Czechoslovakia 1945–1948: A Case of a Hybrid Regime?

This article presents an interpretative case study utilizing the concept of hybrid regimes as presented by Leah Gilbert and Payam Mohseni to analyse the political regime of Czechoslovakia between the years 1945–1948. Our aim is to demonstrate that rather than a mere transitional phase on the road from democracy to authoritarianism or an episode of final tremors of the pre-war (democratic) regime, the 1945–1945 regime represents a full-fledged hybrid, rooted in the specific conditions of the post-war period. One of the major problems in contemporary discussions about hybrid regimes is the blurred and somewhat unstable boundary between democratic and authoritarian regimes, especially when viewed only as a function of the electoral processes and mechanics. Gilbert and Mohseni’s classification of hybrid regimes attempts to overcome this problem by including two additional analytic dimensions, allowing to point at the dynamic development of the political regime in post-war Czechoslovakia and its rather lively movement on the scale between authoritarianism and democracy.This article presents an interpretative case study utilizing the concept of hybrid regimes as presented by Leah Gilbert and Payam Mohseni to analyse the political regime of Czechoslovakia between the years 1945–1948. Our aim is to demonstrate that rather than a mere transitional phase on the road from democracy to authoritarianism or an episode of final tremors of the pre-war (democratic) regime, the 1945–1945 regime represents a full-fledged hybrid, rooted in the specific conditions of the post-war period. One of the major problems in contemporary discussions about hybrid regimes is the blurred and somewhat unstable boundary between democratic and authoritarian regimes, especially when viewed only as a function of the electoral processes and mechanics. Gilbert and Mohseni’s classification of hybrid regimes attempts to overcome this problem by including two additional analytic dimensions, allowing to point at the dynamic development of the political regime in post-war Czechoslovakia and its rather lively movement on the scale between authoritarianism and democracy

Challenges of Central European Security: Critical Insights

This book employs various theories of contemporary security studies to explore some of the most important and most common security issues in Central Europe at this time. Individual chapters of the book adhere mainly to European branches of critical and constructivist security studies, through which they look at some of the salient topics of Central European security politics.The distinction between internal and external security issues is employed throughout the book for analytical purposes.Tato kniha zkoumá za pomoci teorií současných bezpečnostních studií některé z nejdůležitějších bezpečnostních problémů dnešní střední Evropy. Jednotlivé její kapitoly vycházejí především z různých evropských kritických a konstruktivistických přístupů ke studiu bezpečnosti, které jsou následně aplikovány na charakteristická témata středoevropské bezpečnosti. Pro analytické účely kniha rozlišuje mezi vnitřními a vnějšími bezpečnostními tématy

Štát

As ordinarily used in political science and international relations discourse, the term „state“ refers to a rather wide range of concepts. At the same time, the term „state“ can be considered one of the basic building blocs of these discourses, being a key (and undertheorized) foundation of several major theories. The (ab)use of the term together with a distinctive prominence of social realities attributed to „the state“ in our ordinary life leads to massive reification and reduction of an otherwise rich and diverse conceptual universe. With the aim of clarifying and tidying this universe, this essay examines the possibilities of understanding „the state“ as a conceptual category referring to unique cultural artefacts produced by the interaction wide range of incommensurable social processes and representations whose research is only possible through its division into fi eld-specifi c subcategories. Furthermore, the paper examines the possibility of fi eld research in fi elds determining some of these categories (especially bureaucratic institutions/organizations) and points to ways of overcoming these problems

Mečiar, Fico a charizmatické panstvo

This article deals with Max Weber’s notion of charismatic domination and its applicability in the analysis of political development in postsocialist Slovakia. First it introduces the concept, as well as its role in Weber’s philosophy of history and its function in his explanations of cultural change. To test and illustrate the analytic value of the concept, it is applied to interpret the rise of two postsocialist political leaders, Vladimír Mečiar and Robert Fico, with a special focus on the integrative and transformative functions charismatic domination fulfills in the context of political transition, the role it plays in the establishment and negotiation of a new moral and political order and in overcoming the inherent exclusionary tendencies of a revolutionary discourse, as well as the role it seems to play in ordinary political life within a modern, legal system of domination

