Transforming Politics

Abstract

This chapter shows that in the case of the Czech Republic, the practices of certain PSCs not only are contributing to the rearticulation of positions between the public and the private in the field of security, but also have altered the context of decision-making in the field of politics. The first section assesses the plausible explanations for the continuing lack of specific legal regulation of PSCs’ activities and concludes that it is due to too much, rather than too little, political interest. The second section discusses the phenomenon of reversed revolving doors, whereby former owners and/or top managers of PSCs get directly involved in politics, thus de facto erasing the traditional divide between the private and the public in the field of politics. Finally, the analysis in the third section suggests that while perhaps as many as 30 percent of Czech PSCs’ representatives may be willing and able to pursue both their particular security and economic interests by manipulating the very processes of political decision-making, the ABL’s attempt to acquire its own political power base has, in particular, transformed the field of politics by the introduction of the party as business firm model, where influential political entrepreneurs perceive politics as an alternative way to advance their business interests.