der lokalen Mitarbeiter adaptieren, während die Adaptation der in Tschechien einheimischen Mitarbeiter an die Sprache der ausländischen Mitarbeiter nicht nur üblich ist, sondern auch erwartet wird. Die Regulierung der Kommunikation mündet also primär in eine asymmetrische sprachliche Adaptation zum Vorteil deutscher, österreichischer und schweizerischer Besitzer und deutschsprachiger ausländischer Mitarbeiter (sog. Expatriates), die durch die Besitzer nach Tschechien delegiert werden. Die untersuchten Unternehmen unterstützen jedoch in beachtlichem Ausmaß auch die Verwendung des Englischen, das eine Basis für symmetrische Kommunikation zwischen den in Tschechien einheimischen und nach Tschechien entsandten Mitarbeitern bildet.
Diese Adaptation betrifft jedoch konkret vor allem die Managementebene, während die Produktion weitgehend tschechisch geprägt bleibt. Weit verbreitet ist auch die Nicht-Adaptation, die zum Einsatz von Dolmetschern und Übersetzern führt. Dies ist – neben der asymmetrischen Adaptation und dem Rückgriff auf das Englische – in 80 % der Unternehmen bzw. in 95 % der großen Unternehmen der Fall.
Eine Detailbeschreibung der Kommunikation in einem der auf dem Gebiet der Tschechischen Republik tätigen Unternehmen des Siemens-Konzerns macht deutlich, wie die Funktionsstellen in einem Produktionsunternehmen besetzt und mit welcher sprachlichen Qualifikation diese verbunden werden, sie zeigt aber auch, wie sich die Firmensprache ändert, wie die interkulturelle Kommunikation unter Einsatz von sprachlich qualifizierten Mitarbeitern konkret abläuft und wie diese – etwa in Sprachkursen – auf ihre Aufgaben vorbereitet werden.
Previous research indicates that Czechs harbor considerable doubt about the honesty of their political and economic system. One response to this perceived dishonesty has been disengagement, to the extent possible, from their work and public life. Disengagement was, both before and after 1989, the potent weapon used by Czechs in their workplaces to covertly make their wishes known on the factory floor. This behavior has proven problematic for the managers of the „new" private enterprises in the country. The tension between management and workers has resulted in the creation of complex interactions which can begin to be understood through an analysis of transactions in social capital. To accomplish this, this paper will examine two relatively successful companies in the Southern Moravian city of Brno during the period preceding E.U. accession. Through field notes, interview and survey data gathered during more than a year of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper will accomplish three objectives. It will analyze the interplay in those companies of discourses of honesty with the twin goals of managerial legitimacy and worker engagement. It will document the process of negotiation which has resulted in the development of a new moral economy on the workfloor and the growth of powerful worker networks within the enterprise. Finally, it will present a theoretical framework to capture the process of social capital creation and expenditure which is the product of these processes.
The Czech spiritual market is today as developed as that of western European countries. De-traditionalised and individualised holistic milieu has created a demand for spiritual literature and magazines as well as other marketable goods (“magic” stones, amulets, horoscopes, natural drugs etc.). This paper attempts to analyse the character and sources of contemporary best selling spiritual literature and its readership in the Czech Republic. It also provides a case study of a Prague spiritual bookshop and its comparison with five other Czech spiritual outlets (including an Internet outlet). The results clearly show that marketing spirituality has become a mainstream phenomenon with regard to all gender, age and class categories, although there was found to be an over presence of older middle-aged women among the buyers. There is emphasized “churchless” and “nonreligious” character of the buyers and the best selling books, that include predominantly those referring to “modem” and “esoteric” western or “ethnic” spiritualities. The supply side comprises both special and general publishers, the former having been more successful in specialised bookshops and spirituál outlets and the latter in addressing the wider population (including via the Internet).
The article aims to identify the development phases in the process of the regional differentiation in the Czech Republic after 1989, and examines whether this differentiation trend is currently changing. The assumption the article's hypothesis is based on is that during recent development the basic 'parameters' of the principal features of the country's regional structure have been stabilized amidst the conditions of parliamentary democracy and a market economy. Unlike the first phases of socio-economic transition, when differentiating trends prevailed, a certain degree of stabilisation can now be assumed, alongside the emergence of new trends. The development of regional differences was analysed using indicators of GDP, the unemployment rate, entrepreneurial activity, and tax revenue from self-employed physical persons. The findings show that over the course of the 1990s regional differences intensified at both the mezo-regional (regional) level and the micro-regional level. It was also confirmed that at the turn of the millennium the phase of divergent regional development ended, and since that time regional differences have hovered around the same level.