Sociálně vyloučené lokality z pohledu sociodemografických ukazatelů =The demographics of socially excluded localities in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, the issues of marginalisation, social inequality, and poverty are predominantly discussed in relation to the ‘socially excluded population’ living in ‘socially excluded localities’ (SEL). However, comprehensive information on the composition of the population in these localities is not yet available. Based on a quantitative survey (N = 2 566) carried out in socially excluded localities in the Czech Republic, this paper presents the demographics of the population while highlighting its distinguishing characteristics.213

The Poverty Business: Content Analysis of Czech News Media in 2006–2017

Obchod s chudobou se stal důležitou metaforou současné debaty o bezpečnosti v sociálně vyloučených lokalitách. Pojem „obchod s chudobou“ a rozsah obchodních praktik zaměřených na nejchudší a nejzranitelnější skupiny obyvatelstva. Cílem této práce je prozkoumat mediální reprezentace tohoto jevu pomocí kvantitativní a kvalitativní analýzy dat. Nejprve jsou analyzovány charakteristiky českých mediálních zpráv včetně pojmu „obchod s chudobou“. Dále představíme události, o nichž bylo v určitých obdobích publikováno nejvíce textů. Tyto události lze považovat za klíčové milníky referování o obchodu s chudobou v českých médiích, tvořící jeho obsah. Zatřetí jsme korpus podrobili frekvenční analýze, abychom zjistili, o čem texty zmiňující obchod s chudobou pojednávají.Poverty business has become an important metaphor in the current debate regarding security in socially excluded localities. The term poverty business covers a range of business practices aimed at the poorest and most vulnerable populations. The goal of this study is to examine media representations of the phenomenon using content analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. First, characteristics of Czech media messages including the term “poverty business” are analysed. Next, key events are identified which have shaped the way poverty business is reported on in the analysed corpus. Finally, topics, groups and key actors are analysed based on the development of their quantitative representation in the corpus over time

Mining for crime: Reflection of victimization survey in Czech socially excluded localities

V tomto článku reflektujeme viktimizační šetření realizované jakou součást výzkumného projektu BRIZOLIT (Bezpečnostní rizika v sociálně sociáně vyloučených lokalit). Našim hlavním cílem je reflektovat metodologické, epistemologické a etické problémy, kteřé se vynořily v průběhu šetření s obyvateli sociálně vyloučených lokalit v období Duben-Srpen 2016. Specificky se pak zaměřujeme na otázky konstrukce výzkumného ojektu, strategie vedení rozhovorů stejně jako validity dat z šetření. Jinými slovy, snažíme se odpovědět na tři základní otázky: "Koho jsme zkoumali? Jak jsme je zkoumali? Jak jsme vyzkoumané zaznamenávali?". Doufáme, že naše odpovědi poskytnou potřebná vodítka pro budoucí výzkumníky čelící podobnným problémům.In the present article, we reflect on the victimization survey conducted as part of the research project BRIZOLIT (Security Risks in Socially Excluded Localities). Our main focus is on the methodological, epistemological and ethical problems which appeared during the survey among inhabitants of the so-called socially excluded localities in April — August 2016. More specifically, we will deal with the issues related to the construction of our research object, interviewing strategies, as well as problems of validity of survey data with regard to the complex processes of victimization in socially excluded localities. In other words, we will try to answer three rather basic questions: „Who did we research? How did we do it? How did we record our findings?“ and hope to provide clues for future researchers facing similar problem

Labyrintem zločinu a chudoby: kriminalita a viktimizace v sociálně vyloučených lokalitách

Kniha Labyrintem zločinu a chudoby přináší komplexní pohled na kriminalitu, jejímiž oběťmi se stávají obyvatelé tzv. sociálně vyloučených lokalit. Zaměřuje se tedy na viktimizaci, která je definována jako proces, během něhož vzniká někomu újma v důsledku jednání (či nejednání) jiných osob. Publikace vychází především z viktimizačního šetření provedeného v téměř 300 sociálně vyloučených lokalitách po celé České republice. Dále čerpá z dlouhodobého etnografického výzkumu realizovaného ve dvou vybraných obcích v Ústeckém a Moravskoslezském kraji