Suchergebnisse

The EU enlargement process is a vital part of European integration. Previous research into EU enlargement aimed especially at the process itself or at the approaches of member states or EU institutions towards enlargement. We focus on political parties and their positions towards future enlargement of the EU. Comparing the opinions of the CDU and CSU on EU enlargement, we try to find out whether these two parties can be, at a European level, considered as one homogeneous actor and whether the CDU and CSU's declaratory opinions are consistent with the parties' MEP voting. Analysis thus deals both with the programme documents and statements of relevant politicians and with roll call votes in the European parliament. Adapted from the source document.

The Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna – KD) are a member of the current Swedish coalition government and at the same time one of the youngest relevant parties in the Swedish party system. The article below deals with an identity analysis of the KD and employs the concept of party family to frame the analysis of the party's programme. The paper also includes a description of the genesis of the KD and the party's position within the Swedish political party system. The article concludes with the observation that the KD can continue to be classified as a member of the Christian-democratic party family despite the fact that elements of the KD's programme can more often be found in the programmes of parties of other party families.

The article explores several reasons why women in Czech politics are underrepresented not only relative to their overall share in the society but also relative to their presence at lower levels of politics. The article tests two principal hypotheses using data from both a unique post-electoral public opinion survey carried out in the Olomouc region in 2010, and from official electoral statistics. First, it concentrates on the structural barriers of female underrepresentation presented by the candidate nomination and selection processes of the political parties. Second, it explores the possibility that more flexible candidate lists are beneficial for female representation. We compare the proportions of preference votes received by women both prior to and after electoral reforms in 2010, which for the first time gave voters the possibility to cast four preference votes and thus made the list structures more flexible. The research design includes both OLS and logistic regression models, which specify the empirical relationships derived from previous theoretical debates. The results suggest that Czech women are heavily disadvantaged by the Czech parties' candidate selection mechanisms, and also that we do not have enough evidence to conclude that flexible lists are more conducive to higher female representation. The article concludes by considering various institutional means of reducing female political underrepresentation, including the introduction of electoral gender quotas. Adapted from the source document.

This paper analyses the effect of turnout on the support of different parties in the Czech Republic. It tests hypotheses derived from American & Western European literature concerning the advantage/disadvantage of higher turnout for particular parties, especially for left-wing parties. The text introduces the main theories & research strategies concerning the partisan effects of voter turnout, & then tests several hypotheses concerning this issue. The analysis uses both aggregate & individual level data. The results show that higher turnout is advantageous for the parties whose voters lack strong party identification (CSSD & the Green Party). On the other hand, it brings lower gains to parties with a disciplined electorate (ODS, KDU-CSL & partly also for KSCM). The case of KSCM points to the curvilinearity of the relationship between turnout & party support. More sophisticated statistical analysis should be used in future research. Adapted from the source document.

This paper seeks to find out to what extent the process of EU accession has influenced legal regulations concerning the creation & functioning of social & political actors. Through the analysis of various statutes & changes made to them, the paper tries to determine the role the EU plays in amending assembly legislation. The actors under scrutiny include political parties, professional organizations, labor unions, & civil society organizations. The paper concludes that the most influenced field of actors was the area of chambers of professionals which was obliged to conform to requirements for the free movement of people & services in the European Union in order to comply with European law. The Czech Republic was quite leisurely in their harmonization of statutes, with the majority of them passed just before accession to the EU. An interesting part of the problem concerns the question of political party membership, which is still reserved only for Czech citizens. However, European citizenship, with its voting rights to the European Parliament & local magistrates, is arguably going to push slowly for change even in this domain. Adapted from the source document.

The article seeks to describe & interpret recent trends within the Swedish party system. The point of departure for analysis is twofold: (1) to describe past development of patterns of cooperation & conflict among Swedish political parties, (2) an examination of P. Mair's concepts on the structure of party system competition & party system change, which are applied to the Swedish case. Special attention is given to the process of formation of the right-wing as well as the left-wing blocs. The aim of the article is to explain why & under what circumstances these blocs emerged, considering the fact that these blocs were at times almost invisible, at times only slightly salient. Moreover, party cooperation often took place across bloc lines. This analysis of past trends serves as a basis for understanding up-to-date developments within the right-wing bloc & particularly left-wing parties, which -- for the first time in the Swedish party politics history -- have recently declared their intention to form an election alliance & even a government coalition after the 2010 parliamentary elections. The article also discusses the question of whether these trends might lead to a specific version of the two-party system. Adapted from the source document.

The article explores the influence of the electoral polls on media coverage of political actors during election campaigns. Based on the presumptions of the structural media bias theory we investigate whether the polls can affect the way media report on particular political actors in the course of an electoral campaign. According to Zaller's media politics theory journalists are supposed to pay most attention to the candidate or political party leading in the polls. Also, the tone of media coverage of the leading candidate should be linked with his/her success in the race. This article adjusts the hypotheses of media politics to the condition of proportional party representation. The aim is to explore how media coverage of the non-parliamentary party Veci verejne related to its position in the polls and its anticipated importance for future development after the election. Adapted from the source document.

