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The theme is crucial to the concrete question, whether moravian identity really exists. It´s about phenomena which is natural and important for some parts of population or on the other hand we can see this identity as the artificial problem. The main goal is connecting with results from the field work. I would like to explain something about moravian political elites according to the non-political activism. It´s also necessary to mark historical processes which are important for present time. The polemic should have done some reflexive view on regionalism, activation of moravian elites and civic movements. ; The theme is crucial to the concrete question, whether moravian identity really exists. It´s about phenomena which is natural and important for some parts of population or on the other hand we can see this identity as the artificial problem. The main goal is connecting with results from the field work. I would like to explain something about moravian political elites according to the non-political activism. It´s also necessary to mark historical processes which are important for present time. The polemic should have done some reflexive view on regionalism, activation of moravian elites and civic movements.

Looking at the security environment and the genesis of military education in Czechoslovakia and the successor states, they point to the harmfulness of the ideologisation of this education, underestimation, insufficient funding and the absence of theoretical teaching and practical training in schools of all levels. The basic mechanism of functioning of the security environment not only in the Czech Republic is a comprehensive connection of military education with the life of society, which is influenced by internal and external vertical and horizontal relationships, where there are a number of friction areas and significant security risks. The main players in security on the threshold of the new decade of the 21st century are facing new challenges and perspectives. © 2022 The Author.

The paper tries to show that the East enlargement was realized under partly changed conditions and strategies. It is focused on the enlargement waves formation including the European Commission position. The paper analyzes the classical method of EU enlargement and compares these principles with the undergoing EU expansion. In the end the attention is devoted to the special conditions in common agricultural policy they were offer to the candidate countries as the result of financial costs of the enlargement to the East.

The article analyses the evolution of the Slovak political party "Smer" (Direction) and its position in the party system of Slovak Republic. The article focuses on the shift of the party program from the "Centrist Populism" towards "Social Democracy." According to the first program documents the Party of "Smer" (Direction) was designed as pragmatic, non-ideological party. In the persistent conflict between authoritarianism vs. democracy "Smer" identified itself as the pro-democratic and pro-market force. Party policy before 2002 contained only few social democratic components; it was closer to the conservative or right-wing populist parties. After the parliamentary election 2002 and the failure of non-communist left "Smer" decided to become a member of the Socialist International (SI) and Party of European Socialists (PES). The process of the institutional approach to the international Social Democratic Party structures was accompanied by the substantial changes in the social and economic program of the party. The process was completed on the institutional level in May 2005, when Smer joined both SI and PES, and on the level of political program on the Party Congress in December 2005. In the process of so called "socialdemocratisation" of "Smer" the international factor played crucial role, especially the need to have an international partner in the European Parliament. "Smer" met the standards of the Social Democratic identity only in the social and economic affairs. The other five dimensions - environmental policy, participative democracy, cultural and human-rights dimension, supra-national dimension and the dimension of equality and freedom "Smer" met only partially or not at all, so these process remains unfinished. According to some political declarations "Smer" remains the populist party and the uncompromising critic of the right-wing government of Mikuláš Dzurinda, on the other side the official documents of the party anticipate only the moderate corrections of the economical and social reforms, ...

New President of Romania Traian Băsescu is strong-willed to fight corruption which is a potential threat of national security. Fighting corruption, Băsescu and new government must smash through the shield of interposed persons. Such persons are covering "white collars" that are top-ranking businessmen or privatizers close to political parties. That is why new government and new President want to modify existing penal code and to widen criminal liability of involved persons and organized groups. Today's politically motley Parliament wouldn't be able to adopt such legal measures. In this case, President Băsescu, enjoying wide currency and making use of his accumulated electoral capital, will manifestly be leading the country to anticipated elections. By such a step he would provide current main coalition political parties (PD and PNL) with a comfortable majority in Parliament and with an appropriate milieu for adopting new penal code.

