Swimming against the European Current: Small Size as a Threat to Local Development in Czechia

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F44555601%3A13410%2F25%3A43899126" target="_blank" >RIV/44555601:13410/25:43899126 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.jofcp.org/assets/jcp/Articles-2025/2025-25-HornekandMaskarinec.pdf" target="_blank" >https://www.jofcp.org/assets/jcp/Articles-2025/2025-25-HornekandMaskarinec.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Swimming against the European Current: Small Size as a Threat to Local Development in Czechia

Original language description

Czechia represents an outlying case of a settlement structure where more than half of the municipalities have under 500 inhabitants but account for only eight percent of the country?s total population. This study analyses the factors behind variability in the amount of liabilities (as a possible indicator of development) in the balance sheets of the more than three thousand smallest Czech municipalities. The results show that the amount of liabilities is strongly positively associated with municipality size, which also explains a negative effect of voter turnout, which decreases with growing local population in the Czech context. Besides the effect of size, there are also constant (albeit much weaker) effects of geographical factors, with higher amounts of liabilities found in larger municipalities in closer vicinity to regional centres and outside structurally disadvantaged regions. This suggests the problem of an ineffective state of local governments in Czechia. Thus, the smallest municipalities with low levels of competitiveness (i.e. citizens? low willingness to join their local governments) found in peripheral regions or in the peripheries of more developed regions are faced with major developmental problems. An increasing number ofmunicipalities are stagnating due to insufficient funds for their development.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50601 - Political science

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA24-10612S" target="_blank" >GA24-10612S: Local-level democratic performance and quality of government in Central and Eastern Europe at time of multiple crises and democratic backsliding</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Comparative Politics

ISSN

1338-1385

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

18

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

SK - SLOVAKIA

Number of pages

21

Pages from-to

69-89

UT code for WoS article

001532318200005

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105012313732