Petr Jüptner
Dvacet let české územní samosprávy v evropské konkurenci
Twenty Years of Czech Local Self-Government in European Comparison
Radek Kopřiva
Stabilita volební podpory politických stran v komunálních volbách
The Stability of Electoral Support for Political Parties in Local Elections
This article deals with the problem of the stability of the voting support of political parties in commu- nal 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 Ža- tec, and the analysis of the voting behaviour and party identification of the Žatec voters.
Stanislav Balík
Politická a stranická stabilita obecních orgánů 1990–2010. Případová studie obcí okresu Šumperk
Political and Party Stability of Local Authorities 1990-2010. A Case Study of Municipalities in District Šumperk
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 organi- zed in 1990. Chat does the Czech local self–government look like after these 20 years? Local authori- ties 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
Konfliktní linie v malých obcích
Cleavages in Small Municipalities
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 municipali- ties, 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 impro- ving 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
Části obcí s vlastní samosprávou a bez ní: Vliv administrativního statusu části obce na její rozvoj
Small Communities Disposing of their own Autonomy and without it. The Impact of Administrative Status of a Community on its Development
The paper deals with the analysis of socio-economic and infrastructural differences of small commu- nities disposing of their own local government and communities which form a part of a bigger mu- nicipality 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 ana- lysis 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 administra- tive status on development is generally very weak and can be observed rather in bigger communities.
Jaroslav Čmejrek, Jan Čopík
Osadní výbory a jejich samosprávný potenciál
Neighbouhood Committees and its Self-governing Potential
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 effecti- ve 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 adminis- tration and their self-governing potential in public administration reform.
Dan Ryšavý
Glossa marginalis. Nejmladší zastupitelé, co o nich víme?
Glossa marginalis: The Youngest Councillors. What we know about them?
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 par- ty; 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 in- strument 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
Konsolidačné reformy a decentralizácia v európskych podmienkach
Consolidations Reforms and Decentralisation in European Conditions
In spite of fact that there is no universal agreement between various academicians or experts, whe- ther consolidated structure of local governments is better than fragmented structure of local gover- nments or not, a lot of European countries have already obtained some experience linked to imple- mentation 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.
Ondřej Novotný
Vztah Čechů a Belgičanů k evropské integraci
Relations of Czechs and Belgians toward European Integration
This article concerns a development in the study of the European attitudes with two comparative examples of the Czech Republic and Belgium. We consider that more then a simple study of the European attitudes, it is necessary to see a complex relation that citizens and researchers could have toward the EC/EU. The relations emerge from political competencies and not from the attitudes that impose very often to see citizens only as an object of the study. The relations could be studied through two axes. The first is about approaches and tradition in appropriation of the EU’s problematic; the second is linked to the axe of temporality that design consecutive apparitions of the EU in the field of our interest: We argue that both axes are developed in specific national ways with translation from other regional approaches. Belgium research is in such way oriented to historical and elite based studies or express preoccupation about knowledge level of the EU among its citizens. The Czech Republic’s researches have to deal more with question of utilitarianism predicted to CEEs countries and with an impact of party identification on the European attitudes. We conclude nevertheless that citizens are also competent and active subjects in the definition of their relations to the EU what is seen at least when we study them in a time when the EU became temporally an important object of their interest.
Oto Potluka
Economic Growth and (Coalition) Governments in Central and Eastern European Countries
The paper is oriented to the topic of the relationship between economy and coalition governments. The Economic Growth has been chosen for the purpose of this paper as the tested variable. There have been examined whether type of coalition governments or a position of the government in the left – right scale have any influence on the Economic Growth.
The methodology of the paper is based on empirical verification of the relationship between economic growth and political variables. It has been done by the panel regression for eight countries in the Central and Eastern European Countries during the 1993 – 2005 although those countries witnessed only 20 years of democratic development.
The paper concludes with no statistically significant influence of neither coalitions nor left- right positions of the governments on the economic growth. There have been confirmed some economic rules.
Jitka Gelnarová
The Representation of Women in Politics from the Perspective of Political Theory, or „What Does It Mean when Someone Says that Women are Under-representation?“
This article focuses on the concept of political representation in connection with the representation of women in politics. It refers to the complexity of the concept of political representation and aims to outline multiple meanings and interpretations of the term ‘political representation of women’ from the point of view of political theory. Notion of the ‘representation of women in politics’ is used as one of the arguments for promotion of women in political institutions. Such an argumentation suggests that more women should be in politics in order to represent women’s interests or women as social group. The article deals with various aspects of such an argumentation, questions it raises and consequences it can have for women in politics.
Kateřina Vorlová
Proměna postavení finského prezidenta
The Change of the Position of the Prezident in Finnland
This article deals with a position of the president in the Finnish political system. Its aim is to prove that the Finnish political system has changed from a semipresidential to a parliamentary one. Therefore it analyzes the reduction of presidential prerogatives within the system.
