The article describes the impact of the 2008 global economic crisis on constitutional developments in the Czech Republic. The author does not focus only on monitoring the temporal coincidence of the submitted draft constitutional acts with the events known as the financial crisis, but also their direct substantive links with them. A temporal link is an insufficient criterion. The capital question is, if a causal link based upon a material aspect exists with regard to each specific example. From this viewpoint, the author suggests dividing proposals for constitutional changes in the Czech Republic into four categories described further in the article. The article tries to explain the Czech constitutional context and the very pro-active approach on the part of politicians to the text of the Constitution and proposals for its amendments, which are however seldom signed into law. The author reaches a general conclusion that the financial crisis itself did not lead to constitutional developments in the Czech Republic. On the other hand, the Czech Republic is undergoing a process (independent of the financial crisis) of the erosion of the political system and the system of political parties associated with a certain amount of public distrust in the traditional system of constitutional and political representations, with the emergence of requirements calling for the strengthening of elements of direct democracy and with the rise of new entities, often selfproclaiming them as being definitely not political parties, but non-political civic movements.
Antoš, Marek , ‘Finanční ústava: raději maják nežli stěžeň’ (Financial constitution: rather a lighthouse than a mast) (2015) Právník 26–48.
Contiades, Xenophon (ed), Constitutions in the Global Financial Crisis: A Comparative Analysis (Ashgate 2013).
Kudrna, Jan , ‘Cancellation of early elections by the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic: Beginning of a New Concept of “Protection of Constitutionality”’ (2010) 4 Jurisprudence 43–70.
Kudrna, Jan , ‘The Question of Conducting Direct Elections of the President in the Czech Republic (A Live Issue for 20 Years Already)’ (2011) 4 Jurisprudence 1295–321.
Kudrna, Jan , ‘Patching as an inevitable underlying method of approaching the Constitution of the CR.’ in Gerloch, Aleš, Kysela, Jan et al., 20 let Ústavy České republiky. Ohlédnutí zpět a pohled vpřed. (20 Years of the Constitution of the Czech Republic. Looking Back and Forwards) (Aleš Čeněk 2013) 84–101.
Molek, Pavel , ‘Czech Presidential Elections 2013 (Feast of Democracy or a Czech Farce in Four Acts?)’ (2015) 1 ICL Journal (Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law) 90–108.
Preuss, Ondřej , ‘The eternity clause as a smart instrument – lessons from the Czech case law.’ (2016) 3 Acta Juridica Hungarica 289–304.
Roznai, Yaniv , Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments (The Limits of Amendment Powers) (OUP 2017).
‘Rudé právo, Komunističtí poslanci: Volba prezidenta lidovým hlasováním.’ (Communist deputies: Elections of president by popular vote) (1989) 70 Rudé právo.
Suk, Jiří , Labyrintem revoluce. (Through the Maze of the Revolution) (Prostor 2003).
Vnenk, Vladislav , ‘Ústavněprávní odpovědnos prezidenta republiky ve světle připravované novely Ústavy.’ (Constitutional responsibility of the President of republic in the proposed amendment of the Constitution) (2015) Právní rozhledy 744–46.
Wintr, Jan, Antoš, Marek and Kysela, Jan, Direct Election of the President and its Constitutional and Political Consequences. (2016) 2 Acta Politologica 145–63.