Suchergebnisse

The article identifies the most important controversies related to public opinion polls on electoral preferences, explains their substance, & discusses their impact on the possibility to use information obtained in the surveys. The article further focuses on the importance of surveys for representative democracy, the impact of the publication of opinion polls' results on public opinion, the possibilities of manipulating surveys, the risks related to the growth of research production (high non-response rate & the growth of survey costs, non-transparency of the market, incorrect application of advanced data analyses), the limits to election forecasting, & issues related to the relationship between research & journalism. Opinion polls contribute to shaping the environment for political competition. The nature of their impact is determined by their quality. Serious risks are associated with the possibility for intentional manipulation, poor quality of the survey process, & misinterpretation of results. Knowledge on research, publication of contextual information together with the survey data, & free competition in the market can help reduce the risks. The possibilities for quantification in social research do not remove the obligation to ensure sound theoretical grounding & qualified judgment, which are the prerequisites for the credibility of all conclusions drawn from the data. Tables, Graphs, References. Adapted from the source document.

The article first describes the specific conditions of Czech "green politics" closely before & after November 1989 & argues that these conditions not only account for the Green Party's unsuccessful involvement in Czech politics, but also led to the exclusion of politicians focused on environmental issues from decisive positions in the important political parties. It offers a detailed description of the developments in the Green Party around 2002, especially of the agreement between the Brandys forum & the "old" Green Party, the "dark-green" fraction's takeover of the Green Party, & the improvement of the Green Party's political position that was nevertheless accompanied by internal conflict. An extensive subsequent part of the article deals with the policy of the Czech Ministry of the Environment. Finally, the article discusses the internal split within the Green Party & the future prospects of environmental policy in the Czech Republic. References. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents the initial results of a research project on the politics of local referendums in the Czech Republic, situating the Czech experience in the context of other Visegrad states. Data on Czech local referendums from 20002005 have been compiled from multiple sources -- local and national newspapers, data from municipal, district and regional authorities, interviews, and statistical indicators -- to ensure the completeness and comprehensiveness of the dataset. The article conceptualizes local referendums as the product of often arduous civic campaigns that, in the light of local political opposition, frequently fail to carry out the referendum. The study thus takes a referendum campaign's level of "success" as the dependent variable, and considers a range of demographic, political and civic factors as independent variables. Quantitative as well as case-study evidence is provided. The article finds that of the 114 local referendum campaigns that were initiated from 20002005, 82 referendums were ultimately held, of which about 48 were initiated by environmental NGOs or directly addressed environmental issues. The key variables determining the success of local referendum campaigns are municipal size, referendum theme, and the legal capacities and campaign strategies of the referendum initiators. In that regard, environmental NGOs have demonstrated a high level of organizational and political efficacy in comparison to other actors. Adapted from the source document.

A decade ago there emerged the idea that environmental cooperation is able to initiate and sustain a dialogue between the parties of a conflict and facilitates conflict transformation and peacebuilding. This article tests three hypotheses which stipulate conditions and effects of environmental cooperation in conflict-prone areas. The article shows that environmental cooperation can emerge even during a conflict, but only at a time when the intensity of the violence is low. The emergence and development of environmental cooperative projects also depends on the support of external actors, and the intensity of environmental cooperations in conflict-prone areas remains weak even after many years. Adapted from the source document.

The article deals with the theoretical issues of macroprudential policy, shift of monetary policy paradigm towards application of so called 'leaning against the wind' strategy and mutual cooperation of these policies, which are both aimed at maintaining financial stability. For detection of financial instability are mainly used early warning indicators, which are most often based on the credit activity of the economy and asset prices development. In the second part, we examine the impact of the credit activity in the Czech Republic on the prices of particular assets and its subsequent effect on the consumer price index. Adapted from the source document.

The research of the relationship between conflicts and natural resources has been dominated by an understanding of natural resources as a cause of conflicts, and the term "conflict resources" has been used in connection with this. Here I offer another approach and present the hypothesis that a lack of environmental resources (environmental resources and raw materials are together understood as natural resources) and environmental degradation can offer a peace-building opportunity. I argue that environmental resources are not transportable, extractable or lootable, which decreases their market significance. At the same time, the conflict-prone communities are aware that non-tradeable goods play a vital role in their life and the quality of the goods depends on the collaboration among all the actors in the region. This situation results in so-called "environmental interdependence". Environmental interdependence works as an impulse for cooperation across the cleavage lines. The hypothesis is tested on two case studies -- that of the relationship between Israel and Palestine and that of the relations between mainland China and Taiwan. Adapted from the source document.