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A specifi c feature of Czech women today, who are timing the motherhood or staying childless after thirty, stems from their socialisation in a different political and demographical regime than they were in at the start of their reproductive period. The changes connected with the transformation of Czech society after 1989 affected their life courses. Instead of following the demographic behaviour of their mothers why do these women postpone motherhood to a later age or remain childless? What do the life courses and reproductive strategies of contemporary women over thirty look like? The qualitative research discussed in this article is based on in-depth interviews with primaparas over thirty and their childless peers conducted in order to examine the dynamics and character of their decision to become a mother. The research applied grounded theory and identifi ed fi ve different types of reproductive strategies: 'to have a child no matter what', 'to have a child with the right partner', 'waiting for the right time', 'hesitating over whether to have a child or not', 'not having a child'. Consequently the specific sources of these strategies were described. Background family experiences combined with the experiences from the period of childlessness in adulthood can lead to the development of an 'individualised habitus', which can block the transition to the motherhood phase. In the Czech context the development of an individualised habitus can be strengthened by the unequal distribution of gender roles in the family of origin as well as in partnerships in adulthood.

During both occasions of the 1st anniversary of the German Grand Coalition government CDU/CSU & SPD (2005/2006) & of the 10th anniversary of the Czech-German Declaration on reconciliation (1997) the author analysis the recent German foreign policy, especially the role of past burdens in the bilateral relations. Gradually, although they faced many complications, both a legal & political solution was found, & instilled, creating a prevision for, & to a certain degree institutionalizing "the culture of historical controversy." The rhetoric of historical guilt & responsibility slowly disappears in Germany's relationships to the states of Central & East Central Europe, it relates also to the reconciliation rituals. On the other hand the new German government (with the CDU-chancellorship) has accepted all declarations & treaties made by preceding governments, including those which deal with property issues between the F.R.G. & Poland/Czech Republics respectively. The main dash is not drawn between any single political camps; rather nowadays, it is drawn right across the German society & their political elites. Especially the topic of World War II & its victims has become a conventional subject & one of public historical memory. This appeared shortly after the new government was appointed into office, as well as the idea that the moral-historical dimension of the Czech-German, Polish-German (and any other neighbors to Germany) relations will not disappear, but instead achieve a new quality. Only the role of moderator will be given to the governments & to the political sphere. Parallel to the departure of the last generation of contemporaries, the theme will be changed, & there will be only one of many reference frameworks in German relations to its neighbor states & their societies. This will, however, not be a linear process: relapsing is not excluded & it will depend on the responsibility & maturity of the political elites as well as the quality of the Czech-German "community of interests" (including the constituting role of European Security & Energy policies), as to how they will be managed. Adapted from the source document.

EU programme documents designed to influence the social policies of the member states are filled with concepts of social exclusion and social inclusion. This paper aims to clarify these concepts as they are employed in academic and public policy discourse and to discuss the societal function of this discourse and the impact of the European agenda of social inclusion. The authors show that although concepts of social exclusion and social inclusion are far from straightforward in meaning, their influence on public policy discourse and agenda is evident. The reason is that they redirect social policy towards a multidimensional approach, towards balancing rights and obligations, and towards more complex but also local and individualised policies, though the corresponding discourse bears the normative features of a social 'vision'. The EU's social policy agenda exhibits aspirations towards and some potential for achieving real policy change. On the other hand, there are reservations about its true impact. In this respect, the specifi c societal and political context of its implementation plays a crucial role.

Does higher turnout support left-wing parties, as many previous studies assume? And does communist legacy somehow project on the mentioned relationship? The theoretical discussion is still relatively unclear. This study proposes three different explanatory mechanisms of examining aggregate-level relationship between turnout and electoral support for political parties in the post-communist milieu. The mainstream hypothesis, based on the assumptions of a successful re-stratification of the society and the relevance of class voting, states that higher turnout benefits the left. The second option is derived from the Michigan model of party identification. In this case, political parties with less loyal electorate should profit from higher rates of electoral participation. However, this article makes a case for a third possible explanation, which turns the conventional hypothesis upside down and can be termed simply as "mobilization against the left". The idea is that the more people come to the polls, the stronger the post-communist right wing parties will be. Moreover, I include in my analysis only two electoral districts (regions) that can be said to be the farthest away from each other in their socioeconomic and political characteristics. Such an approach makes it possible to answer the question whether the expected effect is uniform or unequal across electoral districts in one country. Based on the analysis of election results in 1444 constituencies of two electoral districts in the Central Bohemian and Moravian-Silesian regions in the 2010 Parliamentary elections, I conclude that the proposed approach to the issue of party support and voter turnout has strong empirical support. ; Does higher turnout support left-wing parties, as many previous studies assume? And does communist legacy somehow project on the mentioned relationship? The theoretical discussion is still relatively unclear. This study proposes three different explanatory mechanisms of examining aggregate-level relationship between turnout and ...

The level of political participation of American citizens is commonly considered to be high. However, voter turnout is in fact relatively low, even in highly attractive presidential elections. The article focuses on this phenomenon and the particular factors that, according to the literature, affect turnout negatively. The first part describes various methods being used to measure voter turnout in the USA. The difference can even be several percentage points, depending on the method of calculation. With regard to these distinctions, American data cannot be directly compared with voter turnout statistics in European countries that use a different methodology. The main part of the article analyses several factors that are generally considered to influence voter turnout in the USA negatively, and counts their real impact. One important factor is that voter registration methods can lower the turnout by up to 11 per cent. Also significant is the lowering of the voting-age limit in 1971. Neither gradual changes in population age structure nor enactment of election-day holidays have proven to negatively influence turnout. The principal findings reveal a permanent increase of inhabitants without voting rights (esp. non-citizens). These persons are included in voting-age population figures, and due to inexact methodology, cause a merely statistical decrease at the level of at least 3 per cent of voter turnout. Adapted from the source document.