Martin Klecacky

@mua.cas.cz

Department for Modern Political and Intellectual History
Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences

Martin Klecacky


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https://researchid.co/klecm5af

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

History, Public Administration
17

Scopus Publications

89

Scholar Citations

5

Scholar h-index

2

Scholar i10-index

Scopus Publications

  • Civil Unrest and Police Reform: Quelling Riots in Prague, 1890-1910
    Martin Klečacký
    Central European History, 2026
    This article examines the institutional evolution and professionalization of the state police in Prague during the final decades of the Habsburg monarchy, arguing that the transformation of the Prague State Police between 1893 and 1910 represents a proactive effort in modern state-building. Drawing on reports from the Prague Police Directorate and the Bohemian Governor’s Office, it analyzes how recurring episodes of mass violence—specifically the unrest of the early 1890s, the riots of December 1897, and the nationalist disturbances of 1908—exposed the structural vulnerabilities of a security apparatus designed for routine policing rather than mass politics. The article highlights a significant shift in administrative strategy: the movement away from a reliance on military intervention, which was increasingly viewed by civil authorities as a “double defeat” that undermined the legitimacy of the constitutional state. Instead, police directors such as Georg Dörfl and Karel Křikava successfully advocated for a robust, civilian-controlled force characterized by increased manpower, modernized equipment, and the establishment of a dedicated reserve for professional training. By 1910, the Prague Guard had largely expanded, reflecting a fundamental reconceptualization of urban order where protest was accepted as an unavoidable feature of political life to be contained by professional civilian forces rather than crushed by the army.
  • THE POLITICS OF APPOINTMENT: The Czech Minister and the Transformation of Habsburg Administration
    Martin Klečacký
    Politics of Appointment the Czech Minister and the Transformation of Habsburg Administration, 2026
    A unique study on the relationship between state administration and politics, examining how the office of the Czech Landsmannminister became the primary vehicle for the politicization of the Habsburg state. Through case studies in Vienna, Prague, and České Budějovice, it chronicles the Young Czech Party’s systematic campaign to gain control of selected key positions within the administration of the multinational monarchy. The narrative details how ministers used personnel policy to embed loyalists within the bureaucracy, consistently bypassing merit in favor of national and political allegiance to successfully “Czechize” the formally supranational administration.
  • Deputies Anton Julius Gschier (1814-1874) and Gustav Anton Gschier (1852-1916)
    Martin Klečacký
    Networking and Career Strategies in Late Habsburg Monarchy and Its Successor States Paths to Power, 2025
    This chapter investigates the intergenerational effects of social background on the political careers of two deputies who were strongly embedded in local politics. It focuses on Anton Julius Gschier (1814–1874) and his son Gustav Anton Gschier (1852–1916) who came from a small-town environment, inhabited mainly by Bohemian Germans, to which they belonged. Both were lawyers, Anton’s father was from an official background and subsequently became an attorney. Anton Gschier studied law at the University of Prague, while his son Gustav Gschier did so at the University of Graz. Their involvement in local politics (both were mayors of their hometown) enabled them to achieve electoral success in parliamentary elections. A. Gschier was a member of the Bohemian Diet and the Imperial Council from 1861 to 1866, and his son was a member of the Bohemian Diet from 1888 to 1893.
  • Senior State Official Maximilian Obentraut (1795-1883) and Senior State Official and Deputy Adolf Obentraut (1833-1909)
    Martin Klečacký
    Networking and Career Strategies in Late Habsburg Monarchy and Its Successor States Paths to Power, 2025
    This chapter traces an extraordinary story of an illegitimate child who managed to achieve a significant social rise, opening up lucrative career opportunities for his offspring. The biological parents of Maximilian Obentraut (1795–1883) are likely to have been part of the German-speaking high aristocracy in Bohemia. This background may have enabled Obentraut to overcome the disadvantage of his illegitimate origins. However, his social mobility was mainly due to his abilities, which as a regional president allowed him to penetrate the group of senior state officials. He was also ennobled as a Ritter. His son Adolf Obentraut (1833–1909) was able to capitalize significantly on his father’s position in the civil service. When this career no longer satisfied him, he transitioned into the field of politics and became a member of the Imperial Council and Bohemian Land Diet.
  • Senior State Official František Vaniš (1861-1930)
    Martin Klečacký
    Networking and Career Strategies in Late Habsburg Monarchy and Its Successor States Paths to Power, 2025
    This chapter focuses on the life of František Vaniš (1861–1930), a senior civil servant who came from a rural Czech background. Vaniš’s story is noteworthy for its illustration of the increasing politicization of the administrative system at the end of the monarchy. This politicization intensified further following the establishment of the new Czechoslovak state in 1918. Vaniš’s career benefited from this fact, as it was influenced and accelerated by the interventions of local politicians, who intervened with central authorities in Vienna. Vaniš’s seemingly anti-government stance abruptly ended his career during the First World War, however, he managed to restart it after a regime change in 1918 when he, again, used his contacts to leading Czech politicians.
