Abstract
During 2013-2021, two versions of populism co-existed in the Czech Republic: on the one hand, the technocratic populism of Andrej Babiš, initially finance minister, then prime minister, and, on the other hand, his populism was in a strange co-existence and opposition to the traditional populism of President Miloš Zeman. Unlike him, or Viktor Orbán, Andrej Babiš has not built a consistent ideology based on nationalism.
This chapter sees Babiš's populism as constantly postponing unpleasant decisions or measures that do not bring political points. Contrast this with a high willingness to increase spending, especially mandatorily.
Babiš has significantly increased teachers' salaries and other long-neglected professions or pension payments above the inflation rate. On the other hand, his policies, which assumed economic growth, substantially increased the economy's vulnerability to a sudden crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic or subsequent Russia's war against Ukraine.