In the Czech Republic and other post-communist states, corruption has the appearance of being everywhere. Numerous corruption scandals are discussed every day in the mass media, shaping how citizens perceive and put their trust in the political system. Regardless of whether our perceptions of corruption in Czech politics are accurate representations of the real world, they are nonetheless real for us, and thus have major consequences for our lives, for the stability of governments, and the overall political world in which we live.

This book is the first major attempt to analyze Czech corruption perceptions directly and in depth, using some of the best international and domestic surveys available. The set of studies take an original approach to debates about corruption and anticorruption policy in the Czech Republic, such as by examining the link between corruption perceptions and bribery experience, exploring problems in the measurement of corruption, and examining the determinants of corruption perceptions and the related phenomenon of tax evasion. While tacking a diverse range of questions, the analyses share a common voice in terms of their implications for anticorruption policy, in particular the need to focus on the social, economic and institutional conditions that create incentives for corrupt behavior.

Content of the Book:

Introduction

Chapter 1
What Do We Know about Corruption in the Czech Republic? Taking Stock of the Empirical Evidence.
By: Michael L. Smith

Chapter 2
Corruption as Injustice: Understanding Czech Corruption by Means of Social Surveys
By: Michael L. Smith and Petr Matějů

Chapter 3
Czech Corruption Perceptions in International Comparison
The Role of Social Status and the Interplay of Individual- and National-Level Effects
By: Michael Smith and Petr Matějů

Chapter 4
Tax Evasion Dynamics in the Czech Republic: Past and Future
By: Jan Hanousek and Filip Palda

Chapter 5
Measuring Corruption in Infrastructure: Evidence from Transition and Developing Countries
By: Charles Kenny

Chapter 6
A Corruption Eruption? Understanding Media Reports in the Space between Corruption Perceptions and Corruption Reality
By: Michael Smith

Chapter 7
Broadening the Scope of Anti-Corruption Policy: Policy Mainstreaming and the Importance of Indirect Measures
By: Michael L. Smith

Literature