Následující text prezentuje některé poznatky o občanské kultuře v České republice učiněné na základě speciálního šetření uskutečněného v srpnu 2009 jako součást mezinárodního komparativního výzkumu u příležitosti 50. výročí realizace původního výzkumu G. A. Almonda a S. Verby a následného vydání jejich známé knihy The Civic Culture: Attitudes and Perception of Democracy in Five Nations. Kromě toho se s využitím dat z předchozích dlouhodobých kontinuálních výzkumů veřejného mínění pokouší o stručný nástin vývoje občanské kultury v českých zemích v průběhu uplynulých dvaceti let po pádu komunistického režimu v roce 1989., Following text presents some findings concerning the civic culture in the Czech Republic based on results of a special survey conducted in August of 2009 as a part of international comparative research project commemorating the 50th anniversary of realization of G. A. Almond’s and S. Verba’s original survey and their classic study The Civic Culture: Attitudes and Perception of Democracy in Five Nations. Using data from continuous public opinion surveys the text also tries briefly to outline the development of civic culture in Czech countries during last two decades after fall of communist regime in 1989., and Jan Červenka.
Parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium Tyzzer, 1910 are one of the most common protistan parasites of vertebrates. Faecal samples from 179 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes [Linnaeus]), 100 grey wolves (Canis lupus Linnaeus), 11 golden jackals (Canis aureus Linnaeus), and 63 brown bears (Ursus arctos Linnaeus) were collected in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. Samples were examined for the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. using microscopy and PCR/sequence analysis. Phylogenetic analysis based on the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU), actin and 60-kDa glycoprotein (gp60) genes using the maximum likelihood method revealed the presence of Cryptosporidium tyzzeri Ren, Zhao, Zhang, Ning, Jian et al., 2012 (n = 1) and C. andersoni Lindsay, Upton, Owens, Morgan, Mead et Blackburn, 2000 (n = 2) in red foxes, C. canis Fayer, Trout, Xiao, Morgan, Lai et Dubey, 2001 (n = 2) and C. ubiquitum Fayer, Santín et Macarisin, 2010 (n = 2) in grey wolves, and C. galli Pavlásek, 1999 in brown bears (n = 1) and red foxes (n = 1). Subtyping of isolates of C. ubiquitum and C. tyzzeri based on sequence analysis of gp60 showed that they belong to the XIId and IXa families, respectively. The presence of specific DNA of C. tyzzeri, C. andersoni and C. galli, which primarily infect the prey of carnivores, is probably the result of their passage through the gastrointestinal tract of the carnivores. Finding C. ubiquitum XIId in wolves may mean broadening the host spectrum of this subtype, but it remains possible this is the result of infected prey passing through the wolf - in this case deer, which is a common host of this parasite. The dog genotype of C. canis was reported for the first time in wolves.
The article focuses on the relationship of religionisity and subjective satisfaction, a problem that has recently become one of the topical themes of social sciences. The author on the one hand presents the great expectations that the society (even non-religious) puts in the "satisfactory" role of religion, and on the other hand their factual unfulfillment, or better to say the minimum real influence of (non-)religiosity upon the subjective contentment.
This article addresses the question of how to be an activist in the dynamic postsocialist field of power by focusing on anti-corruption actors in two policy-mediating knowledge institutions with transnational ties in the Czech Republic. Drawing upon sixteen months of participant observation research and interviews, I argue that a new generation of civic activists has sought to carve a niche in the competitive field by crafting an authoritative professional image. They have accomplished this through the performance of new international codes of neoliberal professionalism to both a Czech and international/ western audience in order to gain social recognition. At the same time, however, they risk alienating (and being alienated from) their local counterparts and public if they appear too much the global de-nationalized professional. The discomfort with having to craft their sense of self between globalizing cultures of professionalism and local conditions is a core tension these actors experience in the context of broader changes in the building of civil society and democracy (in the international image), the postsocialist labor market, and the role of the intelligentsia. It demonstrates the limits to the accumulation of global cultural and symbolic capital.
The article is a continuation of the author’s paper given at the professional conference on historical collections in Olomouc in 2013, which was published in the proceedings of the conference, Bibliotheca Antiqua.1 The author has corrected and expanded some of the data on the life story of Count Pötting on the basis of information from Pötting’s handwritten Diary from 1664-1674 (Diario del conde de Pötting, embajador del Sacro Imperio en Madrid). She provides an overview of the books that are known to have formed part of Pötting’s book collection (26 manuscripts, mostly codices comprising more units, and 46 printed books from the 16th and 17th centuries have been recorded as yet)., Jaroslava Kašparová., and Článek je pokračováním příspěvku předneseného na konferenci k historickým fondům v Olomouci v roce 2013, jehož písemná podoba vyšla ve sborníku Bibliotheca Antiqua.