Resumen de Climate Obstruction in the Czech Republic: Winning by Default
Czechia (the Czech Republic) offers an interesting and important case of a post-communist EU member state with a well-rooted and politically established climate obstruction landscape. The issue has been the subject of major policy debates since the mid-1990s, and, more importantly, the articulation of climate obstruction rhetoric has come from top levels of government. This chapter shows how Czechia’s historical context has uniquely shaped climate obstruction there and enabled the dominance of a climate obstruction network composed of political leaders, political parties, think tanks, and prominent individuals. It connects important moments in Czech politics to the emergence and advancement of key actors and activists in this network and demonstrates how they have dominated institutional and discursive spaces over other potentially significant actors. Their influence has contributed to establishing climate obstruction as the mainstream discourse in Czechia, thus obviating the need to promote this position or respond to opposition.
