Seeking a Type: the Czech Party System after 1989

This article studies the issue of a typological categorization for the Czech party system. The author works from Sartori’s concepts of moderate and polarized pluralism; the reasons for using this concept are laid out in the theoretical part of the text. An analysis of individual phases of development of the Czech party system shows that until the middle part of the last decade the Czech party system could not be fit into a single type. However, analysis of the current form of the Czech party system at the electoral and parliamentary levels shows that the today’s Czech multi-party system displays the characteristics of a moderate pluralism

The limited Role of Electoral Game Rules: the Austrian Party System in “Post-Rokkanian” Settings

The article deals with the potential impact of the electoral system on the party system. The general discussion, based on Duverger’s and Sartori’s electoral rules, concludes with an assessment of the Austrian case. Austrian party system development is examined with regard to the evolution of the country’s proportional representation electoral system. The author tries to find more relevant explanations for the changes within the Austrian party system’s logic of functioning other than the electoral system, such as the de-alignment of voters and the changing structure of cleavages. In order to show another factor shaping the Austrian party system arrangement, the author tries to discuss not only recent development since the mid 1980s, but he also evaluates the Austrian First Republic and the period from 1945 to 1986 . The article concludes with the argument that Duverger’s and Sartori’s electoral rules could be useful in discussing party system format but they have very little to say when party system mechanics is concerned

Differential Illiberalism : Classifying Illiberal Trends in Central European Party Politics

This chapter explores illiberal trends in the party systems of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Focusing on ANO, SMER, Fidesz and PiS, it first provides a comparative analysis of the ideology these parties use to appeal to the voters. Secondly, it traces the parties in power and analyses how they are translating the illiberal political concepts into laws and policy-making practices. The overarching aim is to understand the relevance that rule of law and legal issues have for the self-positioning vis-á-vis the national public and EU. Based on comparison and the empirical findings, it provides a typology of Central European illiberalism based on the difference between pragmatic and ideological illiberalism

Czech political parties, their functions and performance: Assessing Czech party politics

In the European Union (EU) today political parties face a range of issues and challenges within the party systems of their respective countries. For parties in new member states of the EU, those which underwent a process of democratic transition during the 1990s, the situation is more complicated than for the rest. In a way, their position is more precarious than that of their Western European counterparts, as the concept of “political party” has various and not always positive connotations in Central Europe. Our contribution will not attempt to evaluate the positives and negatives of party politics in all EU member states with postcommunist legacies, but will focus on the Czech Republic.V současné Evropské unii čelí politické strany ve svých zemím rozličným problémům a výzvám. Pro politické strany v nových členských zemích, tj. těch které prošly demokratickou tranzicí v 90. letech, je situace ještě komplikovanější. Ve srovnání se západní Evropou má ve střední Evropě totiž pojem politické strany často negativní konotace. V příspěvku analyzujeme nicméně nikoli situaci ve všech postkomunistických zemích EU, ale jen v České republiceIn the European Union (EU) today political parties face a range of issues and challenges within the party systems of their respective countries. For parties in new member states of the EU, those which underwent a process of democratic transition during the 1990s, the situation is more complicated than for the rest. In a way, their position is more precarious than that of their Western European counterparts, as the concept of “political party” has various and not always positive connotations in Central Europe. Our contribution will not attempt to evaluate the positives and negatives of party politics in all EU member states with postcommunist legacies, but will focus on the Czech Republic

Strange Bedfellows : A Hyper-pragmatic Alliance between European Liberals and an Illiberal Czech Technocrat

The article deals with the membership of the most important Czech political party, ANO (meaning “yes” in Czech), led by Andrej Babiš, in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Our goals are to reconstruct how Babiš’s party joined ALDE and to discuss the ideological differences between ANO and ALDE. The paper shows that ALDE’s offer of membership in 2014 was motivated by a pragmatic need to bolster its own position in the European Parliament; ANO, meanwhile, needed to anchor itself in European politics. Andrej Babiš’s technocratic and illiberal view was not apparent at the beginning, but more importantly, this did not matter to ALDE. ALDE’s Czech “point of contact,” ANO’s foreign policy expert and the leader of its party group in the European Parliament, Pavel Telička, made ANO’s membership credible. However, as a Euro-optimist, Telička was not compatible with ANO’s flexible ideological character in the long term and the party group split up. A comparison of the parties’ European Parliament election manifestos and positions on crucial controversial European issues clearly reveals a deep division between ALDE and ANO and their fundamentally opposed ideological positions. We describe the findings as a new hyper-pragmatic trend in the creation of Europarties, which weakens their ideological cohesion.Článek se věnuje členství ANO Andreje Babiše v Alianci liberálů a demokratů pro Evropu (ALDE). Cíli článku je rekonstruovat cestu ANO do ALDE a debatovat ideologické rozdíly mezi ANO a ALDE. Text ukazuje hluboký rozdíl mezi ALDE a ANO a fundamentální neslučitelnost jejich ideologických pozic, což dokládá hyperpragmatický trend v podobě Eurostran

