Suchergebnisse

Critical security studies have become increasingly popular among Czech scholars, but most studies in this field are based on securitization theory and other discursive approaches to security analysis. This paper argues for broadening the scope of theoretical approaches to security studies and introduces International Political Sociology as a promising strand of research in this respect. International Political Sociology is based on the study of security as practice, and offers a more complex understanding of how security is constructed and performed. The article discusses the theoretical roots of this approach, reviews the main strands of contemporary International Political Sociology research, and introduces its analytical tools. Finally, the paper critically reflects on the theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects of International Political Sociology and outlines possible avenues for this research in the Central European context. Adapted from the source document.

In the text finite mixtures of lognormal distributions are used for the modelling of net annual income per capita and equivalized income of the Czech households (in CZK) in 2004-2010. The development of distribution of number of members of households is analysed and the characteristics of standardized units according to EU and OECD methodologies are given. Data from the survey EU-SILC organized by the Czech Statistical Office from 2005-2011 (dealing with incomes from 2004-2010) are used for the analysis. Models (with incomplete data) with two to four artificial components are used in order to fit the distribution of incomes; the development of their characteristics is shown. All estimates in the text are maximum likelihood estimates, EM algorithm in the program R is used for the optimalization. Models are compared with the use of Akaike criterion. Adapted from the source document.

Analysis of elections to the bodies of self-governing regions in the Slovak Republic Elections are an essential part of any democratic country. With the establishment of self-governing regions, the first elections to the bodies of higher territorial units took place in Slovakia in 2001. Through them, voters can influence decisions at the regional level and be fully involved in decision-making processes. Only through elections is it possible to ensure the full participation of the population in decision-making on regional policy, which is ensured by the second level of regional self-government. The aim of the article is to analyze the constitutional regulation of regional elections in the Slovak Republic, to analyze all regional elections held since 2001 with a focus on voters participation, causes of non-participation and certain specifics that result from individual elections. Last but not least, the aim is to assess the participation of independent candidates and their growing popularity among voters. URL: https://vsas.fvs.upjs.sk/

The aim of the paper is to find out the degree of financial dependence of local and regional self-government from the state in Slovakia in years 2005-2016. Financial dependency will be analyzed for eight regional capital cities (local level) and eight self-governing regions (regional level). This type of research conveys a number of important results, it also provides the scope for analyzing and comparing the partial results of individual self-governing units and their average rates over a twelve-year period. Here is also an option to monitor the value development of the financial dependency of regional and local self-government budgets for the years 2005-2016. In the processing of this issue, we arose from a modified formula for calculation the financial independence. We determined the dependence of a selected sample of territorial self-governments on foreign/transfer revenues. They cannot directly affect the amount of these revenues. We have clearly presented the results in the tables and the graph on the basis of the analysis, comparison and synthesis of the obtained information. In the end, we have summarized the knowledge about the financial dependence of the territorial self-government in Slovakia in the time period under review.

The paper analyzes the far right People's Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) in 2006, 2010 and 2012 Slovak parliamentary elections. The main questions that the paper seeks to answer are 1) whether and how has the party changed its main themes during the periods before elections, 2) what the party's position toward the Roma minority has been, and 3) how the thematic adaptation has affected electoral results of the party. The paper analyzes the changing position of the party toward the Roma minority in the context of three electoral periods and it links the party's electoral results with the occurrence of so-called Roma settlements in the areas, where the party gained a significant share of the vote. We found that during the 2006 elections the party mostly emphasized the need for the renaissance of the (Slovak) nation and the reflection of its roots and national historical figures. In both the 2010 and 2012 elections the party for the most part sharply criticized the Roma minority and the mainstream political parties. We argue that this change was reflected in the party's electoral gain. Since 2010 the party has changed its focus to an active campaign against Roma and electoral results of the party have improved. In 2006 LSNS gained the most votes in areas where the local appeal of its leaders emphasizing the nationalistic themes was the largest and in both 2010 and 2012 the party gained the most votes in regions with the highest occurrence of Roma settlements. We also identified all four features that according to Mudde (2000) characterize far right parties in the electoral themes emphasized by LSNS. Adapted from the source document.