Corruption: How Can We Effectively Deal With It?

Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 11.00–12.30, Czech Radio Pilsen

In cooperation with Pilsen 2015 and Open Society Fund Prague

 

Moderator:

Erik Tabery, Editor-in-Chief, Respekt, Czech Republic

 

Panel Discussion:

Vladimíra Dvořáková, Head, Department of Political Science, University of Economics, Czech Republic

Jiří Knitl, Manager, Transparency and Public Responsibility Program, Open Society Fund, Czech Republic

Adriana Krnáčová, Consultant, Czech Republic

Martin Kameník, Project Coordinator, Oživení, Czech Republic

 

 

The panel discussed the effective ways of dealing with corruption in the Czech Republic. Erik Tabery began the discussion by questioning whether the notion of corruption is not exaggerated, whether it is not a cliché. Vladimíra Dvořáková replied that the situation in our country is “even worse” and “the corruption has become systematic” emphasizing the need for an active civic society and non-governmental organizations.

 

Adriana Krnáčová pointed out that the society often doesn’t sufficiently care about public affairs and, moreover, the political representatives aren’t “motivated to reframe the situation that satisfies their needs”. She emphasized the role of the education and the presence of clearly defined unified vision. Jiří Knitl agreed with professor Dvořáková on the gravity of situation and bluntly argued that he is very skeptical about the positive development. He pointed out that one of the most effective ways how to tackle the corruption is to get involved in politics.

 

In this respect, Martin Kameník noted that “the corruption is embedded in the system and political climate hasn’t changed as well” and emphasized the fact that non-governmental organizations can’t be interconnected with politics. Lastly, all panelists stressed the importance of local media to inform people about current corruption cases and called for the engagement in public affairs.