Rozdielne cesty tranzitívnej spravodlivosti – prípady Českej republiky, Slovenska a Poľska

Článok sa zabýva problematikou tranzitívnej spravodlivosti vo vybraných krajinách strednej Európy. Diskutuje vzťah medzi spôsobom demokratickej tranzície a spôsobom a tempom tranzitívnej spravodlivosti. Hlavní pozornosť je venovaná analýze a komparácii tranzitívnej spravodlivosti v troch stredoeurópskych krajinách – Českej republike, Poľsku a Slovensku.Článek se zabývá problematikou tranzitivní spravedlnosti ve vybraných zemích střední Evropy. Diskutuje vztah mezi způsobem demokratické tranzice a způsobem a tempem tranzitivní spravedlnosti. Hlavní pozornost je věnována analýze a komparaci tranzitivní spravedlnosti ve třech středoevropských zemích – České republice, Polsku a Slovensku.The paper deals with the issue of transitional justice in selected East-Central European countries. The relation between the mode of democratic transition and the means and pace of transitional judicial processes is discussed. Main attention is paid to the analysis and comparison of transitional justice issues in three Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia

Novák, Miroslav; Lebeda, Tomáš (eds.): Volební a stranické systémy. ČR v mezinárodním srovnání

Knižní recenze / Book review

How to Research the Paradiplomacy of Czech Regions: Concepts, Models and Possible Applications on the Case of the South Moravian Region

The article centres on research into paradiplomacy, the international involvement of sub-national units. It aims at finding appropriate concepts for use in research into the paradiplomacy of Czech regions. The main international scholarship on paradiplomacy is reviewed and the most popular concepts and typologies are introduced. Subsequently, several contradictions and deficiencies are revealed. Then, contemporary research into paradiplomacy in the Czech Republic is summarized. The article argues that Czech research has already identified genuine regional paradiplomacy, but lacks definition with respect to its specifics. The main argument is that, although it was appropriate to apply some concepts from research into federal states for the identification of paradiplomacy, extensive use of these concepts and typologies cannot bring results in research into the content of Czech paradiplomacy. Thus, a step back is suggested. Brian Hocking’s approach, which perceives non-central governments as genuine actors of international politics, is suggested. Keating’s typology seems the most appropriate for empirical research. In addition, it is argued that further research should focus mainly on the content of the paradiplomacy of Czech regions. The final part of the article proposes the application of such a research strategy on the example of the South Moravian Region. Its expected merits and benefits are then summed up in the conclusion.The article centres on research into paradiplomacy, the international involvement of sub-national units. It aims at finding appropriate concepts for use in research into the paradiplomacy of Czech regions. The main international scholarship on paradiplomacy is reviewed and the most popular concepts and typologies are introduced. Subsequently, several contradictions and deficiencies are revealed. Then, contemporary research into paradiplomacy in the Czech Republic is summarized. The article argues that Czech research has already identified genuine regional paradiplomacy, but lacks definition with respect to its specifics. The main argument is that, although it was appropriate to apply some concepts from research into federal states for the identification of paradiplomacy, extensive use of these concepts and typologies cannot bring results in research into the content of Czech paradiplomacy. Thus, a step back is suggested. Brian Hocking’s approach, which perceives non-central governments as genuine actors of international politics, is suggested. Keating’s typology seems the most appropriate for empirical research. In addition, it is argued that further research should focus mainly on the content of the paradiplomacy of Czech regions. The final part of the article proposes the application of such a research strategy on the example of the South Moravian Region. Its expected merits and benefits are then summed up in the conclusion

The Europeanization of Programs and Manifestos of Bulgarian and Romanian Political Parties

The article provides an analysis of the European Union’s influence on party manifestos of the main political parties in the two newest members of the EU, Bulgaria and Romania. The main goal of the paper is to demonstrate how the EU has influenced the ideology and programmatic schemes of political parties in Romania and Bulgaria. Two dimensions of party manifesto Europeanization are included: a quantitative analysis of the frequency of occurrence of “European” issues and a qualitative assessment of the contents of the parts devoted to the EU within the analyzed programs