Czech Elites and General Public: Leadership, Cohesion, and Democracy

The publication views elites and the general public as actors of modernization processes within the Czech society. While individual authors apply their own perspectives on the “catch-up modernization” (Habermas) in post-communist countries, the requirements the current stage of modernization places upon elites or the general public create a common ground for all texts. This means that the authors combine the institutional and normative approaches to studying elites in their texts. On one hand, they analyze quantitative data based on a positional definition of elites and, on the other hand, their analysis relies on the reputational definition of elites. Elite quality is seen as a relational phenomenon, arising out of elite relations with other elites or the general public. The source of analyzed data are parallel empirical surveys of representative samples of the Czech elites and general public. The juxtaposition of elite/public opinions, attitudes, and behavioral indicators upon the background of different theoretical concepts of elites and democracy forms the core of all chapters. The common methodological and conceptual framework is complemented by a more-or-less explicit effort of all authors to address the issue of democratic stability in a post-communist society like the Czech Republic.