Internal Conflicts in Works of Thucydides and Machiavelli

Hybrid threats are considered among the most serious risks that Western societies currently face. The aim of actors using such threats is to influence decision-making processes, and in order to do so they use a rich spectrum of methods to instigate conflict in society, seeking to undermine trust in institutions, abet radicalisation, and so on. Activities aimed at creating internal conflict, and the prevention of such activities, are not, of course, a new phenomenon; they differ only in their extent, intensity and the techniques used. The aim of this paper is to investigate how classic strategists – Thucydides and Machiavelli – described in their works how internal conflict is fomented among the enemy and how it can be prevented. The paper describes and analyses various ways of instigating and mitigating internal conflict as noted in their works, and assesses their relevance for the current debate.Hybridní hrozby jsou považovány za jedno z nejdůležitějších rizik, se kterými se potýkají společnosti Západu. Cílem aktérů užívajících těchto postupů je ovlivnit rozhodovací procesy, k čemuž jim mj. slouží pestrá škála postupů, kterými podněcují konflikty ve společnosti (podrývání důvěry v instituce, podpora radikalizace společnosti atd.). Aktivity, jejichž cílem je podnítit vnitřní konflikty a na straně druhé prevence proti těmto aktivitám ale nejsou novým fenoménem, liší se pouze svým rozsahem, intenzitou a použitými technikami. Cílem textu je zaměřit se na podněcování vnitřních konfliktů u nepřítele a obrana proti těmto aktivitám v dílech klasických stratégů (Thúkydidés a Machiavelli). V textu jsou popisovány a analyzovány různé způsoby podněcování či zmírňování vnitřních konfliktů v jejich dílech a posouzena jejich relevance pro současnou diskusi

How the Tailor of Marrakesh Suit Has Been Altered: Advantage Ratio as a Tool in Post-Communist Electoral Reforms Research

The text analyzes the character of the second wave of electoral system reform in post-communist countries. It describes the direction of the change in status quo after the first reform, which was usually implemented by participants on the basis of imperfect or incomplete information. We claim that the character of the second reforms favored the bigger and established parties and accentuated the tendencies towards establishing electoral competition between political parties at the expense of other participants (independent candidates). We furthermore use a sample of 40 electoral events in 15 post-communist countries to analyze the potential of the strongest electoral parties and other parliamentary parties to transform votes into seats, and we connect this characteristic with the electoral changes made, arguing that the logic of the electoral rules and the effects arising from the actual shares of the vote won in elections sometimes reinforced one another but at least in some electoral events - also ran in opposite directions

Definice semiprezidencialismu – řešení či nové otázky?

This review essay discusses new definition of a semipresidential system, which has been introduced by Miloš Brunclík and Michal Kubát in their book Kdo vládne Česku? (Who Governs in Czechia?). Advantages and problems of their definition are discussed, with the result that the definition is interesting and generally correct. However, some modifications to the definition are proposed. Subsequently, arguments put forward against the Post-duvergerian definition of semipresidentialism are critically evaluated, including alternatives to the definition proposed by Brunclík and Kubát. The essay closes by presenting alternative ways of dealing with the dispute over the definition of semipresidentialism among Czech political scientists

Party System of Bosnia and Herzegovina after Dayton

The article analyzes the creation of and changes in the party system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is discussion and analysis of the question of what party system in the country is most effective. The article provides detailed analysis of the election results of 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. Major features of the party system and profiles of the relevant political parties are discussed further on. The article concludes with observations on the major features and changes in the party system. An extensive overview of election results and analysis of the ethnic character of politics is found in the tables and appendix

Volatility Research and Party System Changes in the 2010 Czech Elections to the Chamber of Deputies

The paper deals with the volatility scores in the Chamber of Deputies elections in the Czech Republic, calculated both for the national and regional (e.g. level of the electoral constituencies) levels. The main aim of the paper is to identify the link between gains and losses of the parties in the respective region with the volatility in this region. In case of the change of volatility calculated for the 2010 and 2006 elections, a distinctive increase of volatility is identified, although the comparison shows that the increase in volatility occurred mostly in the same regions in both elections. Volatility on the regional level is strongly connected to the losses of the parties which formed the previous government (in office 2006–2009) and to the gains of the strongest new party, TOP09. Also, three comparative calculations of volatility have been made with respect to the presence of “other” parties. We then suggest it would be a mistake to calculate volatility while omitting the category of “other” parties in the numerator, without also removing it from the denominator. In case of the remaining two types of calculation (“other” parties calculated as one bloc, and “other” parties omitted both in both the numerator and the denominator), further analyses might be required

Bureš, Jan – Charvát, Jakub – Just, Petr a kol.: Levice v České republice a na Slovensku 1989–2009. Plzeň: Aleš Čeněk, 2010, 176 stran, ISBN: 978-80-7380-294-3.

Knižní recenze / Book review

Bureš, Jan – Charvát, Jakub – Just, Petr a kol.: Levice v České republice a na Slovensku 1989–2009. Plzeň: Aleš Čeněk, 2010, 176 stran, ISBN: 978-80-7380-294-3.

Knižní recenze / Book review

Theoretical Expectations and the Actual Outcomes of Electoral Systems: How to Measure the Size of the Deviation?

The paper criticizes current conceptual frameworks focused on the evaluation of the performance of electoral systems. It offers a new tool allowing researchers to measure the size of the deviation of electoral outcomes from theoretical expectations. The index d = log[NS/(MS)1/6] is built on the Seat Product Model (Taagepera 2007b) and captures the deviations of electoral outcomes from predictions solely on the basis of two institutional factors – average district magnitude (M) and size of assembly (S). The theoretical background of index d is explained, and its reliability is further supported by conventional econometric methods based on empirical data

Komunikácia strany Sloboda a Solidarita na sociálnych sieťach

V tomto článku analyzujeme komunikaci strany Sloboda a Solidarita na sociálních sítích. Hlavním cílem je analyzovat formu, obsah a interaktivitu komunikace. Strana má svoje profily na třech stránkach: Youtube, Twitter a Facebook. Zaměřujeme svou pozornost na období od vzniku profilu na určité stránce do 31. 1. 2011. Bližší pohled je věnovan času před parlamentními volbami v roce 2010. Výsledkem je zjištění, že aktivita strany klesá po parlamentních volbách a komunikace směřuje převážně jednosměrně – od strany k voličům