Towards a Stakeholder Model of Government Communication: A Case Study of the Czech Republic

Abstract

The study focuses on organisation and perception of government communication by government agents and stakeholder representatives in the Czech Republic. At the same time, it presents an original methodological approach to researching government communication. The research evidence suggests that government communication process in the Czech Republic conceals tensions on internal, interdepartmental and external levels of governance. Performing in-depth semi-structured interviews with former Czech government officials and top executives from the corporate and non-commercial sector, it was observed that phenomena such as democratic disenchantment and low confidence in executive bodies can be associated with the state-of-things and modus operandi of the government communication process. Finally, the aim of the study is to encourage government communication research in emerging or recently institutionalised democracies including post-communist countries in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, since it is necessary to understand the complexity of political and communication systems long associated with asymmetric power relations and democratic deficit.