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The Czechoslovak Advisory Board for Economic Questions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
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A characteristic post-war institutional development has been the appearance, under one guise or another, of instrumentalities for the representation of functional or economic interests. There is scarcely a nation in Europe that has not in some fashion taken cognizance of social and economic groups by their recognition through definite legal agencies. Witness the Italian lower house, with representation based upon Fascist corporations; and note the Consiglio Superiore dell' Economia, the German Reichswirtschaftsrat, and the Conseil National Économique of France. These bodies are too well known to warrant comment. Czechoslovakia, however, has an agency for expert economic counsel and guidance that challenges comparison and invites examination. Her Advisory Board for Economic Questions is noteworthy as one of the most carefully contrived of institutions for the representation of interests and classes. This board, together with the bodies just mentioned, demonstrates the working compromises that have been made with parliamentarism in view of the ever-increasing technical complexities of the present day “public-service state.”
Functional representation is recognized in varying forms in a large number of countries. The mere extent of this development is significant of the change in attitude that is taking place toward the state. The concept has been acknowledged in word, if not in action, in the constitutions of Yugoslavia, Poland, and Danzig. By decree or statute, the principle has been accepted in Spain, Turkey, Mexico, and Japan. Estonia, Latvia, and Luxembourg must likewise be added. There has been agitation in Norway for an economic council. Plans have been considered toward this end in Greece, Austria, Rumania, and Portugal.
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- Foreign Governments and Politics
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- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1930
References
1 Schneider, Herbert W., Making the Fascist State (New York, 1928)Google Scholar, chap, iv., Haider, Carmen, Capital and Labor Under Fascism (New York, 1930)Google Scholar; Leibholz, Gerhard, Zu, den Problemen des faschistischen Verfassungsrechts (Berlin, 1928), p. 12 ff.Google Scholar For the relationship of Fascism to professional representation, see Mussolini, B., Fascismo e sindacalismo (Milan, 1925), pp. 269 ff.Google Scholar
2 Finer, H., Representative Government and a Parliament of Industry (London, 1923)Google Scholar; Von Siemons, , “Germany's Business Parliament,” Curr. Hist., Sept., 1924Google Scholar.
3 Bramhall, Edith C.: “The National Economic Council in France,” in this Review, Aug., 1926Google Scholar.
4 For a general discussion of these four councils, see the writer's article “Legalized Lobbying in Europe,” Curr. Hist., Feb., 1930Google Scholar.
5 The U.S.S.R., while accepting a vocational rather than a geographical basis of representation, is in so clear a sense sui generis as to be beyond the scope of this discussion.
6 Article 44. See discussion in Beard, Charles A. and Radin, George, The Balkan Pivot: Yugoslavia (1929)Google Scholar.
7 Article 68.
8 Articles 45, 114.
9 Royal decree of March 8, 1924, establishing the Consejo de la Economia Nacional. Boletin de la Revista General de Legislación y Jurisprudence (1924), tome 188, p. 270 ff.Google Scholar
10 Law of July 24, 1927.
11 For the Mexican law, see United States Daily, Sept. 28, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar.
12 Imperial ordinance of Apr. 1, 1924.
13 Informations sociales du Bureau international du Travail, March 24, 1925.
14 Glum, Friedrich, Der deutsche und der franzosische Reiswirtschaftsrat (Berlin and Leipzig, 1929), p. 10CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also Dendias, M. M., Le Problème de la chambre haute et la représentation des intérêts à propos de l'organisation du Sénat (Paris, 1930)Google Scholar.
15 Manchester Guardian Weekly, January 24, 1930, p. 66Google Scholar. A White Paper setting out the scope and functions of the new council will be issued shortly.
16 In an editorial of December 28, 1929, commenting favorably upon President Hoover's move, the Saturday Evening Post suggested that a “definite organization” be devised for calling into periodic conferences the leaders of industry. They, “from the very nature of modern life, constitute a sort of third house whose operations are at times even more essential than those of Congress itself.” See also the suggestion of a former prominent lobbyist of the National Manufacturers Association, in Williams, Nathan, “Advisory Councils to Government,” Annals of Amer. Acad. Polit. and Soc. Sci., Jan., 1930, pp. 146–149Google Scholar.
