Who Has Had the Main Say in the Path of the Czech Pension Reform: Politicians, Experts - or Both?

Although pension systems are among the most stable elements of social systems, even they evolve. In recent decades, dozens of countries have joined in by enacting minor adjustments or significant reforms. Politicians as well as invited experts have been paying close attention to the topic. In this paper, we analyze the framework of the spirit and content of the discourse of the Czech pension reform between 2004 and 2014 with the aid of discursive institutionalism theory and methods of framing analysis. The center of our focus is on the institutional framework and the content of the communication of its key actors - politicians and experts. It turns out that even though the politicians cannot make do without the experts while providing them the opportunity to exercise their professional duties and knowledge in the decision-making process, the politicians, themselves, ultimately have the final word.