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The article argues for a new strategy for Czech IR research which would stimulate local scholars to produce innovative contributions to the international IR discipline. The strategy is supposed to go beyond the emulation of the Anglo-American IR, which currently prevails & which, despite occasional successes, failed in its goals. It aims at innovative contributions with a maximum utilization of the Czech domestic conditions which embed the research. The strategy argues that the relations between Czech IR & the international discipline need to be sustained & even strengthened. At the same time, the Czech research should focus on the Czech political experience by examining the political phenomena by which this experience has been constituted & drawing on the traditions of Czech political thought. Adapted from the source document.

The theory of coalitions has been a significant part of political science analysis since 1960. We can distinguish two traditions in the theory of coalitions -- the American tradition & the European one. While the American theory of coalitions puts an emphasis on game theory, the European theory of coalitions focuses on political culture, traditions & social environment. The two traditions evaluate existing coalitions differently. This article demonstrates these different approaches by analyzing governmental coalitions in Saxony in the 1990s. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

In the article, the author presents money as a category of analysis in political science, & briefly embeds research in this field in a broader disciplinary context (economics, sociology, financial geography). Emphasis is stressed on Helleiner's book "The Making of National Money." Helleiner deals with the emergence of territorial currencies in the long-term, & is considered to be the most important & influential author within the field of political science. In the first part, the article focuses on Helleiner's description of the structural-historical conditions for the introduction of territorial currencies, as well as on the ideological motivations that led political elites to introduce territorial currencies. A comprehensive historical description of this process is put aside. At the end, the author critically evaluates Helleiner's contribution to this problem. Adapted from the source document.

In recent years, the issue of political parties' attitudes to European integration has become especially important in political science research. This article focuses on skeptical party attitudes to the European Union & critically evaluates the conceptualization of euroskepticism. First, it discusses the most applicable typologies, especially Taggart & Szczerbiak's distinction between "hard" & "soft" forms of euroskepticism. Second, it points out the insufficient & vague definition of the concept of "soft" euroskepticism. References. Adapted from the source document.

This essay addresses the issue of how to transcend the long-lasting stalemate between positivism and various forms of post-positivism. The main assumption rests in the belief that one of the possible solutions to this stalemate can be offered by replacing the positivism versus postpositivism debate by a discussion between scientific realism and pragmatism. The article thus starts with a brief characterization of logical positivism, which is followed by a more thorough deliberation on the issue of pragmatism and scientific realism. The text raises questions of the mutual incompatibilities of both positions, as well as their respective influence on the discipline of International Relations. It is also argued that by adopting one or another of these philosophies of science, we can bring about specific consequences for actual research practices. Adapted from the source document.

In the 1990s, the research of political field was ultimately established as part of German political science. The article describes the development of the research of political field in both the international & the German contexts & overviews the current state of this research in Germany. First, the article introduces important researchers & research institutions. Further, the article discusses the relationship between basic & applied research & between research & politics. The list of sources at the end of the article contains not only available literature, but also Internet links of important researchers & institutions. References. Adapted from the source document.

The publication output of all political science and international relations departments and their individual scholars in the Czech Republic is analyzed and ranked here using publication indicators from the Web of Science and Scopus citation databases. Both individual and departmental rankings are constructed based on a composite measure of publication activity which incorporates three indicators: the sum of author shares (in order to account for each authors contribution in the case of co-authored articles) of articles registered in either database, the number of citations of these articles, and the impact factor of the journal. The departmental rankings are further weighted by the size of a given department. The analysis takes into account all departments with an active undergraduate or graduate program in political science or international relations (a total of 14), and all researchers with an institutional affiliation to these departments. The original dataset used for this analysis was compiled from both citation databases and validated by information from the internet presentations of the departments and by sending a questionnaire to the heads of all the departments. The results suggest a weak overall performance of Czech political science in terms of the used publication indicators. However, the analysis of recent trends shows a significant increase in overall Czech publication activity since 2006. Both this trend and the emergence of scholars with consistent publication activity registered in the citation databases constitute a positive development and allow for optimism in the near future. Adapted from the source document.

Although today national interest is a concept often deemed too old-fashioned for any relevant study of foreign policy or international relations, it is surprising how deeply embedded it is in practical political discourse. The aim of this article is therefore to recast the concept so as to make it a useful theoretical instrument again, hence renewing the conceptual link between the academic & practical discourses on the subject. The argument is divided into five steps: First, we will explain the realist account of national interest & its two major features -- essentialism & its non-normative nature. Second, we will dedicate some attention to the critics of the realist approach. Third, we will try to demonstrate that both sides of this debate have committed a fundamental error in considering national interest as a descriptive category. By pointing to the concept's historical evolution, we will show that national interest should be primarily understood as a normative concept. In the last two steps, we will couple the debate on interest to discussions in theories of democracy & set three criteria which must be met for interest to be considered legitimate. Adapted from the source document.

The article discusses the definition & typology of anti-system parties. It is based on the classical definition by Giovanni Sartori, which is in my opinion not obsolete. On the contrary it is still very usable, but under the condition that we stay on the ground of party theory & party systems, & not transfer it to the field of democratic theory. The next part of the text focuses on Giovanni Capoccia's attempt in 2002 to modify Sartori's theory & create a new typology of anti-system parties is very interesting but not very progressive. It seems that Capoccia makes the same, or at least very similar, propositions as Sartori. I think we should call "anti-system" only those parties which conform to Sartori's rigorous definition. The parties conforming to Sartori's wide definition should not be named "anti-system" but rather "extreme." So, we have two separate categories of opposition parties: 1) anti-system, & 2) extreme. The first one is ideological opposition against the political system. The second is simply extreme, radical opposition against the government, or at the most, against some part of the political system, but not against the system as a whole. The second main proposition of the article concerns the problem of a typology of anti-system parties. According to the view mentioned above & based on Capoccia's typology, I have created a modified typology. It correlates two parameters, ideological & relational. The result is five types of parties: anti-system parties, extreme parties, irrelevant anti-system parties, camouflaged anti-system parties, & pro-system parties. Adapted from the source document.

The article presents a brief survey of selected trends observable within political science in the Czech Republic & offers a tentative interpretation of some major features that can be seen as typical for the current state of the field. However, the article is not intended as a comprehensive analysis; rather, it is meant to open up a discussion related to self-perceptions in Czech political science, & their relation to reality. Issues like methodological, research & teaching foci are all elaborated here, & serve to highlight the possible weaknesses & benefits of Czech political science, thus claiming a space for further, more substantial research. In this sense, the article should be understood as an attempt to make Czech political science launch a process of its own self-definition & self-identification. Adapted from the source document.