From the Czech Untouchables to a democratic backsliding

The Czech Republic was seen, and in a lot of aspects really was, a country without a problem regarding corruption: if some questions were raised during the first years of the transformation (privatization processes and restitutions), all in all, the situation was commonly seen as quite good, especially face to face with the experiences from other similar (post-communist) countries and all in all comparable with some Western well-established democracies. Besides this general picture, we can see at least in the last 15 years the rising of some appeals linked not to the corruption but to the perception of corruption. The first great wave of problems can be linked to the first great deal between the two dominant parties (1998, known as the Opposition agreement) and the feeling of state capture. This perception (and partly reality) led to calls against the political establishment coming from the civil society and largely echoed within the society in the terms of a fight against corruption. In 2009 these critics of the political world have taken mainly two forms: the call for incorruptible politicians and new populist parties (especially at that time the party Public Affairs). In the first case, it was mainly the figure of Karel Schwarzenberg which represented the ideal type of a good politician: an incorruptible person thanks to his personal wealth. Then a few years later came another level of the same idea: Andrej Babiš who was not only a rich man but also an effective businessman, with the competency “to run the state like a firm”. This new era can be seen as a “good starting point” for democratic backsliding, even if it is mainly a phenomenon of state capture, but with a great potential to develop in a more common model.