Abstract
The answer to the question whether the Czech Republic is a welfare state is seemingly simple due to the "binary" of possible answers - either yes or no. The reality, however, makes the process of finding out a bit more complicated. If we want to answer the presented question reliably, first of all, the definition of a welfare state is needed in the paper, which is then worked with. This is provided by Miloš Večeřa, who in his work has largely summarized the international sociological discourse.
Next, it is necessary to determine whether the Czech Republic meets this definition, or with what reservations. This examination is divided into two levels: the constitutional level, i.e. the examination of whether and how the welfare state is enshrined in constitutional documents, and the "critical" level, i.e. what are the actual problems faced by the implementation of constitutional enshrinement.
For the first examined level, Title Four of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, especially Articles 26, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 41, their interpretation and the role of the Constitutional Court in their enforcement are of course relevant (the judgments of Pl. 8/07 and Pl. The Czech Republic attributes a special character to social rights, which the Constitutional Court in its ruling Pl. ÚS 2/08 relates to the economic situation, which, however, becomes more serious with time due to demographic changes and the demographic crisis of the welfare state, which will have to grapple with its own promise of adequate material security in old age.
The second plane will then be based on the doctrinal definition of the crises of the welfare state and their relation to the Czech situation, as already outlined above. The state of the Czech Republic's public finances is unfortunate even without further deterioration in the labour market, but what other influences might trigger a deeper crisis of the Czech welfare state? Theory and practice describe various influences, and the paper describes in more detail the resource crisis, the crisis of legitimacy and the crisis of efficiency.