Petr Jüptner

 Editorial

Radek Kopřiva

 The Stability of Electoral Support for Political Parties in Local Elections

Abstract:

This article deals with the problem of the stability of the voting support of political parties in communal elections. The theory of party identification is commonly used to interpret the stability of voting behaviour in national elections. With regard to this, the article asks the question whether voting behaviour in communal elections is stable, and whether it can be interpreted as a result of a positive relationship of voters to political parties. The article summarizes the current findings on the voting behaviour of the electorate in communal elections, and subsequently describes in detail the findings and starting points of the theory of party identification. The core is the case study of the town of Žatec, and the analysis of the voting behaviour and party identification of the Žatec voters.

Stanislav Balík

 Political and Party Stability of Local Authorities 1990-2010. A Case Study of Municipalities in District Šumperk

Abstract:

Local elections 2010 in the Czech Republic were already the sixth local elections after the democratic changes brought by the 1989 year and they were held 20 years after the first local elections organized in 1990. Chat does the Czech local self–government look like after these 20 years? Local authorities are the most powerful bodies. To which extent are todays assemblies alike (personally, politically) to those elected in 1990? Did any changes happen? Were the changes continuous? And what is the answer to the same questions applied to the mayors? The article Political and Party Stability of the Local Bodies 1990–2010 tries to find answers to these questions by the use of the method of case study which analyses 79 municipalities of Šumperk district between the years 1990–2010.

Václav Bubeníček, Michal Kubálek

 Cleavages in Small Municipalities

Abstract:

The article is a case study of the political process in small municipalities. The question of the existence and character of cleavages is investigated on three levels. On the example of one municipality, the premises of the politological theories involved in the function of political systems in small municipalities, while being focused on conflict and its nature, are verified on the basis of quantitative data and qualitative research. The character of actors of the conflict in municipalities and collective legitimacy of disputes are then further investigated. The results of the study, which presents a gradually improving specification of the interpretation of the cleavage in municipalities, lead us to the question of the possibilities of applying individual theoretical approaches in a given, specific area of investigation.

Josef Bernard, Tomáš Kostelecký

 Small Communities Disposing of their own Autonomy and without it. The Impact of Administrative Status of a Community on its Development

Abstract:

The paper deals with the analysis of socio-economic and infrastructural differences of small communities disposing of their own local government and communities which form a part of a bigger municipality and don’t dispose therefore of their own local government. The authors seek an answer to the question what impact has the administrative status of a community on its development. The analysis is enabled by a specific feature of Czech municipal structure in which both small communities with and without own local government exist. The results indicate that the impact of the administrative status on development is generally very weak and can be observed rather in bigger communities.

Jaroslav Čmejrek, Jan Čopík

 Neighbouhood Committees and its Self-governing Potential

Abstract:

The Czech Republic is characterised by a disintegrated nature of settlement structure. There are about 6,250 municipalities in the country with only 10.2 million inhabitants. This fragmentation impedes progress in public administration reform, decentralization and especially establishment of effective self-government at municipal level. The paper deals with neighbourhood committees, which the council may set up within subdivisions of the municipality. A subdivision will, as a rule, correspond to a former municipality hat later merged with another municipality. The article focuses on a problem of neighbourhood committees, their role in historical development of the Czech local public administration and their self-governing potential in public administration reform.

Dan Ryšavý

 Glossa marginalis: The Youngest Councillors. What we know about them?

Abstract:

In municipal councils of Czech municipalities a councillor under 25 years of age is hard to come by. A survey among municipal councillors in two Moravian regions shows that young councillors do not differ from their older counterparts in the degree of willingness to stand for re-election and in incumbency success rate. Only a small portion of these councillors are a member of a political party; however, party members are more active about their re-election. Responses obtained through an online questionnaire show that the youngest councillors are aware of their role (more frequent participation in addressing public issues) but it appears as if they felt alone in this (relatively small frequency of repeated contact with politicians); furthermore, a majority of them do not want to be linked with any political party or agitation even if they consider work in a party to be an effective instrument for achieving change. Compared to their peers outside the council, the youngest councillors have less trust in political parties, the Chamber of Deputies but also trade unions which for them symbolise big politics from which they keep distance. Similarly, they also show a reduced measure of interpersonal trust; they question the probity and selflessness of most people.

Daniel Klimovský

 Consolidations Reforms and Decentralisation in European Conditions

Abstract:

In spite of fact that there is no universal agreement between various academicians or experts, whether consolidated structure of local governments is better than fragmented structure of local governments or not, a lot of European countries have already obtained some experience linked to implementation of consolidation reform. The article is aimed at selected consolidation experience that was achieved by different European countries in order to support an idea that even practices of

consolidation reforms provide us different outcomes. Instead of conclusion, there is rather reflection on possibilities of Slovakia how to continue in its decentralization policy.