The aim of this text is to briefly introduce practically oriented discipline called policy analysis, and to do so in the perspective of (applied) social anthropology.After the introductory definition of terms, which are crucial within the area of public policy, such as policy, policy studies, policy evaluation and policy analysis, I continue with the definition of the very policy analysis of which the explanation of its types and gradual steps towards reaching it are the necessary parts. Another part of the study summarizes the interrelation, interconnection and the enrichment of both disciplines – the policy analysis and the social and cultural anthropology. Several roles in which an anthropologist can assert himself/herself are presented in conclusion. ; The aim of this text is to briefly introduce practically oriented discipline called policy analysis, and to do so in the perspective of (applied) social anthropology.After the introductory definition of terms, which are crucial within the area of public policy, such as policy, policy studies, policy evaluation and policy analysis, I continue with the definition of the very policy analysis of which the explanation of its types and gradual steps towards reaching it are the necessary parts. Another part of the study summarizes the interrelation, interconnection and the enrichment of both disciplines – the policy analysis and the social and cultural anthropology. Several roles in which an anthropologist can assert himself/herself are presented in conclusion.

Článek se soustředí na důrazy na výchovu a vzdělávání obsažené v politických programech pěti největších stran první československé republiky. Vychází z oficiálních stranických dokumentů, jako byly volební programy, rezoluce schvalované na sjezdech nebo prohlášení významných představitelů strany. Ačkoliv nelze už ze samé podstaty dokumentů předpokládat, že všechny postuláty v politických prohlášeních skutečně měly vliv na vzdělávání, zachycují vývoj uvažování o výchově vzdělávání jako o součásti kulturní politiky. Přestože vybrané strany uvažovaly o výchově a vzdělávání velmi podobným způsobem a zabývaly se stejnými problémy, uplatňovaly nezřídka odlišné důrazy. Cílem příspěvku je popsat stranické koncepce vzdělávání ve vztahu k ideovým odlišnostem a širšímu kulturnímu i politickému kontextu. ; This paper focuses on educational goals that were emphasised in the political programs of five the largest political parties of the First Czechoslovak Republic. The article is based on official documents of political parties such as programs approved by party congresses and election programs or statements of prominent party representatives. The character of all those documents was influenced by the goal to form statements and inform party members or persuade possible voters. It means those documents are subjective and their content was not necessarily a political commitment. Therefore it cannot be assumed that all the postulates in the programs had a real influence on the education. On the contrary the documents depict the development of the considerations about education as a part of cultural policy. Political parties of the First Czechoslovak Republic were considering education in very similar way and in continuity with development before 1918. They were concerning about same issues especially in the social context but with different emphasises. This contribution aims to describe the party-specific concepts of education in relation to the ideological peculiarities of the individual parties and their cultural and political context.

This article focuses on a comparative analysis of the organization of contemporary Czech parliamentary parties. It emphasizes the structural and functional differences between the new parties—ANO (meaning "yes" in Czech) and Dawn of Direct Democracy—and older parties. The theoretical section presents the basic organizational types – in particular, the concept of the business-firm party. The following organizational aspects of parties are then compared: membership, form of funding, the role played by ground organizations, the position and composition of top party bodies, the role played by the party leader, and media resources. This analysis reveals that ANO and Dawn have a more exclusive membership than older parties and have centralized more power into the hands of the party leader, who is supported both by formal statutes and by informal structures. In the case of ANO, the central leadership dominates over lower-level ground organizations; Dawn forgoes them altogether. Its missing institutional base accelerated Dawn's implosion in 2015. ANO is characterised by a high degree of professionalism and control over key media, both of which were missing in the case of Dawn. ; This article focuses on a comparative analysis of the organization of contemporary Czech parliamentary parties. It emphasizes the structural and functional differences between the new parties—ANO (meaning "yes" in Czech) and Dawn of Direct Democracy—and older parties. The theoretical section presents the basic organizational types – in particular, the concept of the business-firm party. The following organizational aspects of parties are then compared: membership, form of funding, the role played by ground organizations, the position and composition of top party bodies, the role played by the party leader, and media resources. This analysis reveals that ANO and Dawn have a more exclusive membership than older parties and have centralized more power into the hands of the party leader, who is supported both by formal statutes and by informal ...

