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The paper deals with the complex issue of (ethno)regional parties conceptualisation. Notions and schematics elaborated and promoted by Lieven de Winter, Klaus von Beyme, Donald L. Horowitz, Francisco Letamendía, Huri Türsan, Ferdinand Müller–Rommel Derek Urwin, John T. Ishiyama etc. are briefly discussed. Ethno–regional parties can be conceived of as political parties whose electoral and legitimation potential is primarily based on identitary mobilisation of an ethno–territorial community of sub–national (sub–state) nature. However, ethnic and territorial aspects may assume different relevance within the different approaches to the study of ethno–regional parties. It should be emphasized, that regional parties are not necessarily ethnic parties – and vice versa. Regional parties could be defined as formations with region–based electorate and mobilisation resources, or as formations representing sub–national (regional) interest communities exercising party functions to the full extent in a regionally defined operating space. Ethno–regional (ethno–regionalist) parties may thus be defined as a sort of regional (regionalist) parties. Finally, some issues of classification and typology of regional party arrangements are assessed. A lot of work is still to be done in this field. More attention should be paid to the heterogeneous nature of compounded territorial–political arrangements, which allows for the coexistence of different types of actors – political parties on the national (nation–wide) and regional level, as well as for simultaneous existence of diverse party and political scenes. To make a comprehensive typology of regional party (sub)systems is not an easy task at all. This is due to the persisting lack of suitable conceptual frameworks and to the fact that an effective reconciliation of the approach to nation–forming identitary and regionalist mobilisations used by regional parties with the traditional platform applied in research into European party systems has proved very difficult. ; The paper deals ...

Darba tēma ir "Ekonomiskās sankcijas: Krievijas gadījuma analīze". Ekonomiskās sankcijas ir bieži izmantots ārpolitikas instruments, kura ieviešanas skaits ir audzis tieši pēdējo 25 gadu laikā. Teorētiskajā daļā autors apskata ekonomisko sankciju veidus, mērķus, kā arī tos aspektus, kuri ir ietekmējuši ekonomisko sankciju pielietojuma pieaugumu. Tāpat, teorētiskajā daļā tiek apskatīts gudro sankciju koncepts. Balstoties teorētiskajā daļā gūtajās atziņās, darba empīriskajā daļā tiek analizēts ES un ASV ekonomisko sankciju gadījums pret Krievijas Federāciju. Analizējot pret Krieviju vērsto ekonomisko sankciju veidus un to radītos efektus, tiek noskaidrota to ietekme uz Krievijas ekonomiku un politisko lēmumu procesiem. ; The topic of this thesis is "Economic sanctions: Russia case study". Economic sanctions is a commonly used foreign policy tool that has gained increased popularity in the past 25 years. In the theoretical part the author looks at the aspects which have affected the rise of sanction use, as well as the types and goals of economic sanctions. The concept of smart sanctions is also looked upon in the theoretical part of this paper. Based on the acquired knowlage in the theoretical part, the empirical part will is dedicated for the analysis of EU and US imposed sanctions against Russia. Analysing the types and effects of the imposed sanctions against Russia, their influence on Russia's economy and political decision making process is established.

This package contains the eye-tracker recordings of 8 subjects evaluating English-to-Czech machine translation quality using the WMT-style ranking of sentences. We provide the set of sentences evaluated, the exact screens presented to the annotators (including bounding box information for every area of interest and even for individual letters in the text) and finally the raw EyeLink II files with gaze trajectories. The description of the experiment can be found in the paper: Ondřej Bojar, Filip Děchtěrenko, Maria Zelenina. A Pilot Eye-Tracking Study of WMT-Style Ranking Evaluation. Proceedings of the LREC 2016 Workshop "Translation Evaluation – From Fragmented Tools and Data Sets to an Integrated Ecosystem", Georg Rehm, Aljoscha Burchardt et al. (eds.). pp. 20-26. May 2016, Portorož, Slovenia. This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 645452 (QT21). This work was partially financially supported by the Government of Russian Federation, Grant 074-U01. This work has been using language resources developed, stored and distributed by the LINDAT/CLARIN project of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (project LM2010013).

