It is clear from political science literature that political parties are not static entities. Similar to other political institutions, they tend to transform with time, in response to changes in their surrounding environment. If the economic, social, cultural and political parameters in society are to substantially change, it is possible to deduce a change in the role of a political party and its organisational structure. The transition from totalitarian to democratic societies in Central, and partially in Eastern Europe, presents a process so unique that one may legitimately question if this has not resulted in a serious modification of the catch-all party type. In the region of Central Europe, Czechoslovakia - and after 1993 the Czech Republic - presents a special case, where during political and economic transformation next to general features, specific factors were also enforced, which eventually influenced the set-up and formation of parties in their early stages. It is left to consideration and further scrutiny to decide whether the unrepeatable environment of the Czech-Moravian melting pot, has not cultivated the clientelistic form of political party. Adapted from the source document.
In: Medzinárodné otázky: časopis pre medzinárodné vzt'ahy, medzinárodné právo, diplomaciu, hospodárstvo a kultúru = International issues = Questions internationales, Band 8, Heft 1, S. 52-81
This study seeks to make a contribution to a limited research on the systemic level of the national coordination of European affairs, which involves both domestic institutions and a permanent representation at the EU and national embassies in the EU member states and other countries. We explore the issue through a case study which concentrates on 1) several middle-sized EU member states and 2) coordination in the field of foreign and security policy. The study argues that the coordination at the systemic level has a rather a centralized character. The elements of decentralization, which can be also identified at the systemic level, are primarily related to information-gathering as well as representation at negotiations. Permanent representations are considerably more involved in coordination than national embassies, however. Adapted from the source document.
The text analyses the conditions for the use of the roll-call votes (RCV) in the European Parliament in the context of the democratic accountability to the voters. The research is focused on examining the rules of procedure of this institution from its beginning to the present. The goal of the text is to analyse the formal setting of the rules of RCV. The procedures concerning RCV have been completely in the hands of deputies. The historical analysis therefore endeavours to reveal whether the deputies decided to act in a way that would grant the greatest possible level of transparency and thus control to their voters, or whether the step taken in 2009 is only a historical exception. In the conclusion, the authors come to the result that the MEPs did not strengthen the relations between the voters and the MEPs significantly, although in 2009 and 2014, certain changes were made in this respect. Adapted from the source document.