Research on the needs of expatriate communities in individual countries in terms of maintaining their ties to the Czech Republic
Abstract
This section of the research report summarises the issues raised by respondents to the survey (N=940), including a subset of scientists. It also partly uses a perspective on regional differences in attitudes among expatriates in the selected countries, or also on analyses of the conditionality of expatriates' involvement in two groups of countries differently distant from the Czech Republic - the USA and Canada versus Germany and Austria.
It draws in particular on the answers to the open-ended questions. No. 94: "What is the biggest problem you are currently dealing with and how No. 84: "What would be needed to communicate with institutions in the Czech Republic? improve?" We also work with answers to questions targeting potential returnees: No. 95: "If you are thinking of returning to the Czech Republic, what else would make your decision easier?" and No. 32: "How would you Czech Republic could make returning home as easy as possible?" For the purpose here we retreat from precise quantification, mentioning some aspects in logical blocks.
In general, the issues of high bureaucracy and complex administration, low electronization, digitalization, even in connection with the organization of elections abroad, low and uncoordinated information, as well as the unwillingness and incompetence of the OC staff dominate the list of problems (see the exact quantification of frequencies in the analytical part).The specific frequencies of individual responses then approximate certain differences in the attitudes of certain groups of compatriots, or in the reality that influences attitudes. For example, there is a significantly greater emphasis on the need for the electronicisation and digitisation of the state administration and the organisation of elections among compatriots from the USA and Canada, who are much more distant from the Czech Republic than those living in Germany and Austria.
On the contrary, it seems, economic factors of life are more important for compatriots in Germany and Austria compared to information, political, social and health aspects, which are more mentioned by compatriots in the USA and Canada. However, these facts may also importantly reflect the differences in the populations of the research samples in the two groups of countries.