Daily Princetonian.com,October 25, 2007, Thursday

Daily Princetonian.com,October 25, 2007, Thursday
DailyPrincetonian.com

Alum runs for Czech presidency

By Jack Ackerman
Princetonian Contributor


As an economist by training and a professor by trade, Jan Svejnar GS '76 is accustomed to weighing in on issues ranging from healthcare to labor. But he is currently on a quest to assume a far more active role in the political world: He plans to run for president of the Czech Republic in 2008 against current president Vaclav Klaus.

If Svejnar wins, it could signal changes for the Czech Republic's role in Europe, since he has criticized Klaus' more conservative, nationalist views in favor of further integration into the European Union. Svejnar also favors a more liberal approach to the economic reforms led by Klaus' party, the Civil Democrats.

This is not the first time Svejnar, who currently teaches economics at the University of Michigan, has been seen as a possible replacement for Klaus. In 1997, he was asked to lead an interim Czech government after Klaus was forced to leave his post as prime minister following a political scandal. But Svejnar, who has spent most of his adult life in the United States, could not accept the position because he was not technically a Czech citizen.

Svejnar forfeited his citizenship when he left his home country — then under Communist rule — in 1970 to pursue his education in the United States. Now that the Czech Republic is a democracy and Svejnar's citizenship has been reinstated, he is free to seek the presidency.

Since the Civil Democrats hold the largest number of seats in the Czech parliament, which elects the country's president, Svejnar's chances depend on whether the smaller and less influential parties side with the Civil Democrats or Svejnar's party, the Social Democrats, Wilson School professor Grigore Pop-Eleches said.

Pop-Eleches, whose research focuses on Eastern European elections, added that since the two major Czech parties have been evenly split in recent years, the communist party — which holds about 15 percent of the parliamentary vote — will play a significant, yet unclear role. "You never know what the communists will do," he said.

Svejnar's quest for the presidency may face several stumbling blocks, including his relative lack of visibility in his home country. "Klaus is a polarizing figure," Pop-Eleches said, but added that "everyone knows Klaus." Svejnar, on the other hand, remains relatively unknown among the Czech public, and while citizenship is no longer a problem, his living in the United States might give the impression that he is out of touch with local affairs.

Nevertheless, Svejnar has taken specific policy stances on Czech issues, often using his background in economics to bolster his positions. In an interview with Radio Praha in November 2005, he focused on reforms to the country's pension, healthcare and education systems. "I think that all the politicians now are acutely aware that there is a pension issue, that the system is essentially too expensive and not means-tested [and] doesn't address the real problems of people who need assistance," he said. "The same goes for healthcare."

Education, he said, is crucial for the Czech Republic to hold its own in the global economy. "A country that has no natural resources and is an open economy integrated into the world trading system," he said, "needs to have a strong human capital base on which to build."

Svejnar graduated from Cornell with a degree in industrial and labor relations and then earned masters and doctorate degrees from the University in economics. Despite his longtime residence in the United States, he has remained connected to his home country, co-founding a program in 1991 that helps Czech citizens acquire graduate degrees in economics from U.S.-accredited institutions.