Regional transformation in the Czech Republic: internationalization, embeddedness and adaptability.

Uhlíř, David (1999). Regional transformation in the Czech Republic: internationalization, embeddedness and adaptability. PhD thesis The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0000ff61

Abstract

The thesis explores the role of internationalization in the socioeconomic development of three regions in the Czech Republic. For this purpose a theoretical framework for the analysis of regional change is developed which combines network theory as presented by New Economic Sociology, actor-network theory and the concepts of social capital, symbolic capital and symbolic power of Pierre Bourdieu. It is argued that a conceptualization of economic action requires a simultaneous analysis of networked activities of individuals and their relations to the sources of recognition and symbolic power.
On this basis the thesis strives to elaborate on the ways in which these aspects of analysis may be incorporated into a culturally-informed regional research and research into the uneven abilities of regions to 'hold down' the process of internationalization. With this conceptual framework in mind, the thesis analyses the functioning of the centrally-planned economic system in Czechoslovakia, as well as explaining the outcomes of Czech privatization.
The empirical chapters subsequently present three case studies of Czech regions - namely Lanškroun, Mladá Boleslav, and Rožnov - and seek to explain how and why, in each of them, the process of internationalization was 'held down' with different degrees of success.
In the summary of empirical findings the thesis argues that a 'successful' process of internationalization requires local actors to control and mediate the meaning of this process and to become empowered by it.

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