Reproductive Strategies of Coping with Distrust in Politics: The Case of the Post-communist Czech Republic
Abstract
Democracies of post-communist states are usually seen as weak because of the low level of civil participation and low trust in formal political institutions. In the Czech Republic, where the environment of distrust is one of its key characteristics of these days, both citizens and politicians have to deal with this fact.
Drawing upon interviews from a student research project, which contained ninety interviews with non-politicians and thirty interviews with politicians, several widespread strategies of coping with the lack of trust have been identified. On the side of 'lay people,' the distrust in politics can lead to condemning politics as a whole, ignoring politics, blaming the history, or searching for alternatives.
Politicians use similar strategies such as denying of being a politician, ignoring the public for being incompetent, blaming the history/other politicians, or believing in a change. All these strategies contribute to the preservation of so called post-communist political culture and obstruct the further democratization.