The study evaluates the potential impact of alternative models of university entrance exams – a model based on field-specific knowledge and a model relying on general aptitude tests – in the context of the Czech education system since 1998, a system that can be described as highly stratified and suffering from a notable excess of demand for higher education over supply. Using the dataset Sonda Maturant 1998, the authors show that entrance exams based on general aptitude tests may outperform the field-specific knowledge model in terms of providing access to talented students from a lower socioeconomic background. The simulations show that under the general aptitude regime the relative chances of an applicant with a university-educated father are only one-quarter higher than the relative chances of a student with a less educated father, compared to more than a one-third difference in the case of the regime emphasising field-specific knowledge. For mother's education, the respective odds ratios differ by the even larger margin of 28 percentage points.

Systemic corruption is not a failure of individuals, i.e. the result of their deviant behaviour, but a collective phenomenon shared mainly by public institutions as a whole. The phenomenon is based on an effort to establish a new set of corrupt norms inside such institutions affecting policymaking, administrative procedures, public procurements, and the behavior of employees etc. In spite of the fact that impacts of systemic corruption on the areas of government, civil freedoms, social cohesion, and public economy are well known, there is very little practical research involving concrete evidence of systemic corruption in particular cases. This paper attempts to clarify how to generate a set of indicators of systemic corruption and then identify and verify them in a real-life political environment – in our specific case, the administration and policymaking of Liberec City Council between 1998 and 2010. The research was based upon elaborated interviews (with politicians, public servants, prosecuting authorities etc.), document analysis (reports and papers of the city council and municipal government, contracts and invoices etc.), and political and media analysis. The results are significant, as only an understanding of how a corrupt system really works can lead to the implementation of suitable anticorruption measures. ; Systemic corruption is not a failure of individuals, i.e. the result of their deviant behaviour, but a collective phenomenon shared mainly by public institutions as a whole. The phenomenon is based on an effort to establish a new set of corrupt norms inside such institutions affecting policymaking, administrative procedures, public procurements, and the behavior of employees etc. In spite of the fact that impacts of systemic corruption on the areas of government, civil freedoms, social cohesion, and public economy are well known, there is very little practical research involving concrete evidence of systemic corruption in particular cases. This paper attempts to clarify how to generate a set of ...

The article aims at characterization of the political system in Albania after the fall of the communist regime in 1991. The concepts of J. J. Linz are used. The text begins with the short description of the previous (communist) regime and with the character of the transition. The strong emphasis is given on the analysis of the several axes of non-democratic regimes: the limited pluralism, the mobilization, the ideology and the leadership. The authors conclude that it has been neither classical authoritarian nor totalitarian regime, but the regime, which is situated at the border of democracy and non-democracy and labelled by authors as a defect regime. With respect to unusual values of mobilization, the text operates with the classification mobilizational regime in ethnically divided society.

Purpose of the article: Current students of Czech and Slovak universities have lived most of their lives in the separate Czech/Slovak Republic, in new political, economic and technological conditions and also in a more intensive contact with members of other cultures than the previous generations. This could have affected their self-identification, national sentiments and attitudes to the EU. There is minimum empirical knowledge answering the question whether this hypothesis is right. The aim of the research was to contribute to the reduction of this deficit in knowledge and provide a starting point for further, more extensive, studies. Methodology/methods: The research used a sample of 134 Czech and 119 Slovak students of economy oriented universities. The research data were collected by means of a questionnaire, providing us with quantitative and qualitative data. The results were processed separately for the Czech sample and the Slovak sample and then compared. Scientific aim: The aim of the research was: (1) to explore the extent of national pride of young Czech and Slovak students of economy oriented universities as well as their identification with their country; (2) to explore the young Czech and Slovak students' opinions on the entry of their country in the EU and what they expect from the EU membership in the future; (3) to compare responses of Czech and Slovak respondents and identify the differences in their sentiments and attitudes to the EU.
Findings: The research has revealed some differences in the extent of Czech and Slovak students' identification with the regional units where the respondents live and in the perception of the contribution the entry of their country in the EU could bring. The expectations of both groups of respondents mainly concern better standards of living and a better economic situation of inhabitants. Conclusions: Generally, the results indicate that the attitudes of the students of the selected economy oriented faculties to EU membership are related to the perception of economic benefits and contributions to personal development and success at the labour market on the one hand, and on the other hand, to the perception of personal identity formed in the context of the country's historical development. It means, these are not mere results of rational calculations - the results indicate that even the generation of young, economy educated people who grew in new conditions shares the sentiments connected with their national identity. Due to the size of the sample set, the results cannot be considered valid for the entire population of students of economy oriented Czech and Slovak universities. The purpose of the research was to provide basic empirical knowledge, mainly of qualitative character, that will form a starting point for further, more extensive studies.