17 There is a rather extensive literature in French and German upon the subject of functional representation in general and of economic councils in particular. The following list is by no means exhaustive: de Benoit, Francis: La Représentation politique des intérets professionals (Paris, 1911)Google Scholar; Prélot, Marcel: Étude sur la représentation professionnelle en Allemagne (1924)Google Scholar; Saint-Léon, Martin: Histoire des corporations de métiers, 2ième éd.; L'Organisation professionnelle (1905)Google Scholar; Les Systèmes de la représentation nationale des intérêts économiques en France et à l'étranger; Rollet, Henri, Les Chambres d'agriculture (1926)Google Scholar; Lautaud, Camille et Poudenx, Andre, La Représentation professionnelle (1927)Google Scholar; Sava Moyitch, Le Parlement économique; Carrière, Gabriel, La Représentation des intérêts et l'importance des eléments professionals dans l'évolution et le gouvernement des peuples (1917)Google Scholar; Martin, Jacques, La Représentation politique des intérêts économiques: une solution: les conseils économiques régionaux (1928)Google Scholar; Bouvier, Léon, La Représentation des intérêts professionels dans les assemblées politiques (1914)Google Scholar; Vermeil, M., Le Conseil économique du Reich (Vienna, 1923)Google Scholar; Glum, Friedrich, Der deutsche und der französische Reichswirtschaftsrat. Ein Beitrag zu dem Problem der Repräsentation der Wirtschaft im Staat (Berlin and Leipsiz, 1929)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Herrfahrdt, Heinrich, Das Problem der berufsständischen Vertretung von der französischen Revolution bis zur Gegenwart (Stuttgart, 1921)Google Scholar; Schäffer, S., Der vorläufige Reichswirtschaftsrat (Munchen, 1920)Google Scholar; Tatarin-Tarnheyden, Edgar, Die Berufastände, ihre Stellung im Staatsrecht und in der deutschen Wirtschaftsverfassung (Berlin, 1922)Google Scholar; Hauschild, , Der vorläufige Reichswirtschaftsrat, 1920-1926 (Berlin, 1926)Google Scholar; (Dr. Hauschild, bureau director of the Reichswirtschaftsrat, now has under preparation a second volume dealing with the work of the council since 1926); Bernhard, George, Wirtschaftsparlamente von den Revolutionsraten zum Reichswirtschaftsrat (Berlin, 1922)Google Scholar.
18 For the pertinent statutes and a description of the structure of the Advisory Board, see the pamphlet issued by the Ministerstvo Obschodu entitled Poradní sbor pro otázky hospodářské.
19 In a letter to the writer, a Czech student of public affairs, expressed this opinion: “The Board is composed in such a way that it gives the impression that it represents farmers, manufacturers, merchants, and entrepreneurs—as well as wage-earners and even men of science. But in reality it is a representation of entrepreneurs—of the chief branches of industry and big agriculture. The Advisory Board for Economic Questions is simply a decoration behind which the “interests” do what they like. The Board is, according to my opinion, used by the government for giving the impression that economic questions are settled after careful examination and many-sided consideration by a board of experts, non-partisan in character. This, to be sure, is not true. For example, during the last numerous and protracted debates concerning the public administration of private liquor production the board defended, not the public interest, but rather the private interests of agrarian liquor producers and individual manufacturers.”
20 Reports on the current work of the Advisory Board are to be found in the official publication Věstník ministerstva průmyslu, obchodu a zivmostí, in the special section on the Poradní sbor pro otázky hospodářské.
21 Three parts of the statistics dealing with the larger industrial establishments for the year 1926 have been published. See Statistika větších průmyslových závodů, v roce 1926. The fourth and last part will appear in the near future.
22 This evaluation of the Board is based upon opinions arrived at after talking and corresponding with officials of the Board, politicians, editors, and students of public affairs in Praha.
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