Book Chapters by Erik Lastic
Rewards for High Public Office in Europe and North America, 2012
When the information on rewards to high public officials, both political and top career civil ser... more When the information on rewards to high public officials, both political and top career civil servants in Slovakia together with full information on local government officials’ salaries and bonuses were made publicly available from January 2006 through Free Access to Information Law, it seemed as a historical moment which was the culmination of the debate on the transparency of high public officials rewards. As the transition into modern democracy in the past fifteen years has led to many questions and problems connected with transparency, accountability and trust towards the public posts, both political and apolitical, this amendment was to be seen as part of a bigger reform that has focused particularly on re-defining accountability systems to provide a number of specific safeguards against the misuse of power by either politicians or civil servants, including reward system for public officials. This paper focuses on the analysis of the formal and informal mechanisms of rewarding the performance and work of the high public officials in Slovakia since the gain of independent sovereign statehood in January 1993. The main question is whether the institutional arrangements in rewarding of public officials brought about accountability mechanisms as hoped at the beginning of the transition era.
CITIZENS' INITIATIVES IN EUROPE Procedures and Consequences of Agenda-Setting by Citizens, 2012
The chapter analyses initiative instruments in the Slovak political systems that are available on... more The chapter analyses initiative instruments in the Slovak political systems that are available on the national level. In the first part, their introduction into the legal system, subsequent amendments and current design of initiative instruments are identified. All of initiative instruments are based on constitutional right to petition as defined in 1992 Slovak constitution. However, they vary significantly when it comes to their legal and political impact. On the one hand, collecting 350 000 signatures of citizens mandates the president to call for a referendum that is defined in the constitution. Or, a executive decree stipulates that with 500 collected signatures a group of citizens may propose amendments to the draft of the government's bill and discuss it with a minister. On the other hand, national initiative that collects at least 100 000 signatures is only formally acknowledged in the agenda during regular session of the parliament.
The second part offers data on the use of initiative instruments in political system. As there are no official records of initiatives available, parliamentary database and press agency archives are used to construct quantitative data set on initiatives. In this part, we also classify available data by topics that were subject of initiatives, by actors that initiated them and by their results. The third part presents several case studies to illustrate the actual initiative process in Slovakia and its problems. In the conclusion, it is argued that although formally the initiatives in Slovakia allow voters to make their representatives more accountable, the combination of legal ambiguity, role of political parties and actual practice make their impact limited.
From Listening to Action? New Member States in the European Union, 2010
The chapter focuses on administrative capacity and domestic EU-coordination structures in new mem... more The chapter focuses on administrative capacity and domestic EU-coordination structures in new member states. It analyzes data from 65 semi-structured interviews with Brussels officials and confronts them with primary data and review of the existing research on EU member states. It is argued that the Central and Eastern European states in the EU are predominantly influenced by the length of their membership, their size and their human resources management in EU affairs. The length of the membership influences member states’ knowledge about inner workings of the EU and their ability to build and sustain institutional relations and networks with and within EU institutions. Being mostly small countries, new member states (NMS) have used prioritization of issues and EU presidency as a contra-strategy, but have had only limited success in uploading their preferences to the EU level so far. In the personnel policy, several NMS revised their conditionality-influenced legislation on civil service after becoming EU members, which seems to have influence on a high level of turnover in EU bureaucratic positions, and is directly connected to NMS’ ability to establish and defend their national positions in the EU affairs.
Local Direct Democracy in Europe, 2011
Since its establishment in 1993 Slovakia has experienced several national referendums, all of the... more Since its establishment in 1993 Slovakia has experienced several national referendums, all of them surrounded by legal and political controversy (overview: Bárány et al. 2001). As a consequence of an uninspiring constitutional text and as an instrument in the hands of political parties, the national referendum has yet to convince Slovak voters about its unique role as „the people's check on the legislature, [allowing them] to take the responsibility which the legislature does not want, cannot, does not know how to, or is unable to bear“ (Láštic 2007). Are local direct democracy instruments more successful in bringing people into the political ball game, or are they just as unsuccessful as direct democracy at the national level?
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliograf... more Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.
Direct Democracy in Europe, 2007
April 2004 saw another invalid referendum vote in Slovakia, because of a low turnout. The referen... more April 2004 saw another invalid referendum vote in Slovakia, because of a low turnout. The referendum, called as a result of a petition initiated by the Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) and the opposition Smer party, asked the voters to call upon the parliament to dissolve itself and hold a new parliamentary election. Once again, the referendum question, the referendum campaign, the legal status and the results were subjects of political struggles and intense interest from abroad. As with every referendum in Slovak history, the political and economical stability of the country came into question.
Books by Erik Lastic
Kniha sa venuje referendu na Slovensku v rokoch 1993 až 2010. Zaoberá sa politickou a právnou his... more Kniha sa venuje referendu na Slovensku v rokoch 1993 až 2010. Zaoberá sa politickou a právnou históriou inštitútu referenda na Slovensku, pričom ponúka podrobnú analýzu jeho úpravy, doterajších uskutočnených referend a vplyvu politických strán.