  • Senior state officials-A uniform administrative elite? The example of Prague Crown Land offices and their highest-ranking public servants, 1868-1918
    Martin Klečacký, Klára Hulíková Tesárková, Alice Velková
    Climbing Up the Social Ladder Social Mobility of Elites in East Central Europe in the Long 19th Century, 2024
    Senior State Officials – a Uniform Administrative Elite? The Example of Prague Crown Land Offices and Their Highest-Ranking Public Servants, 1868 –1918 was published in Climbing up the Social Ladder? on page 99.
  • Social mobility of elites in East-Central Europe in historical perspective: Introductory study
    Vlad Popovici, Alice Velková, Martin Klečacký
    Climbing Up the Social Ladder Social Mobility of Elites in East Central Europe in the Long 19th Century, 2024
  • Climbing up the social ladder?: Social mobility of elites in east-central Europe in the long 19th century
    Popovici, Vlad 1982-, Velková, Alice 1972-, Klečacký, Martin 1985-
    Climbing Up the Social Ladder Social Mobility of Elites in East Central Europe in the Long 19th Century, 2024
    Social mobility is about climbing the societal ladder, or switching to a better, more promising or rewarding position. But how does this work for those already atop or very close to it? Climbing up the Social Ladder? explores instances of social mobility among different types of positional, decisional and status-defined elites in East-Central Europe during the long 19 th century, at individual or group level.
  • The Administrative Reform of 1927 and its Implementation on the District Level in Slovakia
    Martin Klečacký
    Historicky Casopis, 2024
    The study deals with the implementation of the key administrative reform (the so-called Organizational Act No. 125/1927 Coll.) in Slovakia as a prerequisite for the unification of the political administration in Czechoslovakia. With the adoption of the Act, district offices became the basic unit of state administration throughout the territory of the state. The first part of the paper describes the circumstances of the adoption of the law as part of the political negotiations leading to the formation of the new government and the effects of this compromise on the form of the law and the territorial division of political administration. In the next part, the workings of the district authorities in Slovakia are examined based on inspection reports in comparison with the Czech lands, especially in relation to the personnel issue. In the last part, the study focuses on the corps of district chiefs who headed the district offices and thus represented the most important representatives of state power at the local level. It examines their age, origin, education, and experience and compares them with the situation in the Czech Lands. The study links the slow implementation of the administrative reform and the problematic operation of the district authorities mainly to the absence of supervision by the superior authorities and the lack of suitable senior officials. It notes that the selection of district chiefs was subject, in addition to professional criteria, to political discretion, which, however, led to the lack of adequate skills and experience on the part of some district chiefs.
  • Both Elected Representatives and Imperial Officials? The Mayors’ Installation in the Statutory Cities of Habsburg Austria 1860–1918*
    National Archives, Martin Klečanský
    Mesto A Dejiny, 2023
    The article focuses on the specifi c legal status of statutory towns in Austria from the restoration of constitutionalism in 1860 to the end of the monarchy and on the peculiarities of their administration. Special attention is paid to their method of selecting representatives since the mayors of the statutory towns were subject to the approval of the government and the emperor. The article examines the impact of the confi rmation process on the selection of mayors, and to what extent and in what manner the government exercised its option to exclude certain elected individuals from the leadership of the statutory cities. It shows the changes in the approach of the government after the 1870s and concludes in stating the ineffi ciency of this tool. URL: https://www.upjs.sk/filozoficka-fakulta/katedra-historie/10984/
  • Austria and Czechoslovakia
    Peter Becker, Martin Klečacký
    Governance and Public Management, 2023
  • The Death of the Breadwinner As a Factor of Social Mobility in the Civil Service Milieu in Bohemia in the Latter Half of the 19th Century
    Transylvanian Review, 2022
  • District School Inspector and the Beginning of State Supervision over General Education System in Bohemia 1869–1873
    Martin Klečacký
    Historia Scholastica, 2022
  • The Rise of Administrative Elites The Influence of Social Background and Nationality on Attaining the Position of District Captain in Bohemia in 1875 and 1910
    Klára Hulíková Tesárková, Martin Klečacký, Alice Velková
    Central and Eastern Europe, 2022
  • A MUNICIPALITY against the STATE: POWER RELATIONS between STATE and LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES, BASED on the EXAMPLE of BOHEMIA at the TURN of the NINETEENTH CENTURY*
    Martin Klečacký
    Acta Poloniae Historica, 2020
  • The takeover of power. The state administration at the beginnings of the czechoslovak republic 1918–1920 using the example of the Czech lands
    Cesky Casopis Historicky, 2018
  • An illusion of independence. The social status of the imperial-royal judge in the conflict of loyalties between the nation and the state at the turn of the 20th century
    Cesky Casopis Historicky, 2014

RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • The Politics of Appointment: The Czech Minister and the Transformation of Habsburg Administration
    M Klečacký
    Berghahn Books , 2026
    2026
  • Civil Unrest and Police Reform: Quelling Riots in Prague, 1890-1910
    M Klečacký
    Central European History, 1-19 , 2026
    2026
  • 17 Senior State Official František Vaniš
    M Klečacký
    Networking and Career Strategies in Late Habsburg Monarchy and its Successor … , 2025
    2025
  • 4 Deputies Anton Julius Gschier (1814–1874) and Gustav Anton Gschier (1852–
    M Klečacký
    Networking and Career Strategies in Late Habsburg Monarchy and its Successor … , 2025
    2025
  • Senior State Official Maximilian Obentraut (1795–1883) and Senior State Official and Deputy Adolf Obentraut (1833–1909)
    M Klečacký
    Networking and Career Strategies in Late Habsburg Monarchy and its Successor … , 2025
    2025
  • Social Mobility of Elites in East-Central Europe in Historical Perspective. Introductory Study
    V Popovici, A Velková, M Klečacký
    Climbing up the Social Ladder?, 1 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 2
  • Climbing Up the Social Ladder?: Social Mobility of Elites in East-Central Europe in the Long 19th Century
    V Popovici, A Velková, M Klečacký
    Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 6
  • Austria and Czechoslovakia
    P Becker, M Klečacký
    The Education and Training of Public Servants: Systems and Practices from … , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 1
  • Deset let hledání. Správní reforma z roku 1927 a její prosazení na okresní úrovni na Slovensku
    M Klečacký
    Historický časopis 72 (1), 81-100 , 2024
    2024
  • O dějinách s noblesou. K sedmdesátinám Josefa Tomeše
    M Klečacký
    O dějinách s noblesou. K sedmdesátinám Josefa Tomeše, 255-269 , 2023
    2023
  • Both Elected Representatives and Imperial OfI cials? The Mayors’ Installation in the Statutory Cities of Habsburg Austria 1860–1918
    M Klečacký
    The City and History (Mesto a dejiny until 2019) 12 (1), 46-63 , 2023
    2023
  • The Rise of Administrative Elites
    KH Tesárková, M Klečacký, A Velková
    Elites, Groups, and Networks in East-Central and South-East Europe in the … , 2022
    2022
  • The Death of the Breadwinner As a Factor of Social Mobility in the Civil Service Milieu in Bohemia in the Latter Half of the 19th Century
    M Klečacký
    Transylvanian Review 31 (2), 3-21 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 4
  • Rise of Administrative Elites: Influence of Social Background and Nationality on Attaining the Position of District Captain in Bohemia in 1875 and 1910
    K Hulíková Tesárková, M Klečacký, A Velková
    Elites, Groups, Networks in South and Central Europe (18th–mid 20th century … , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 4
  • Okresní školní inspektor a počátky státního dohledu nad obecným školstvím v Čechách v letech 1869–1873
    M Klečacký
    Historia scholastica, 55 , 2021
    2021
  • Poslušný vládce okresu: okresní hejtman a proměny státní moci v Čechách v letech 1868-1938
    M Klečacký
    NLN , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 16
  • Nedostatek odvahy ke smíru: edice dokumentů k pokusům o česko-německé vyrovnání 1912-1915: 2
    E Drašarová, M Klečacký, M Klement, L Velek
    Masarykův ústav a Archiv Akademie věd ČR , 2021
    2021
  • " Krvavá lázeň v Kraslicích." Tragické vyústění jedné demonstrace v životě jednotlivce, obce a státu
    M Klečacký
    Moderní dějiny: sborník k dějinám 19. a 20. století (Modern History: Studies … , 2020
    2020
  • Slovník představitelů politické správy v Čechách v letech 1849-1918
    M Klečacký
    Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, vvi , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 14
  • Führer, Akteure hinter den Kulissen oder tatenlos Zuschauende?: der deutsch-tschechische Ausgleich an der Wende vom 19. zum 20. Jahrhundert aus der Perspektive der Vertreter …
    M Klečacký, M Klement
    Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, vvi , 2020
    2020