The article examines the positions of the Czech, Hungarian and Slovak social democratic political parties on the introduction of the permanent European Stability Mechanism as a means of addressing the economic and debt crisis in the EU. Using the categories of frames used by political parties in relation to the EU (utilitarian and cultural) introduced by Helbling et al., the political parties' representatives' speeches and written statements are analyzed. The analysis showed that all three of the parties use similar arguments and they tend to frame their opinions in both utilitarian and cultural terms with the category of "political efficiency" being the most frequent. While the most extensive debate about the issue was in Slovakia as the only Eurozone member of all three given countries, the Hungarian MSzP was able to conceive the topic in a broader context. The similarity of the positions of all three examined parties may indicate an ability of national political parties to constitute one of the key pillars in developing a supranational political system in the EU. ; The article examines the positions of the Czech, Hungarian and Slovak social democratic political parties on the introduction of the permanent European Stability Mechanism as a means of addressing the economic and debt crisis in the EU. Using the categories of frames used by political parties in relation to the EU (utilitarian and cultural) introduced by Helbling et al., the political parties' representatives' speeches and written statements are analyzed. The analysis showed that all three of the parties use similar arguments and they tend to frame their opinions in both utilitarian and cultural terms with the category of "political efficiency" being the most frequent. While the most extensive debate about the issue was in Slovakia as the only Eurozone member of all three given countries, the Hungarian MSzP was able to conceive the topic in a broader context. The similarity of the positions of all three examined parties may indicate an ability of ...

In the Slovak parliamentary elections of 2010, the reformist centre-right parties defeated the left-nationalist coalition government led by Robert Fico. The election results brought some other surprises – the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia and its leader, three-times Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, as well as the Party of Hungarian Coalition were eliminated from the national parliament. Moreover, the election outcome of the radical right-wing Slovak National Party declined significantly. On the other hand, two new parties entered parliament. All in all, the election outcomes show the weakening of the nationalist agenda and the nationalist vote. The paper examines why this has happened and raises the question of to what extent it is sustainable.

The Moravist parties are an interesting subject of study for two principal aspects: that of an experiment involving different party and political identities and forms of organisation in the period of transition to pluralist democracy in a post-communist environment, and that of a link between ethno-regional political actors and identitary mobilisation, or a stimulator of a potential nation-building process. Unfortunately, this topic has not yet been given much attention (cf. Musil, Rabušic, Mareš 1991; Daněk 1993; Pernes 1996; Dallago 1999). The purpose of this article is to at least partially fill the gap. Brief as it is, the article cannot cover the problem in its complexity, but to give an overview of the evolution of Moravist parties between 1990 and 1999/2000, to elaborate on some hypotheses explaining the reasons of the spectacular electoral success of the Moravist movement at the beginning, and the fall of its electoral and political potential today. I have based my approach to the above phenomena on the following premises: 1. The Moravist movement has been a legitimate actor on the Czechoslovak and, eventually, Czech political scene, drawing upon sources of political legitimacy which were not better or worse than the sources used by other actors. A different issue is, however, the successful effort of other competitors to delegitimatise the movement. 2. The initial success of the Moravist movement was a product of an extraordinary and unrepeatable combination of heterogeneous factors and issues, with a prevailing role of conjunctural factors. That is the reason why the chance for the Moravist movement to remain a genuine major political actor in the medium and long term was quite minimal, irrespective of the strategy invented and pursued by its leaders. 3. The chance of the Moravist movement to remain a minor, but relevant regional actor in Czech party politics was quite bigger, though. In this respect, the fall of Moravist parties should be explained as a result – even though not exclusively – of ...