Papers by Erik Lastic
The paper analyses electronic toll system ('ETS') in Slovakia that was introduced in 2010. It arg... more The paper analyses electronic toll system ('ETS') in Slovakia that was introduced in 2010. It argues that ETS is regarded predominantly as a financial levy imposed by the state, by both the watchers and watched. The dominant angle that appears is not that of the surveillance, but of the economical impact of the ETS. The system was introduced to increase budget revenues; the operator of the system, a private company that operates system is also motivated by the profit. The subjects of the toll, hauler companies and drivers use various techniques to avoid ETS, but their motivations are financial. Critical events and responses to the ETS are motivated by the costs, not the privacy. Because of this, the aspect of personal data and the privacy is missing altogether from legal, political and public discussions about the ETS. The same is true for ETS as a form of surveillance. While this “lack of surveillance aspect” is understandable to a large extent, in case of the ETS in Slovakia it is more profound due to lack of activity of stakeholders (Slovak DPA, NGO’s, Courts) that have capacity to shift attention to other aspects of the ETS than financial. As paper argues, the lack of debate and the invisibility of the surveillance aspect of the ETS do not mean its nonexistence. It appears in a form of a creeping legal extension that guarantees the access to ETS data to various state agencies (Police, Secret Service), but also by current plans by the national government to use the ETS data for other purposes than tolling.
The paper analyses rights of parliamentary opposition in Slovakia in 1994-2012. It is structured ... more The paper analyses rights of parliamentary opposition in Slovakia in 1994-2012. It is structured as follows. The introduction provides the empirical account of Slovak political system with a specific focus paid to the composition of the parliament and to the unity of parliamentary party groups (PPGs), measured by defection rate of their membership and roll-call voting analysis. The second part describes procedural rules that govern the role of opposition political parties in the political system. The attention is paid to the formal rights of PPG’s and individual MPs in 1994-2012, as established by the 1996 Standing Order of the Parliament and its subsequent amendments. The real-time use of these rights is presented on data in the third part, including legislative initiative, roll-call vote analysis and rights connected to the control of the government. The fourth part examines opportunities provided for the opposition outside the parliament in a form of referendum and constitutional review. The final part summarizes main findings and discusses possibilities for further research.
This paper deals with Slovak experience with semi-presidential system as introduced by the 1999 a... more This paper deals with Slovak experience with semi-presidential system as introduced by the 1999 amendment to the Constitution. It is divided into two parts. In the first part, it explains origins of semi-presidentialism in Slovakia and examines constitutional powers of the President. The second part analyzes how three presidents (i.e. indirectly elected M. Kováč (1993-1998) and directly elected R. Schuster (1999-2004) and I. Gašparovič (2004-2014)) used these powers in the office and how they were influenced by other factors.
This report focuses on the four Visegrad countries’ − Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovaki... more This report focuses on the four Visegrad countries’ − Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia − National Integrity Systems (NIS), by analysing key institutions important in preventing and fighting against corruption. The study highlights the major weaknesses and strengths, as well as the alarming and best practices in each country’s anti-corruption system. Another goal of this analysis is to draw the four national integrity systems closer to each other and capture some important similarities as well as differences in the Visegrad Four (V4) region.
Sociológia 2010, Vol. 42 (No. 1: 33-53)
This study focuses on administrative capacity and domestic EU-coordination structures in new memb... more This study focuses on administrative capacity and domestic EU-coordination structures in new member states. It analyzes data from 65 semi-structured interviews with Brussels officials and confronts them with primary data and review of the existing research on EU member states. It is argued that the Central and Eastern European states in the EU are predominantly influenced by the length of their membership, their size and their human resources management in EU affairs. The length of the membership influences member states’ knowledge about inner workings of the EU and their ability to build and sustain institutional relations and networks with and within EU institutions. Being mostly small countries, new member states (NMS) have used prioritization of issues and EU presidency as a contra-strategy, but have had only limited success in uploading their preferences to the EU level so far. In the personnel policy, several NMS revised their conditionality-influenced legislation on civil service after becoming EU members, which seems to have influence on a high level of turnover in EU bureaucratic positions, and is directly connected to NMS’ ability to establish and defend their national positions in the EU affairs.
Slovak Sociological Review. Volume 38, 2006, No. 6: 533-545, 2006
This study argues that despite the formal dominance of the Slovak parliament over the government ... more This study argues that despite the formal dominance of the Slovak parliament over the government as originally laid down in Slovak constitution, the government manages to dominate Slovak constitutional system at the expense of the parliament. Firstly, this happened through an extensive use of government’s legislative powers. Later on, the EU accession of Slovakia - predominantly an executive affair - strengthened this dominance and led to 2001 constitutional amendment. Despite another constitutional change initiated by the parliament in 2003, which was to re-establish the institutional balance, the parliament is still unable to control and influence the government with regard to EU matters.
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Book Chapters by Erik Lastic
The second part offers data on the use of initiative instruments in political system. As there are no official records of initiatives available, parliamentary database and press agency archives are used to construct quantitative data set on initiatives. In this part, we also classify available data by topics that were subject of initiatives, by actors that initiated them and by their results. The third part presents several case studies to illustrate the actual initiative process in Slovakia and its problems. In the conclusion, it is argued that although formally the initiatives in Slovakia allow voters to make their representatives more accountable, the combination of legal ambiguity, role of political parties and actual practice make their impact limited.
Books by Erik Lastic
Papers by Erik Lastic
The second part offers data on the use of initiative instruments in political system. As there are no official records of initiatives available, parliamentary database and press agency archives are used to construct quantitative data set on initiatives. In this part, we also classify available data by topics that were subject of initiatives, by actors that initiated them and by their results. The third part presents several case studies to illustrate the actual initiative process in Slovakia and its problems. In the conclusion, it is argued that although formally the initiatives in Slovakia allow voters to make their representatives more accountable, the combination of legal ambiguity, role of political parties and actual practice make their impact limited.