Expertise and Conflicts in State Business Management During the Era of “Normalisation” in Czechoslovakia: Pluralism or Corporatism?
Roč.22,č.1(2025)
The Role of Expertise in the Public Sphere in CEE Countries
The socialist industrial managers were a specific elite group within Czechoslovak society. During the era of normalisation, their position was so solid that they could assertively manifest particular interests. At the same time, they were confronted with the demands of various political circumstances. First of all, they were bound by the production plan, which was set by the ministries for individual production sectors. At the same time, the functioning of enterprises was connected to the system of state administration. Most notably, the factories were under the steady control of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. This article ponders the uneasy relations of directors with multiple centres of power: the ministries, societal organizations, and both local and central organs of the Communist Party. The focus on “interests”, “groups”, and “conflict” reintroduces classic debate between proponents of pluralism and corporatism – both addressing the mode of interest representation. The core of the text, based on research on the realities of one particular factory, is a discussion on the conflict between ideological and technocratic/expert demands which directors were supposed to deal with.
corporatism; pluralism; Soviet-type regime; normalisation; Czechoslovakia; conflict; expertise
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