Political Science

Today more than ever, different actors influences the decision and policy making of a state. Unlike before wherein only the state had the monopoly of power, todays societal arrangement had included different interest groups that can influence the outputs of nation-state. In this paper, we are going to examine some of the most influential interest groups other than the state actors that can determine the nations direction.

In this study, we are going to use the Czech Republic as an example.  At the end of the paper, we are going to assess which of these forces is the strongest factor that can influence the decision and policy making of the state. Lastly, we are going to evaluate if whether this particular non-state actor can help or harm the state in its political, societal and economic development.

Czech Republic
State and Non-State Actors in Decision and Policy Making
Czech Republic or Ceska Republika in local tongue is a country in central Europe who was a former member of the Soviet Union. After the 1989 revolution, the Czech Republic (known as Czechslovakia then) shifted to a parliamentary democracy type of government whose head is referred as president who is elected by the parliament for a five year term (CIA World Fact Book).

According to the 2009 Country Watch Review of Czech Republic 10th edition the government structure is divided in to the three common branches of government. The president represents the republic in the international community and he is also the commander in chief of the armed forces. He is elected through absolute majority of both chambers and is limited to two terms in office.
The Legislative branch is composed of two chambers. The Senate or Senat consists of 81 seats members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms and the The Chamber of Deputies or Poslanecka Snemovna  consists of 200 seats members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.

Finally, the judiciary branch is consist of different courts including, Constitutional Court, a Supreme Court, a Supreme Administrative Court, high, regional, and district courts. Fifteen judges, appointed by the president (with the consent of the Senate) for a term of 10 years, sit on the Constitutional Court. (34-36)

Aside from the state and government branches, it has been said that in the Czech Republic, there is an effective and efficient cooperation between private corporations and the different ministries of government. According to Ralph Andrew Luken  Paul Hesp (2003) in their book Towards sustainable development in industry  the industries and business for example initiates their own policies in environmental affairs (237). As an example, the Environmental Policy of Czech Confederation of Industry and Transport endorses the concept of sustainable development in the country to be the defining factor in their industrial growth (ibid 89).

Another non-state actors that influences decision making in the Czech Republic are its citizens. According to Non-governmental Organizations and Public Participation in Local Environmental Decision-making in the Czech Republic, a book written by Carmin Joann (2003) the country maintained the communist regime practice of people s accessibility to government officials. Open door policy and people s attendance to town meetings are common practice in the Czech Republic especially in the period of transition. The Czech law requires town to hold at least 4 town meetings within a year. These provide the people a basic level of access to the political process. (544)

In addition to the citizens and private businesses, the NGO sector also plays the role of initiator in different areas and concern of the state such as sustainable developments and environmental reforms. However, it is important to note that today most NGO cannot maximize their jobs and aims  due to the limitation of resources and human expertise. According to Country Report Czech Republic From an NGO Perspective of Victor Trebicky (2002) this is the reason why only few organizations can deal with national aspect of sustainable development (3).

Among all of these non-state actors, the European Union became the most influential entity that influences Czech Republics policy and decision making. In many years before 2004,  Entry into Europe  has become the Czech Republic s key foreign policy priority and is having (and will continue to have) a significant influence on the preparation of local policies, including environmental and sustainability policies (ibid 2).

As the most influential and most powerful non-state actor in the Czech Republic political and economic affairs, we are going to examine, analyze and evaluate the European Union on its effect to the Czech Republics development or underdevelopment in different areas such as economy, fiscal, balance of political forces, democratic consolidation and its relation to the outside world.

Assessing the Czech Republic after Joining the European Union
As to all European Union countries, when the Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004, much of its policies and relationship have been affected by the European supranational bodies. As the current president of Czech Republic Vclav Klaus is a known euroskeptic we are going to examine and analyze the effects of the union to different sides of the Czechs political, organizational and economic spheres.

When we discussed of economic and fiscal changes, we cannot deny the positive effect of the European Union in the republic. Upon joining the European Union in 2004, the Czech Republic s economic integration with the union and prudent macroeconomic policies produced a strong economic growth with minimum inflation. According to 2009 Country Watch Review of Czech Republic 10th edition Its GDP growth rate grew 4.5 in 2004 and rise to an average of 6.4 from 2005-2007. This is way bigger than the average growth of the economy prior to joining the European Union wherein the GDP growth averaged only at around 2.5 Despite the slowdown of the economy in 2008 and 2009 as a result of the spillover of the 2008 fiscal crisis, the Czech Republics economy still remained strong. The banking sector also still managed to be sound and resilient (53).

