The phenomenon of bureaucracy and its expansion in the public sector of the Czech Republic with a focus on the bureaucratization of activities at Czech universities

The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the analysis of the phenomenon of bureaucracy by examining the scope of the public sector in the Czech Republic, with a special focus on the bureaucratization of universities and higher education institutions. The work also aims to present, in a condensed form, a literature review of bureaucracy, which is important for the economic theory of bureaucracy. The thesis introduces the main ideas of A. Smith, G. W. F. Hegel, K. Marx, M. Weber, and others that preceded the first comprehensive economic theory of bureaucracy formulated by L. von Mises. The analytical part is focused on the analysis of government budget expenditures and the number of employees under the direct government regulation. In the period from 2002 to 2022, nominal government budget expenditures increased by more than 164.4%, while the number of employees in 2022 was only 1.2% higher than in 2003. However, during the observed period, there was an increase in the proportion of the number of “state” employees to the productive population, partially indicating the displacement of the private sector by the public sector. In the next part, the results of a questionnaire survey are analyzed; almost 85% believe that administrative burden in higher education institutions have increased during their tenure in academia. Based on the comparison of results with foreign research, the author concludes that Czech academics are relatively more burdened with administration than their counterparts in the USA, Germany, Italy, Norway, or Finland. The bureaucratization of Czech higher education institutions and universities, among other things, prevents academic staff from adequately dedicating themselves to activities that should be the primary mission of universities, namely teaching, science, and research.