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
