Suchergebnisse

'Dialogical networks' are communications that occur in mass media. One of their characteristics is that contributions of individual actors - politicians, journalists, representatives of pressure groups, etc - are distributed in time & space. (A politician can, for instance, react in the media to what another politician expressed publicly elsewhere). Another central property of dialogical networks is that an individual's contribution to a network can be duplicated, or even multiplicated (eg, what is said in a TV studio may be reproduced in several newspapers). Working in a broadly ethnomethodological & conversation analytical framework, we focus on two aspects of sequential organization - adjacency pair structures & repair structures - with the aim to clarify the respects in which they differ in dialogical networks & in everyday conversations.

The article focuses on the role of informality in the life of post-communist societies in Central Europe. Its goal is to question the current negative connotation of informal networks in the context of post-communist society. For this purpose it analyses the criteria used in the relevant literature to distinguish between 'good' and 'bad' informal networks. Two main factors (the situational factor and the factor of relationship quality) are analysed from the perspective of their impact on the orientation of informal networks and their ability to predict which networks will have a positive or a negative influence on societal development. The author argues that neither of these two factors alone can fully explain the positive or negative orientation of a particular informal network in a given society. Instead he proposes a solution that combines several dimensions of both factors. In conclusion he identifies five types of informal networks in post-communist society: predatory, redistributory, helping, operating, and participative networks.

The aim of the article is to describe the relations between institutions in the public, private and non-profit sectors that are considered the most important actors of negotiation and decision-making in local development. These institutions and the relations between them are defined as a social network. A study was carried out in the small Czech towns of Blatná, Český Krumlov and Velké Meziříčí, and data were collected in 2007 and 2008. The first part of the article describes the institutional actors, the collection of the relational data, and the context of the three towns that were studied. The analytical part consists of social network analysis. Basic quantitative characteristics are used to describe and compare the social networks of the institutional actors in the local development of the three towns. The conclusions indicate the unconditional significance of local public administration institutions and the significance of other local institutions; relations to extra-local institutions are rather weak. A section on methodology at the end of the article contains methodological notes on Hellinger divergence and SNA.

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 author aims to evaluate Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) with regard to another theoretical approach to security -- Network Actors Perspective (NAP). The evaluation will focus on how RSCT takes into account the influence of non-state actors on regional security dynamics & their growing deterritorialization. Firstly the regional level of analysis approach will be sketched, & the emphasis will lie on RSCT as defined by Barry Buzan & Ole Wcver. It's important characteristics & features will be critically compared with those of NAP. The result will be further illustrated through a case of a regional security complex -- the Horn of Africa. Adapted from the source document.

One Hundred Years of Solitude – mapping of a temporary networkUsing the case of the LARP One Hundred Years of Solitude, based on the book by Gabriel García Márquez, this article presents the process of the game's formation by mapping interactions leading to the constitution and upkeep of the game reality. In the description of the game's development as a temporary autonomous network, special emphasis is put on the rise of the game's agency. The process of LARP's evolution is presented as a chronological action, beginning in the moment when the game is too weak to be autonomous, and follows the process of recruiting mediators as a necessary precursor to the players' connection into the game's network. Furthermore, the process of the players taking over recruitment activity is presented, followed by the final stage, when the game and characters acquire an active role in steering the game themselves. The article is inspired by actor-network theory, which offers multiple ways of analysing interactions, as well as the consolidation and subsequent dissolution of the game network. By creating a map of game interactions, the article tries to present an alternative perspective to the traditional concept of the magic circle.

Using the case of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, the article deals with the phenomenon of the governance of non-state armed groups in failing states and the conditions for its emergence. It argues that one of the key requirements for the emergence and long-term preservation of a non-state armed group's authority is its fulfillment of functions usually associated with the state (such as the provision of security, public goods and services and the legitimation of its authority) that the failing state is not able to provide. The study specifically shows how Hezbollah is able to substitute for or complement the Lebanese state in each of its functions and consecutively use the wide network of its governance institutions for strengthening its political authority. As a result of Hezbollah's practices and strategies of governance, the forms of political control of the territory are being gradually changed and hybridized. Adapted from the source document.

Analýza politiky ve světle dosavadních výzkumů -- Význam působení aktérů v sítích zaměřených na konkrétní otázky -- Vliv a strategie nepolitických aktérů v politických sítích -- Role politických aktérů na regionální úrovni -- Role politických aktérů na komunální úrovni: volby a koalice v kontextu teorie analýzy politiky -- Závěrem: analýza politiky a inspirace k dalším výzkumům

Research made by the Public opinion research center team as a mothly part of "Our Society 2009" project researching views and opinions of Czech citizens. Data collection was done by the Public opinion research center interviewers network.

Research made by the Public opinion research center team as a mothly part of "Our Society 2011" project researching views and opinions of Czech citizens. Data collection was done by the Public opinion research center interviewers network.

Research made by the Public opinion research center team as a mothly part of "Our Society 2010" project researching views and opinions of Czech citizens. Data collection was done by the Public opinion research center interviewers network.