Suchergebnisse

In recent decades, the topic of political parties' approaches towards European integration (especially the euro-skeptic parties) has become an integral part of political science research. The purpose of this text is to describe and compare the most frequently used methods or approaches of measuring the attitudes of political parties towards the EU: behavioral measures, textual approaches, self-reported positions, and reputation. The author of the text examines the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods, and compares their applicability in the context of different research goals (classification and/or description of attitudes of political parties towards the EU, identification of salience of the "European" issue, and identification of intra-party disputes over the "European" issue).

This paper examines the issue of ballot voting in elections with a focus on traditional and modern voting methods. The purpose is to provide policy analysis with a survey of the development of voting methods, from their earliest form up to contemporary democratic technologies. The study offers a systematic evaluation of the voting mechanism, especially the paper ballot, machine voting, punchcard voting, optical mark-sense voting and electronic voting. On the basis of case studies, their impact on electoral process and the accuracy of election results is evaluated, as well as their impact on the quality of democracy. The accent is put on voting procedures which are user-friendly and trustworthy at the same time.

Research on political speeches is often done in countries with strong presidential powers, typically in the USA. However, political speeches by presidents are also a critical method of influencing public opinion in the Czech Republic. Therefore this article is focused on the analysis of speeches of the former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus. Our research is based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Klaus' speeches (thematic units are used as the unit of analysis) found on his website (www.klaus.cz) in the period from 1995 to the end of his presidency, March 2013 (N = 470). We aim to identify the changing structure of political issues in Klaus' speeches and changes in Klaus' position on those issues, and to uncover any characteristic features of his speeches (the use of personal pronouns, the role of the speaker, the tone of the speech, etc.). Adapted from the source document.

The article focuses on an analysis of the situation in which information is obtained from respondents in questionnaire surveys. From the perspective of the cognitive aspects of survey methodology the article takes a complex view of this situation and applies theoretical concepts and empirical evidence in order to explain the close connection between the interview situation and the quality of the information obtained. The interview situation is portrayed in its twofold form: personal aspects (the mental operations of respondents) and social aspects (the interaction and communication between the interviewer and the respondent). The analysis of the interactive aspects of the interview situation draws attention to the rules of standard communication, which interfere with the ordinary concept of the standardised interview and the course of mental processes. The cognitive aspect of responding to questions is analysed from the perspective of the wider understanding of context effects, the author refers to the most important theoretical concepts relating to individual effects and empirical evidence of some effects that infl uence the response process. The article takes a somewhat untypical approach to some aspects of data collection in questionnaire surveys and into the Czech context introduces the cognitive aspects of the methodology of questionnaire surveys.

This article provides a look at the main turning points in research on educational inequalities, both at the level of the fi eld's subject matter and its methodology. The text focuses on authors and concepts that in their time constituted a major innovation, signifi cantly advancing analysis and knowledge in the fi eld of research on educational inequalities. In the article the authors propose viewing researchers in the fi eld of educational inequalities through the lens of their era and in relation to the major turning points between them, which can be identifi ed in terms of subject matter and methodology, and even chronologically. The authors define three basic periods, and for each one present two key concepts. The first period is represented by the basic model of the stratification process and by the socio-psychological model. The second period is characterised by the concept of educational allocation and the theory of 'maximally maintained inequality' (MMI). Presented for the third period are the multinomial transition model and the theory of 'effectively maintained inequality' (EMI). Across these stages of development the authors highlight three of the cited concepts as ground-breaking methodological innovations (the basic model of the stratification process, the concept of educational allocation, and the multinomial transition model) and the other three as innovations in subject matter (interpretive), though closely tied to the advancement of quantitative methods used in the analysis of educational inequalities (the socio-psychological model and the MMI and EMI theories).