In terms of the balance of political forces, it has been argued that the growing role of the European Union undermines the individual state s capability to act for itself. In many cases, freedom is lost and this can undermine both economic and political developments. Quoting from Rosenbirg s How the West Grow Rich, he said

Initially, the Wests achievement of autonomy stemmed from a relaxation or a weakening of political and religious controls, giving other departments of social life the opportunity to experiment with change. Growth is, of course, a form of change, and growth is impossible when change is not permitted. Any successful change requires a large measure of freedom to experiment. A grant of that kind of freedom costs a societys rulers their feeling of control, as if they were conceding to others the power to determine the societys future.  (34)

With this point of view, not only the Czech Republic will suffer but also every nation-state in the Union especially the smaller states that have little influence and say. The balance of power will shifts from the elected officials of every nation-state towards the bureaucrats and politician in the supranational bodies.

In relation to this, some critics argue that the European Union is not helping the democratic consolidation of states like the Czech Republic. According to JiY Pehe s article entitled Dual Dimensions of Democratic Development (10-11), the civic society in the Czech Republic is disappearing or becoming non-transparent. As he said, oftentimes, private interest group colonizes the civic society. For him, interest groups have increasingly becoming the products of both globalization and national political landscape that is spiraling out of control (10-11).

This however should not be blame exclusively to Czech Republic s membership to European Union. In an article written by Martin Jan Strnsk entitled, Czechs Don t Want Democracy  he mentioned that inability of the Czech to consolidate democracy is due to its past history (59).

What is now labeled as the  post-totalitarian syndrome  is characterized by the following jealousy, absence of faith, a positive resonance with populist politics, unwillingness to confront change, a need for immediate personal and social gratification, absence of civic duty, and a preference for simple and authoritarian solutions over complex ones. Not only are such traits a product of the past. . . 

It has only been only 20 years since the Czech Republic shifted to a democratic way of governing and as far as scholars are concerned, Czech will have a long way to run to be able to learn and experience democracy.

Finally, in terms of international relation particularly to its relationship in the European Union, the Czech Republic provided an interesting twist in the European Union affairs. The Czech Republic with its dissimilar history to the major members of the European Union became a threat in the passing of policies that will define and increase the power of the European Union ( i.e. Lisbon Treaty). The Czech Republic is together with countries such as Ireland and Poland. Its euroskeptic president, Vclav Klaus continues to criticize many practices and structures of the European Union.
Heading the European Union for six months in January to June 2009 Czech President Vclav Klaus questioned the European Union s attempt for a more politically integrated Europe in his speech to the European Parliament. In his speech he argued against the lack of opposition in the European Parliament and pushes for a more classical way of structuring the parliament wherein there are always two conflicting positions. He also criticized the  suppressed  market economy of EU wherein he defined it as centrally planned. As an alternative, he is pushing for the liberalization and deregulation of the European economy.

Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale in his article How Vclav Klaus Blocks European Union said that Klaus objection is due to his non-acceptance of legal existence of the EU. He believes that only the traditional sovereign state is real, or can be real, in international law. This is the reason why most of the time, the Czechs posit themselves in the opposite side of most European Union movements.

Conclusion
The accession of different European states to the European Union had produced mixed and different effects. First of all, we cannot deny its positive effects economically and fiscally. We had seen how the Czech Republic for example boosted its economic growth upon joining the union. We cannot also deny the future benefits of having the other powerful states to defend you in terms of military crisis or invasion from the outside. However, the question will remain if the European Union will really seize the power and influence of individual nation-states. Additionally, in the long run, we also need to ask ourselves if the European Union s structure of decision making in political and economic affairs will still bear innovations and changes that will benefit the region.

Is it the end of the era of nation-states Is it the start of the final years of the sovereignty of nation-states as much as how tribes  exclusive role had been replaced by the role of states This question must be answered because it is possible that we do not know that regional and continental integration is just another chapter of the development of the history of mankind that it is necessary for us to move forward.