Abstrakt
Civic participation in the Czech Republic is strongly articulated phenomena. However, it's often associated only with the necessity to implement the elements of direct democracy, especially the national referendum, into the Czech legal framework.
During the 25 years of existence of the Czech Republic, the Parliament has discussed 21 legislative proposals of the nationwide referendum law. Despite the ongoing political debate, none of the submitted referendum proposals at the national level was accepted.
This is despite the fact that many of the parliamentary parties have the mechanisms of direct democracy (referendum) consistently present in their election programs. Even Czech society is not indifferent to this topic.
Debate on the introduction of a nationwide referendum has shifted from the question: "Implementation of nationwide referendum - yes or no?" to the question: "How strict and exclusive nationwide referendum should be?". Although the absence of the elements of direct democracy at the national level can to a large extent demotivate citizens given their participation in public life, the local level shows that the citizens are not indifferent to the events in their surroundings.
This illustrates a relatively large number of local referendums that have taken place in the Czech municipalities over the past decade. The interest of citizens to participate is also evident as the trend in the form of participatory budgeting of municipalities is increasing.
Most likely, it is only a question of when and under what circumstances and in what form the use of elements of direct democracy will take place at the national level.