Intro -- Obsah -- Metafory, stereotypy a kulturní rozrůzněnost jazyků jako obrazů světa(Namísto úvodu) -- Poděkování -- Metaforika jazykového relativizmu. K pojmu vzorec v prácach Benjamina Lee Whorfa -- 1. Úvod -- 2. Jazykové vzorce majúce silu gravitácie -- 3. Videnie ako zdrojová oblasť metaforizácie -- 4. Záver -- Literatúra -- Humor a nenávist v etnických stereotypech. Perspektiva kulturní lingvistiky -- 1. Úvodem -- 2. Cizinci uvnitř -- 3. Černé vtipy a dlouhé tradice -- 4. Realita, mýty, vyprávění a detaily -- 5. Eurocentrismus? -- 6. Závěrem -- Prameny -- Literatura -- Řeč metafor o lidských právech. Kognitivně lingvistické analýzy a interpretace biblických metafor v manuálu pro výchovu mládeže k lidským právům Kompas -- 1. Úvod -- 2. Konceptuální metafory a jejich kořeny v jazyce Bible. Lidská práva místo Tóry. -- 3. Kvazi náboženství lidských práv -- 4. Závěr -- Prameny -- Literatura -- Měsíc jako zdroj představ vyjádřených japonským jazykem -- 1. Úvod -- 2. Měsíc: slovo, myšlenka, čas, prostor, místo, svět -- 3. Měsíc v japonské poezii -- 4. Závěr -- Prameny -- Literatura -- "V červánek zatím Tatra se shalí…" Tatry v česko‑ slovenskej kultúrnej reflexii -- 1. Tatry - motív spájajúci slovenské a české prostredie -- 2. Tatry ako téma kultúrnej lingvistiky -- 3. Kde a čo sú Tatry -- 4. Nad Tatrou sa nebo kalí v intertextovom využití -- 5. Tatry v literárnom dvojhlase -- 6. Nad Tatrou sa blýska v hymnickom okrúžení -- Záverom -- Literatúra -- "Srdce moudrého je po jeho pravici". Jazykový obraz srdce v biblické knize Přísloví -- 1. Úvod -- 2. Metodologie -- 3. Výsledky a analýza -- 3.1 Slovník -- 3.2 Text a konkordance -- 4. Závěr -- Prameny -- Literatura -- "Dyť se nosí i do kostela". Stereotyp a představová schémata spojená s jednou tabuizovanou částí těla -- Úvodem: východiska zkoumání -- 1. Prototypový český vulgarismus.

The article presents economic voting theory and its application to the study of electoral behaviour in four Central European countries. The theoretical part describes the reward-punishment model of economic voting and its predictions for electoral behaviour in countries with coalition governance and in internationally open economies during the global economic crisis. The analytical part investigates the existence and features of economic voting (as a P-function) in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Hypotheses about the existence of economic voting in these countries, the higher economic accountability of more responsible coalition partners, and the lower level of economic voting under the perceived influence of the EU on the domestic economy are tested using OLS and binary logistic analysis of European Election Study data (2004 and 2009). As the results show, economic voting was only detected in Hungary (2004 and 2009) and Slovakia (2004). The analysis indicates that, in general, almost all Prime ministers' parties bear a greater degree of economic accountability; meanwhile, perceptions of EU economic responsibility had no influence on the popularity of government parties in 2009. ; The article presents economic voting theory and its application to the study of electoral behaviour in four Central European countries. The theoretical part describes the reward-punishment model of economic voting and its predictions for electoral behaviour in countries with coalition governance and in internationally open economies during the global economic crisis. The analytical part investigates the existence and features of economic voting (as a P-function) in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Hypotheses about the existence of economic voting in these countries, the higher economic accountability of more responsible coalition partners, and the lower level of economic voting under the perceived influence of the EU on the domestic economy are tested using OLS and binary logistic analysis of European ...

