About

What is the perception of international affairs and the Czech Republic's position in global politics among those who directly influence the formulation and implementation of foreign policy? What do they consider as the Czech national interest? What significance does the European Union hold for the Czech Republic? Who are our most important partners?

Striving to provide at least a partial answer was the principal aim of the Trends of Czech Foreign Policy: Study of Foreign-Policy Elites, the first project of its kind in the Czech Republic.

Inspiration

Our inspiration and guide was the study Trends der deutschen Außenpolitik by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). At this point, we would therefore like to thank Henning Riecke in particular for his willingness to advise us on the methodology and actual implementation of the survey.

The website was inspired by the The Chatham House – YouGov Survey 2011.

Process

The project took place in three stages from March to September 2011. First, the questionnaire and a database of potential respondents were compiled in consultation with the DGAP. In the second half of June 2011, the data were collected. The next two months were spent analyzing and evaluating the information gathered, and a website was created at the same time. The entire project was concluded in September 2011 with a public presentation of the survey results.

Sample of respondents

For the purpose of sampling the respondents, we relied (with minor changes) on the DGAP's broad definition, under which the elite includes not only politicians and officials with direct decision-making powers (policy-makers), but also a wide range of persons involved in public debate.

We approached

  • Parliamentary deputies and senators from the relevant committees
  • Diplomats
  • Senior administration officials
  • Political parties
  • Academics
  • Representatives of think-tanks and NGOs
  • Selected journalists

In total, 313 persons were approached, of whom 114 (36 %) filled in the questionnaire in part or in full, and of these 85 (27 %) completed the entire questionnaire.

Themes and questionnaire

The questionnaire was distributed electronically and included a total of 25 questions from the following seven thematic groups:

  • The Czech Republic in the international environment
  • The importance of international issues for the Czech Republic
  • The Czech Republic in international organizations
  • The European Union
  • Transatlantic relations
  • Bilateral relations
  • Current affairs

Download the complete questionnaire (in Czech only).

Respondents could answer questions in the following ways

  • An evaluation of the extent to which they agreed with the several answers offered to the question, using a scale of the type agree/somewhat agree/somewhat disagree/disagree (the neutral middle value and the 'I don't know' option were intentionally omitted)
  • Open answers
  • A numerical scale (based on Czech school grading system)

Research Team

Head of Project

Jakub Eberle (jakub.eberle@amo.cz)

Research Supervisor

Tomáš Karásek (tomas.karasek@amo.cz)

Research Team

Jakub Eberle, Tomáš Karásek, Ondřej Kováč, Maria Staszkiewicz, Ladislav Tůma

Technology

The following free-of-charge technologies were used:

Creative Commons License
Trends of Czech Foreign Policy is licensed under a Creative Commons License.