Devolution and the efficiency of cultural heritage preservation: the case of regional museums in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the impact of devolution on the efficiency of regional museums in the Czech Republic, a country with a more than 40-year communist history. According to our results, devolution in the Czech Republic did not lead to increased efficiency, contrary to what the general theory of decentralization assumes. In our opinion, this situation is caused by path dependency, the frozen public administration reform, and the conservative approach of managers in the cultural heritage sector. It also shows that one-size-fits-all decentralization policy can have contradictory effects under specific conditions. Additionally, it is clear that the impacts of decentralization must be seen in greater detail and that we must distinguish among the effects of individual types of decentralization.

KEYWORDS:

• Devolution
• cultural heritage
• efficiency
• Czech Republic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Internal Grant System of National Museum of Agriculture, Czech Republic [grant number Internat grant 2020].

Notes on contributors

Michal Plaček

Michal Plaček - a senior researcher at the National Museum of Agriculture, field of interest: cultural heritage, performance management in public sector.

František Ochrana

František Ochrana - top Czech scholar in field of public administration and professor at the Center for Social and Economics Strategies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles university, field of interest: public management, public procurement.

Milan Půček

Milan Půček - is a former General director of the National Museum of Agriculture, one of leading institution in field of cultural heritage in Czech republic, vice-rector at Ambis College.

Juraj Nemec

Juraj Nemec - top Czech scholar in field of public administration, is one of leading regional experts on public administration, public finance and public management issues in the CEE region. He serves as the President of NISPAcee, Vice-President of IASIA and is member of the Committee of Expert on Public Administration of the United Nations and of the Committee of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government of the Council of Europe. Alternative service delivery represents one of main topics of his long-term research.

Milan Křápek

Milan Křápek - is a senior researcher at Ambis College, field of interest: quantitative methods in economics.