This paper maps and compares the main topics articulated by political parties in their manifestos published for the Slovak parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2012. First, the paper discusses the conceptual grounds of policy space dynamics. Next, it outlines the method used for the research, based upon quantitative content analysis of the parties' manifestos of the Comparative Manifestos Project Group. Relevance of individual issues is measured by their representation in manifestos. The paper also examines the change in parties' priorities for the 2012 election compared to the election of 2010. With the help of an additional methodology tool, the parties under review are then put along a left-right spectrum. Using this technique, the policy space during the period of both elections is examined. Simultaneously, party shifts along the left-right spectrum that emerged from the obtained data are presented. The final section of the article exposes the descriptive results to the theoretical assumptions about policy space dynamics presented in the beginning. Adapted from the source document.

This article seeks to identity functional and systemic shortcomings of the Register of Interest Representatives (the Register) and contrasts them with the Commission's own evaluation of the Register's functioning. Special attention is accorded to the analysis of financial data published by interest groups in the Register. The article builds on original empirical research in which quantifiable data from 1063 registered interest groups were evaluated. The analysis of the financial data is complemented by the results of a questionnaire given to the registered interest groups. The questionnaire was addressed to almost one third (324) of interests registered at the end of February 2009; the return rate achieved 22.84%. The research suggests that the methods for calculating financial amounts are inadequate. This situation is exacerbated by a passive control system of truthfulness and completeness of registered data, as well as by a weak voluntarily motivation to register and by the lack of a sanctions policy. These factors diminish the credibility of the data in the Register. Consequently, the level of transparency with regard to the financial aspects of lobbying is, to a great extent, limited. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of the article is to describe the relations between institutions in the public, private and non-profit sectors that are considered the most important actors of negotiation and decision-making in local development. These institutions and the relations between them are defined as a social network. A study was carried out in the small Czech towns of Blatná, Český Krumlov and Velké Meziříčí, and data were collected in 2007 and 2008. The first part of the article describes the institutional actors, the collection of the relational data, and the context of the three towns that were studied. The analytical part consists of social network analysis. Basic quantitative characteristics are used to describe and compare the social networks of the institutional actors in the local development of the three towns. The conclusions indicate the unconditional significance of local public administration institutions and the significance of other local institutions; relations to extra-local institutions are rather weak. A section on methodology at the end of the article contains methodological notes on Hellinger divergence and SNA.

Foreign and Internal Trade as the main disciplines in the field of research and study have developed theoretical systems that reflected historical development of international economic and business environment, governmental trade policy and international and domestic businesses. They created a basis, on which the Faculty of International Relations after 1989 has designed a new profile discipline "International Trade" in the framework of the "International Economic Relations" program. Very important features of the discipline, both of study and research areas, are a deep internationalization and an interdisciplinary approach. The discipline's development reflects world trends, international scientific knowledge and domestic specificities and introduces new terminology for new qualitative processes of international business to the Czech economy. To the discipline's development, very many excellent teachers and important personalities of the Czechoslovak and Czech economy contributed. The modern discipline comprehends analysis of global economic and institutional relations and of theoretical concepts, together with practical managerial branches. A prove of high standards of teaching and research is a prestigious accreditation EPAS by which the discipline "International Trade" has been awarded by the European Foundation of Management Development in 2012. Adapted from the source document.

Direct action constitutes an important repertoire of action for environmental movements. Direct action is a way to bring attention to problems but it is also a goal and a value in itself. The paper deals with two different concepts of direct action: the liberal concept, which views direct action in instrumental terms, and the anarchist concept, which rather understands direct action in terms of values and as a preferred way of acting. The article particularly pays attention to environmental direct action, which further develops the anarchist concept of direct action as a preferred way of doing things. On the basis of an empirical research that was carried out, it answers the questions of how Czech environmental organisations have employed these different concepts of direct action, why their use of the liberal concept is very limited and why direct action as a preferred way of doing things has not yet become a part of the repertoire of collective action. The article finds an explanation for this in the very specific historical experience of the Czech environmental movement, which has tended to dialogue with power rather than confrontations with it, the political ostracism of the movement in the 1990s, and the different developments of the environmental and anarchist milieus, which did not allow for an overlapping of these milieus that would serve as the basis for the development of the practice of environmental direct action. Adapted from the source document.