The Czech Republicans 1990-8: A populist outsider in a consolidating democracy

The chapter examines the Czech Repulicans (the SPR-RSČ) , a radical right-wing party represented in the Czech parliament between 1992 and 1998, as a case study of party-based oppositional outsider populism in a consolidating democracy. It traces the origins and development of the party, then examines the populist nature of the party's radical right appeals in the 1990s and the implicit understanding of democracy these contained. It concludes by evaluating the Republicans’ impact on the development of Czech democracy and assessing the extent to which it has left a legacy in contemporary Czech politics

Two Cheers for Czech Democracy

The paper discusses the state of Czech democracy and current research agendas on democracy in the Czech Republic, focusing in particular on the role of political parties. It considers Czech democracy both in relation to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the light of the evolving relationship between CEE and Western Europe. It suggests that current CEE states such as the Czech Republic gradually approximating to models of West European-style party politics may need rethinking. It then examines democracy in the Czech Republic in relation to debates on democratic “backsliding”, arguing that in the Czech cases the principal “backsliding” risks lie less in the rise of authoritarian populists than a potential crisis of democratic representation driven by perceptions of corruption. The paper concludes with some suggestions about future avenues for research on Czech and CEE democracy

Australian Legends: historical explorations of Australian masculinity and film 1970-1995.

The twin purpose of this research is to explore films as historically specific cultural texts, rather than representations of one historical moment, and to engage with historiographical debates surrounding representations of masculinity in Australian history. I do this to create a way of engaging with film and history where film is culturally representative of the past, not simply a depiction of a specific point in time. This study considers two films, George Miller's Mad Max (1979) and Stephan Elliot's The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) to explore the relationship over time between violence, masking and landscape with the representation of performative masculinity in an Australian context

Blue velvet: The rise and decline of the new Czech right

In Comparative terms, the Czech centre-right (principally the Civic Democratic Part - ODS - of Václav Klaus) represents an intermediate case between those of Hungary and Poland. Although Klaus's ODS has always been a large, stable and well-institutionalized party, avoiding the fragmentation and instability of the Polish right, the Czech centre-right has not achieved the degree of ideological and organization concentration seen in Hungary. A number of factors are commonly used to explain party (and party system) formation in the region in relation to the Czech centre-right. These include both structural-historical explanations and 'political' factors such as macro-institutional design, strategies of party formation in the immediate post-transition period, ideological construction and charismatic leadership. In fact, both the early success and subsequent decline of the Czech right were rooted in a single set of circumstances: (1) the early institutionalization of ODS as the dominant party of the mainstream right; and (2) the right's immediate and successful taking up of the mantle of market reform and technocratic modernization. © 2004 Taylor and Francis Ltd

AdaNET Dynamic Software Inventory (DSI) prototype component acquisition plan

A component acquisition plan contains the information needed to evaluate, select, and acquire software and hardware components necessary for successful completion of the AdaNET Dynamic Software Inventory (DSI) Management System Prototype. This plan will evolve and be applicable to all phases of the DSI prototype development. Resources, budgets, schedules, and organizations related to component acquisition activities are provided. A purpose and description of a software or hardware component which is to be acquired are presented. Since this is a plan for acquisition of all components, this section is not applicable. The procurement activities and events conducted by the acquirer are described and who is responsible is identified, where the activity will be performed, and when the activities will occur for each planned procurement. Acquisition requirements describe the specific requirements and standards to be followed during component acquisition. The activities which will take place during component acquisition are described. A list of abbreviations and acronyms, and a glossary are contained

Effects of different footwear on landing forces from a grand jeté in trained dancers

The Grand Jete movement is a popular leap elevation movement used in ballet, modern, contemporary and jazz dance. The move involves taking off from one foot and landing on the other foot reaching the highest point possible in the air and lifting legs to a split position. Dancers may perform many grand jetes in a single routine. The aim of this study was to investigate whether footwear used by dancers can reduce the vertical impact forces caused by landing from high leaps. The study was approved by the university’s ethics committee and informed consent was given by ten highly-trained dancers (age mean 23.1, s=1.6 years; height 1.64, s=.08 m; mass 57.7, s=5.2 kg). The participants all performed a grand jete in three different footwear conditions: bare feet, jazz shoes and dance trainers with shock absorbing properties. Landing forces were recorded using a Kistler force plate sampling at 1000 Hz. Peak impact force was determined as the maximum vertical force occurring during the first 0.07 s of contact. Statistical analysis consisted of repeated measures ANOVA. Maximumforce during the landing phase decreased from 4.00 BW (s=0.72) in the barefoot condition to 3.95 BW (s=0.69) in the jazz shoes condition and 3.58 BW (s=0.68) in the trainers condition (F2,9=2.5, P=0.108, Z2=0.22, power=0.44).Higher impact peak and loading rate values were found in the barefoot condition compared to the shodconditions, with the trainers showing the lowest values. However, there were no significant differences between the footwear conditions for impact peak force(F2,9=0.50, P¼0.616, Z2=0.05, power=0.12),time-to-peak impact force (F2,9=0.44 , P=0.653, Z2=0.05, power=0.11), or loading rate to the poin of maximum vertical force (F2,9=0.53, P=0.597, Z2=0.06, power=0.12). The results showed lower maximum landing forces, impact peak force and loading rates in the dance trainers compared to the barefoot and jazz shoes conditions. Although the values were not significantly different, the small difference between footwear conditions may prove important with the onset of fatigue during a routine. Dancers should train to develop safe landing techniques when performing barefooted

Comparisons between swing phase characteristics of race walkers and distance runners

The aim of this study was to analyze swing characteristics during race walking and to compare these with distance running. The rules of race walking demand that no visible flight time should occur and the stance leg must be straightened from initial contact to midstance. Previous research has not examined whether these rules also have an effect on swing and what consequences might arise. Ten male race walkers and ten male distance runners walked or ran respectively on an instrumented treadmill for 10 km with two in-dwelling force plates. Trials lasted 30 seconds and simultaneous 2D video data were recorded and digitized at 125 Hz. The moment of inertia of the thigh, shank, foot and whole lower limb was calculated using the parallel axis theorem. The distance runners were faster with longer strides, although cadence was not different. The race walkers had shorter swing times, longer contact times, and smaller maximum knee flexion angles (100° ± 6) than the distance runners (56° ± 6). The smaller knee flexion angles in race walkers meant they experienced greater swing leg moment of inertia than the distance runners but there were few associations in either group between knee flexion angle or moment of inertia with key performance parameters. Swing phase kinematics in race walking are restricted by the rules of the event and result in knee angular motions different from those in distance running, preventing race walkers from reaching the speeds attainable by distance runners