Cause Czechia

A chronicle of post-colonial corruption by a long-time director of Transparency International

This book is not a campaign! The open confession of an anti-corruption campaigner whose book-length testimony is putting politicians from the right to the left to sleep.

David Ondráčka's thriller about two decades in a country where so many things have happened, yet almost nothing of note has happened. About the tunneling of state and municipal companies. About overpriced tenders in which the Czech Republic sunk tens of billions of crowns. About the connection between regional godfathers and top politicians. About journalists and media. About the oligarchization of Czech politics, about behind-the-scenes players, lobbyists, marketers. About the clash with Andrej Babiš, who has fundamentally changed the way of governing and the functioning of the state administration. About the previous governments, but also about the current government.

About feelings of euphoria and despair, hope and frustration. On the draining fight against corruption. About cold cases, handing over secret documents and threats from mafia and ordinary people. About burnout and finding a new way to help public space.

David Ondráčka, the former head of Transparency International's Czech branch, recalls a 20-year phase of his life when he negotiated with politicians on the anti-corruption agenda, cooperated with police and prosecutors, kicked the ankles of organized crime, and vainly explained that without systemic changes we will move further and further away from the West. And it attempts to offer insight into the current forms of power that affect society in 2025 and will be important in the years to come.