The article deals with concepts of the empirical threshold of representation as proposed by Rein Taagepera & the real threshold as proposed by Tomas Lebeda. Both empirical & real thresholds are operational methods of the actual threshold. The empirical threshold indicates the actual share of the vote which a party needs to have a fifty-fifty chance of gaining a seat. The real threshold indicates the minimal actual share of the vote which a party needs to gain representation. The author of the paper argues that real thresholds serve as an illustration of a hypothetical rather than a real situation & they do not always occur between the upper & the lower thresholds. The second part of the paper analyzes the original & the current electoral systems for the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. While under the current electoral system a party with 6.15 per cent of the vote has a fifty-fifty chance of winning a seat within a district, the share was 4.36 per cent of the vote within the original electoral system. On the other hand, the national empirical threshold is lower under the current electoral system. This is caused by relatively large districts of the original system which are more hospitable to small parties at the district level, but not necessarily from the national perspective. Adapted from the source document.

This article explores the spatial influences that shape the contemporary Czech party system & their consequences for the institutionalization of the party system. First, the regionalization of the party system is measured to identify the specific regional clusters of votes for individual parties. Second, after controlling for the impact of social cleavages, the independent effect of two macro- regions on the differences in voting decisions is analyzed. In the case of Moravia, no such independent effect is evident. Conversely, in the formerly German- inhabited Sudetenland there is an effect on the vote in the case of two parties (KSCM & ODS). The historical reasons for this spatial regime are briefly discussed. Finally, the relative insignificance of spatial regimes in the Czech party system is explained with reference to its high degree of nationalization (the level of spatial heterogeneity in regional voting results). The author employs spatial analytical techniques in the article, such as measures of spatial autocorrelation, the spatial regression model, & the Gini Index. The findings suggest that there is a high degree of spatial institutionalization of the Czech party system & relatively insignificant contextual effects at the macro- regional level.

This text deals with elections to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey held in November 2002 and particularly in July 2007. The text describes the electoral system and analyses the election results. It is focused on differences in territorial support for the main political parties. The results of the latest parliamentary elections are compared with those of the 2002 elections. The main continuities identified are a reduction in relevant political actors and the concentration of Turkish political formations, the position of the main political parties in the Turkish system and the dominance of national electoral preference components over local components. Discontinuity, by contrast, was identified in the absence of pre-election coalitions and the fragmentation of electoral preferences.

Monografie Michala Švece zkoumá vybrané aspekty fungování komunálního politického systému v Praze v meziválecném období. Po institucionálním vymezení organizace Velké Prahy a volebního systému pro obecní volby jsou predstaveni hlavní politictí aktéri. Pražské komunální volby v letech 1923-1938 autor podrobuje jak analýze celkové, tak na úrovni obvodu; poté soustreduje pozornost k volebním kampaním, tvorbe volebních koalic i volební geografii. Kapitola, která je venována volbám primátora a kolektivních obecních orgánu, vypovídá rovnež o kooperaci ci souperení stran zastoupených na Staromestské

New President of Romania Traian Băsescu is strong-willed to fight corruption which is a potential threat of national security. Fighting corruption, Băsescu and new government must smash through the shield of interposed persons. Such persons are covering "white collars" that are top-ranking businessmen or privatizers close to political parties. That is why new government and new President want to modify existing penal code and to widen criminal liability of involved persons and organized groups. Today's politically motley Parliament wouldn't be able to adopt such legal measures. In this case, President Băsescu, enjoying wide currency and making use of his accumulated electoral capital, will manifestly be leading the country to anticipated elections. By such a step he would provide current main coalition political parties (PD and PNL) with a comfortable majority in Parliament and with an appropriate milieu for adopting new penal code.

The article focuses on an analysis of the professions of Czech deputies in the interwar period and in the period after 1989. Based on the theoretical framework of representation we assume that voting decisions are influenced not only by party electoral programs, but also by the individual characteristics of candidates. Candidate professions may indicate whether they are considered to be sufficiently qualified and whether they are considered to represent the interests of voters. The aim of the article is to analyse the differences between two historical periods and the differences among parliamentary parties. The analysis proved that the structure of professions of parliamentary representatives changed dramatically over time. The professions of representatives in the interwar period tended to resemble the professions of their core voters, and hence were rather different across political parties. In contrast, the professions of parliamentary representatives elected on the party list of different parties became rather similar after 1989. A clear tendency towards the emergence of professional politicians can be observed. A descriptive type of representation is on the decline. ; The article focuses on an analysis of the professions of Czech deputies in the interwar period and in the period after 1989. Based on the theoretical framework of representation we assume that voting decisions are influenced not only by party electoral programs, but also by the individual characteristics of candidates. Candidate professions may indicate whether they are considered to be sufficiently qualified and whether they are considered to represent the interests of voters. The aim of the article is to analyse the differences between two historical periods and the differences among parliamentary parties. The analysis proved that the structure of professions of parliamentary representatives changed dramatically over time. The professions of representatives in the interwar period tended to resemble the professions of their core voters, and ...