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Poslušný vládce okresu: okresní hejtman a proměny státní moci v Čechách v letech 1868-1938
    M Klečacký
    NLN , 2021
    2021
    Citations: 16
  • Slovník představitelů politické správy v Čechách v letech 1849-1918
    M Klečacký
    Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, vvi , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 14
  • Poslušný vládce okresu
    M Klečacký
    Okresní hejtman a proměny státní moci v letech 1938 , 1868
    1868
    Citations: 7
  • Climbing Up the Social Ladder?: Social Mobility of Elites in East-Central Europe in the Long 19th Century
    V Popovici, A Velková, M Klečacký
    Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 6
  • An Independent Judge in the Austrian Administration: The Example of Bohemia around 1900
    M Klečacký
    Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 892, 109-128 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 6
  • Převzetí moci. Státní správa v počátcích Československé republiky 1918-1920 na příkladu Čech 1
    M Klečacký
    Cesky Casopis Historicky 116 (3), 693-944 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 5
  • Český ministr ve Vídni. Ve službách císaře, národa a politické strany
    M Klečacký
    2017
    Citations: 5
  • The Death of the Breadwinner As a Factor of Social Mobility in the Civil Service Milieu in Bohemia in the Latter Half of the 19th Century
    M Klečacký
    Transylvanian Review 31 (2), 3-21 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 4
  • Rise of Administrative Elites: Influence of Social Background and Nationality on Attaining the Position of District Captain in Bohemia in 1875 and 1910
    K Hulíková Tesárková, M Klečacký, A Velková
    Elites, Groups, Networks in South and Central Europe (18th–mid 20th century … , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 4
  • Slovník představitelů soudní správy v Čechách v letech 1849-1918
    M Stupková, M Klečacký
    Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, vvi , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 4
  • Volební násilí a státní moc. Obecní volby v Českých Budějovicích 1901–1906
    M Klečacký
    Historie–Otázky–Problémy (History, Issues, Problems) 6 (1), 82-105 , 2014
    2014
    Citations: 3
  • Generálmajor Václav Řezáč–četnickým důstojníkem z monarchie do republiky
    M Klečacký
    Paginae Historiae 21 (1), 28-64 , 2013
    2013
    Citations: 3
  • Social Mobility of Elites in East-Central Europe in Historical Perspective. Introductory Study
    V Popovici, A Velková, M Klečacký
    Climbing up the Social Ladder?, 1 , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 2
  • A Municipality against the State: Power Relations between State and Local Self-Government Representatives, Based on the Example of Bohemia at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century
    M Klečacký
    Acta Poloniae Historica, 121-141 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 2
  • Český "konzul" ve Vídni I. Politická korespondence c. k. ministra krajana Antonína Rezka s mladočeským předákem Bedřichem Pacákem
    M Klečacký
    Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové Noviny, Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 2
  • Austria and Czechoslovakia
    P Becker, M Klečacký
    The Education and Training of Public Servants: Systems and Practices from … , 2024
    2024
    Citations: 1
  • Česká politická pravice v letech 1938-1945
    R Vašek, M Klečacký
    Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, vvi , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 1
  • Ministerstvo orby ve Vídni a české země v letech 1867-1918
    P Fabini, M Klečacký, T Zouzal
    Ministerstvo zemědělství ve spolupráci s Masarykovým ústavem a Archivem AV … , 2016
    2016
    Citations: 1
  • Zemědělská rada pro Království české 1873-1918
    P Fabini, M Klečacký, T Zouzal
    Ministerstvo zemědělství , 2015
    2015
    Citations: 1
  • Iluze nezávislosti. Sociální status ck soudce v konfliktu loajalit mezi národem a státem na přelomu 19. a 20. století
    M Klečacký
    Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review) 112 (3), 432-462 , 2014
    2014
    Citations: 1