Finland was established as an independent parliamentary republic with a strong president in 1919. When the former prime minister, Mauno Koivisto, took the presidential office in 1982, a process of parlamentarization of the Finnish political system started. Presidential prerogatives were slowly reduced as Koivisto had experienced a „strong hand“ by the preceding president Urho Kekkonen. The constitutional changes he had initiated were later built into a new constitution of 1999, during Martti Ahtisaari’s presidency. Nowadays, a power of a Finnish president (currently Tarja Halonen) corresponds to a presidential power in other parliamentary regimes.
David Příhoda
Jednotné Rusko: Případ úspěšné proprezidentské strany?
United Russia: The Case of Successful Party of Power?
This article deals with United Russia, currently strongest political party in the Russian Federation. United Russia belongs to parties of power that are typical feature of Russian political life. These parties are established by executive branch with aim to reach places enough in State Duma to gain majority of seats. These parties should ensure support for president’s policy on the floor of State Duma. They are set down from above.
There were many parties of power during 1990s that did not succeed to play this role due to their bad electoral performance. This article argues that United Russia is successful party of power and important ally of presidents Putin and Medvedev to support their policies in State Duma and regions. The article also shows that United Russia is a tool in president’s hand rather than independent force. In other words, it is completely dependent on Kremlin.
Kamil Švec
Analysis of Elections to Regional Councils in 2008 in the Context of the Theory of Coalitions and a Comparison with the Elections in 2000 and 2004
This article is focused on the analysis of regional coalitions in the Czech Republic after the elections in 2000, 2004 and 2008. The analysis uses classical models of minimum winning coalitions with the smallest number of seats, players, minimal range coalitions and the minimal winning connected coalition. Coalition bargaining structures is analysed from the perspective of second order elections. Analysis also focuses on the types of coalitions in the Czech political system, which develops Stanislav Balík. Methodologically the study progresses in particular on the basis of deductive procedures for using the diachronic and synchronic comparisons.
Vladimír Krivý
Databáza volebných výsledkov parlamentných volieb 1929 – 2006 za všetky obce Slovenska
Electronic Database of Election Results of Parliamentary Elections 1929-2006 for all Municipalities in Slovakia
Branislav Dolný
IVO Barometer – zrkadlo kvality demokracie na Slovensku?
Filip Láb, Alena Lábová
Oto Potluka, Lenka Slavikova
Impact of Floods on Local Political Representation
Natural disasters have significant material and social impacts on the communities affected. It may also influence the result of the political process, especially at the local level. Therefore, the paper investigates the political consequences of the disastrous floods in the Czech Republic with the focus on the largest floods in 2002. Its main goal is to test the hypothesis that floods in the Czech Republic influenced the results of local elections, i.e. that floods caused changes in local representations of those municipalities, which were affected by floods just before the local elections. The hypothesis was formulated on the basis of the current distribution of responsibility in the Czech system of flood protection (responsibility is shared by citizens, local governments and the national government).
There have been used data concerning the elections at the local level held in November 2002 and data on flood damages. The data sample included not only those municipalities affected by floods, but also those which weren’t affected. It enabled to verify the plausibility of the results.
The statistical analysis shows that there was no statistically significant influence of floods on re-election of candidates standing for their offices again. There was a moderate influence on the participation of the electorate in the elections.
Šárka Strahalová
Coalition Experiment in Saarland
This article deals with a new type of coalition government in Germany established at the state level. More than two months after the state election in August 2009 the so called Jamaica coalition compromising of Christian Democratic Party (CDU), Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens was built up in the western German state of Saarland as a coalition experiment.
Reflecting on the political pre-election situation, this paper focuses on election results, thepositions ofthepolitical parties and follows the coalition bargaining. It analyses the reasons why no other possible majority government coalitions were viable. Furthermore, it tries to briefly explain how the process of the establishment of the coalition governments can be influenced.
Michal Šabatka
Španělský regionalismus, volební arény a umírňující se konflikt
Regionalism in Spain, Election Arenas, and Moderating a Conflict
The aim of this article is to examine relation between national and sub-national level of party system development and related electoral competition in five significant Spanish regions – Basque country, Catalonia, Galicia, Navarra and Canarias Islands. The process of democratization in Spain was accompanied by emergence of autonomous regions and consequently by setting up of independent party systems. This fact leads to examination of political institutions in relation to both levels of political process. The theory of first and second order elections offers basic approach to study behaviour of political parties in both levels of electoral competition. Attached case studies of forenamed autonomous regions reveals distinct form of political behaviour in each examined area depending on relevant historical and socio-economic factors.
Martin Riegl
Terminology of quasi-states
Text analyzes continuing terminological confusion of the term quasi-state. This term is used to mean states that fail to exercise internal sovereignty within internationally recognized borders. Other authors use this term within the context of unercognized states with de facto control over the part of territory, but are unable to gain external sovereignty.
The article aims to clear up this continuing terminological confusion and propose that the term quasi-state should be used for all entities, which are not qualifying as fully fledged state due to lack of political characteristics (internal and external sovereignty) of the sovereign statehood.
Karel Kouba
Blanka Říchová
Emanuel Pecka: Sociologie politiky
Jan Křeček
Maxwll McCombs: Agenda setting: nastolování agendy – masová média a veřejné mínění
Kamil Švec
Stanislav Balík: Komunální politika: Obce, aktéři a cíle místní politiky
