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Building leverage at the EU level? Specialisation and coherence in Czech policy on Eastern European transition

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Abstract

This article analyses the potential long-term influence of the Czech Republic on the European Union’s policy on Eastern European transition. Building on lobbying literature, the article conceptualises the potential long-term influence at the EU level as a combination of specialisation and coherence in a member state policy. The research is based on a qualitative analysis of Czech foreign policy documents, money flows, particularly of development and transition assistance, and public speeches of key politicians across the political spectrum and several administrations. It concludes that the Czech Republic does specialise in and build expertise on Eastern Europe’s transition, but lacks coherence. As a result, the country is probably underperforming in influencing the EU policy concerning the region.

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Notes

  1. Eastern Europe is understood here as the six post-Soviet countries that are the addressees of the EU’s neighbourhood policy, and particularly the EaP.

  2. Following the Czech Republic’s Transition Policy Concept, this article understands ‘transition’ as a state’s transformation leading towards more democracy and respect for human rights (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2010: 1). Although this definition of the term might seem a bit narrow, it does, in practice, comprise a broad understanding of democracy, including ‘rule of law, justice, tolerance and solidarity’ among others (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2010: 2). At the EU level, the support of democracy and human rights is part of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership agenda.

  3. There are many ways to define ‘small’ and ‘big’ member states in the EU, but no definition is wholly satisfactory (Archer and Nugent 2002: 4). Whereas some authors have relied on objective criteria, such as a below-average number of votes in the Council of the EU (Panke 2010a), others have defined smallness in relational terms (Thorhallsson and Wivel 2006: 658). This article follows the fuzzier relational definition of smallness and understands the small states as those that have their policy options more restricted than others due to more limited resources and capacities. The Czech Republic can, thus, be considered a ‘smaller’ EU member.

  4. Besides promoting a particular interest, a state’s specialisation can also help build its general recognition as an actor in international and European affairs (cf. Najšlová 2011).

  5. The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia has an extensive political programme, which, however, is totally inconsistent with both the long-term practice of Czech foreign policy and the programmes of other political parties, such as its objective of NATO dissolution. The party has not been able to influence Czech foreign policy in any significant way, although it has been represented in the parliament continuously and it is the third strongest party in the lower chamber at the moment.

  6. The other three EaP countries do not feature in the Czech political discourse, although Moldova belongs to the priority countries for Czech development and transition assistance. They are simply comprised by the more general label of ‘Eastern Europe’ or ‘Eastern Partnership’.

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Acknowledgements

Research was funded by the Czech Science Foundation, grant no. P408-12-P493.

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    Tomáš Weiss

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Weiss, T. Building leverage at the EU level? Specialisation and coherence in Czech policy on Eastern European transition. J Int Relat Dev 21, 172–193 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/jird.2015.29

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