Ideological Discourses of Anti-Corruption in the Czech Way: Similarities and Discrepancies Between Parties, Governments, and Official Anti-Corruption Strategies

Abstract

Drawing on constructivist approaches, this article contributes to the debate on ideological discourses of (anti-)corruption. The text is inspired by the research of Blendi Kajsiu and focuses on the ideological discourses contained in textual production at different levels of Czech politics – party election manifestos, government policy statements and official governmental anti-corruption strategies. The aim of the analysis is to identify similarities and differences in how political actors formulate their ideas about (anti-)corruption in the electoral process, after gaining executive power and finally in the formulation of the foundations of anti-corruption policies contained in governmental anti-corruption strategies. Thus, the main research question asks whether there is consistency in the discourses carried by a given actor before the elections and after gaining a share of executive power. In the text, we argue that when governments are formed by parties reproducing a centrist or neoliberal discourse, they usually carry this discourse from their election manifestos into the government’s declaration and also into the government’s official anti-corruption strategy. On the contrary, in the case of populist discourse, this transfer has not happened even once, and populist discourse thus appears primarily as a strategy designed to appeal to the electorate.