Slovak parliamentary election in September 2002 brought with it a few surprises. First, the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) gained "only" 19,5% of votes (comp. 1992 – 37%, 1994 – 35% and 1998 – 27%). On the one side Mečiar´s HZDS formally won. On the other side it was not able to find some coalition partners and stayed outside government. Second, the election result of the new charismatic party Směr ("Direction") - 13,5% of votes, third place in election – was "weak" too. The main election aim of the party leader Robert Fico - the office of the primary minister – didn´t work out as he planned. The situation resulted in opposition position of Směr after election.Third surprise was a very good election result (15,1%, second place) of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ). Thus, the leader of SDKÚ Mikuláš Dzurinda could form relatively homogenous coalition government (with three small right – wing and centre – wing parties).

Since the 1960s, voting behaviour in advanced democratic states has undergone substantial changes. From this period, the transformation of social structures, increased education, and the expansion of new technologies in the field of mass media, among other things, are evident. The transformation factors that affect the voter and his choice are sooner or later reflected in new theoretical concepts describing electoral behaviour, whether it was the theory of party identification, voter choice based on issues or rational choice. So far, however, none of the theories have adequately reflected the effect of consumer-style thinking on electoral behaviour. A new trend in political marketing – political branding – aims to correct precisely this deficiency. Due to the fact that the relevant research in the field of political branding and its impact on the voting behaviour of individuals is still in its infancy, we are faced with a lack of robust theoretical foundations. The text thus aims to clarify this situation by gathering and analysing existing branding concepts, pointing to their strengths and weaknesses. Also, it contributes to the theoretical discussion by linking research on political branding to existing theories of voting behaviour, asking whether the related branding concepts are able to explain the voting behaviour of voters as well as whether they are open to further amendments and modifications. ; Since the 1960s, voting behaviour in advanced democratic states has undergone substantial changes. From this period, the transformation of social structures, increased education, and the expansion of new technologies in the field of mass media, among other things, are evident. The transformation factors that affect the voter and his choice are sooner or later reflected in new theoretical concepts describing electoral behaviour, whether it was the theory of party identification, voter choice based on issues or rational choice. So far, however, none of the theories have adequately reflected the effect of ...

Systemic corruption is not a failure of individuals, i.e. the result of their deviant behaviour, but a collective phenomenon shared mainly by public institutions as a whole. The phenomenon is based on an effort to establish a new set of corrupt norms inside such institutions affecting policymaking, administrative procedures, public procurements, and the behavior of employees etc. In spite of the fact that impacts of systemic corruption on the areas of government, civil freedoms, social cohesion, and public economy are well known, there is very little practical research involving concrete evidence of systemic corruption in particular cases. This paper attempts to clarify how to generate a set of indicators of systemic corruption and then identify and verify them in a real-life political environment – in our specific case, the administration and policymaking of Liberec City Council between 1998 and 2010. The research was based upon elaborated interviews (with politicians, public servants, prosecuting authorities etc.), document analysis (reports and papers of the city council and municipal government, contracts and invoices etc.), and political and media analysis. The results are significant, as only an understanding of how a corrupt system really works can lead to the implementation of suitable anticorruption measures. ; Systemic corruption is not a failure of individuals, i.e. the result of their deviant behaviour, but a collective phenomenon shared mainly by public institutions as a whole. The phenomenon is based on an effort to establish a new set of corrupt norms inside such institutions affecting policymaking, administrative procedures, public procurements, and the behavior of employees etc. In spite of the fact that impacts of systemic corruption on the areas of government, civil freedoms, social cohesion, and public economy are well known, there is very little practical research involving concrete evidence of systemic corruption in particular cases. This paper attempts to clarify how to generate a set of ...

The paper tested contagion effects among free floating African currencies and Euro with a control variable like the Euro-pegged CFA Franc. Contagion should be based on deep trade, funding and political relationships which was valid for connections between African countries and such developed countries like the United States or the Eurozone. The theory suggests increased common movements under shock periods which were tested on a daily time series between 2000 and 2015, studying relationships under recession periods in the United States or the Eurozone or under days with extreme fluctuation. The results presented contagions only for the emerging South African currency while the others proved to be relatively independent.