"This study deals with historic cultural contacts between Europeans and the Benin Empire, one of the most significant native African cultural centres between the 15th and the 17th century. The study focuses particularly on the development of the Benin Empire on the background of acculturation and diffusion of European cultural elements and complexes. The study describes the first contacts between Europeans and the Benin Empire and the subsequent business activities, including slave trade. Special attention is paid to European colonial expansion that culminated in the 1897 British invasion which led to the conquest of the Benin City. The aim of the study is to draw attention to the role of the exogenous cultural change and acculturation processes, which caused the fall of once a socially, economically, politically and culturally stable African empire." (author's abstract)

The article is based on the first sociological study of the attitudes and preferences of Czech men who identify themselves as gay towards (gay) fatherhood, family, and parenthood. The main arguments of the study evolve around the themes of the (overwhelmingly positive) parental desires of the gay men participating in the study; their internalised moral dilemmas connected to gay fatherhood; the reproductive choices and limits that structure the attitudes of gay men towards parenthood and family; and gender stereotypes about family/parenting models and the roles these men occupy. The article is divided into two main parts. The fi rst part introduces the context and current state of sociological scholarship and research on gay fatherhood and homoparentality. The second part of the article discusses results, an interpretation, and an analysis of the empirical findings of the study.

This paper focuses on "The Philadelphia Negro": a community study that stands at the start of American social research. This somewhat forgotten empirical study from 1899 describes the historical conditions and the economic and social causes and circumstances behind the formation and existence of the "Seventh Ward", a slum neighbourhood in Philadelphia inhabited by African-Americans. The study used survey and other methods of observation and analysis of historical, economic and social data. The study was written by the erudite Harvard University graduate William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, an African-American, and an economist, historian and sociologist. Using primary and secondary literature and archive sources this paper shows that Du Bois was the author of the first empirical social research study in the United States. It looks at his life, his research, and his opinions on racial issues. He created a programme of research on the African-American population and from 1898 to 1910 he headed the first school of sociology on the American continent at the University of Atlanta. He published the results of scientific analyses of the lives of African-Americans in the south of the United States in sixteen volumes of the Atlanta University Studies. Racial prejudices among the American sociological elites prevented both Du Bois and his work from receiving the attention they rightly deserve.

This study deals with the phenomenon of paradiplomacy, or parallel diplomacy. Paradiplomacy refers to international activities of cities and regions and includes marketing and public diplomacy, cross-border cooperation, functional trans-border cooperation, cultural and educational cooperation, and other activities. Paradiplomacy developed in the last third of the 20th century as a result of economic globalization, state decentralization, nationalism and the strengthening of regional identity, European integration, and the internationalization of cultural, educational, environmental, transport and other topics labelled as "low politics". Thus, we can identify both economic and political foundations of paradiplomacy. The first part of the study presents a review of literature on paradiplomacy; the second part is a case study of foreign policy instituted by the City of Prague in the electoral term 2006-2010. This case study confirmed initial hypotheses: first, that paradiplomacy is influenced by three supra-national factors: economic globalization (a), regional and global political and economic regimes (b), and transnational networks, mainly based in the EU (c); second, that paradiplomacy is influenced by institutional and constitutional relations between the centre and regions; third, that paradiplomacy is influenced by the antagonistic nature of these relations. Adapted from the source document.

The paper focuses on reflection of the First World War in presidential speeches in years
1990–2013. This period delimits mandates of former Czech presidents Václav Havel and Václav
Klaus. Ways in which both presidents referred to the historical event and in which they utilized its
interpretation for legitimization of their political goals are compared. As its theoretical framework,
the study utilizes an approach that has been developed by Jeffrey Alexander and Philip Smith as
part of their program in cultural sociology. The study aims to identify the most significant cultural
codes and narrative strategies of the analyzed speeches and to relate them to (supra)nationalistic
metanarratives that they help to maintain. The study also points to the fact that presidential
speeches represent an important case of utilization of past for the purposes of legitimization of
state policy while also being a practice with which states are established.