Suchergebnisse

The article focuses on representatives of the regional (and most recently established) level of government in the Czech Republic. It describes the context behind the emergence of regional governments & how they differ from the local & national political levels. It notes the close personnel connection between local & regional political elites. Experience gained in local politics helps elites to succeed at the regional level. The presence of local politicians in regional government varies with the level of residential fragmentation & the degree of urbanization in the given region. Unlike local politics, which is consistently comprised of a significant proportion of independents, regional representatives are almost exclusively members of political parties & movements. This situation on the one hand serves to increase the politicization of local politics & on the other leads to greater competition within political parties, whose programs & national leadership regional politicians wish to influence.

The article focuses on the differences in political participation among post-communist countries. First, it explores the variation in the level of political participation among post-communist states. Second, it deals with the differences in the determinants that account for political participation in individual countries. The second objective is met by introducing a three-dimensional explanatory model of political participation: individual resources, motivations, and social networks. In an empirical analysis political participation in nine post-communist countries is examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2004. Results show that the countries under study vary in the level of political participation both at the aggregate and individual levels. The most active citizens are in the former East Germany and Slovakia. Polish and Hungarian citizens participate in politics the least. Further, two modes of political participation – protest activity and contacting – are identified and used as dependent variables in further analysis. In the second part of the article, the explanatory model is tested against data from individual countries. The analysis shows that there is a difference in the factors that account for political participation in various post-communist countries. Generally, the three-level model of political participation works best in Hungary, Bulgaria, and East Germany. It explains very little variation in Russia and Poland.

This article deals with the relations between two different cultures existing within one state: the dominant culture is continental France & the peripheral one is the insular society of Corsica. This article reviews the historical background of the problem in France & subsequently analyzes the response of the administrative center to the Corsican independence struggle. Regarding the cultural, historical & political differences, the distinct experiences of these two cultures, the collective identity of the Corsican community & the institutionalization of its ethnic-regional representatives, the situation can be described as a center-periphery cleavage. The Corsican society -- asking for autonomy within the state or even for separation -- faces the domination of the administrative center. This independence struggle originates within the community, which is the reason why the dominant culture has several times modified its strategy for dealing with the demands & violence of Corsican patriots. The analysis illustrates the power & the limits of the independence struggle of this small island that is still economically dependent on France. 33 References. Adapted from the source document.

After the fall of communist regimes at the turn of the 1990s, a new era of development began in many countries. The transformation from communism wasn't always successful. It is this unfinished transformation which is, as many authors argue, one of the characteristics of post-communism. Post-communist political culture struggles with a number of problems originating in the institutional structure of collapsed regimes. One of them is the high level of corruption. Corruption is not, of course, specific only to post-communist countries. However, as statistical data provided by various organizations show, corruption flourishes in these countries. Moreover, post-communist corruption takes certain forms which are absent in other countries. We may, therefore, classify these forms as the institutional and cultural heritage of communist regimes. The goal of this paper is to introduce the nature of corruption and the causes behind the high level of corruption in post-communist countries; to identify changes which have taken place since the demise of communist regimes; and to present some of the measures employed to fight corruption, as well as the difficulties related to these measures.

Obálka; Obsah; Předmluva; Úvod; Kapitola první Osvícenská politika; Kapitola druhá Klasický utilitarismus; Kapitola třetí Spojení práv a užitečnosti; Kapitola čtvrtá Kapitola čtvrtá Marxismus; Kapitola pátá Společenská smlouva; Kapitola šestá Antiosvícenská politika; Kapitola sedmá Demokracie; Kapitola osmá Demokracie zralého osvícenství; Doslov Tři poznámky k Shapirově teorii demokracie; Poznámky; Rejstřík.

In this article the authors describe what forms of political participation, outside the electoral process, the populations of twenty-one European countries tend to employ & to what degree. They identify three types of non-electoral political participation: active-conventional, active-demonstrational, & passive participation. Overall non-electoral political participation is considerably lower in the post-communist & Mediterranean countries than in the Western European & Scandinavian countries. In the latter countries the passive type of political participation is clearly a much stronger form of participation than the other two types. Conversely, in the Mediterranean countries passive participation is weaker & is exceeded in places by the active-conventional type of participation. The Mediterranean area is also notable for the unusually strong presence of the active-demonstrational type of participation. The authors also examine the social micro- & macro-conditions related to these three types of political participation. In conclusion they attempt to address the question of whether there is a connection between political activity & satisfaction with the way democracy works.

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.

A reply to Jan Keller (2007), Jaroslaw Kilias (2006), & Johann Arnason (2007) as critical reviewers of Machonin's Ceska spolecnost a sociologicke poznani. Problemy spolecenske transformace a modernizace od poloviny sedesatych let 20. stoleti do soucasnosti ([The Czech Society and Sociological Knowledge. Problems of Social Transformation and Modernization from the Mid 1960s to the Present] Prague: ISV, 2005). Keller's critique is found to be fed by his personal, 'hyperskeptical' & overly pessimistic, view of modernization. Kilias misreads the book in the context of his own theoretical-methodological conceptions. Arnason's criticism is discussed in more detail, addressing the following issues: (1) the variety & diversity of epistemological approaches in sociological research, (2) the liberal thought in classical Marxism & the notions of social liberalism & democratic socialism, (3) the theory of multiple modernities, & (4) the concept & term 'state socialism' & the question whether state socialism, as practiced in the Soviet bloc countries, qualifies as a special type of modernity.