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This text inquires into the problem of cadenced step as the disciplinary technique of the body, according to theories of Marcel Mauss and Michel Foucault. Author explores historical core of military body techniques in social context, developed by Dutch army reformers Counts of Nassau during 1590s and refined by the Prussian military in 1740s. Author interprets cadenced step inside framework of shifting paradigm of power, as Foucault analyses the sequence of three stages of power emerging during european Early modernity.

The European Constitutional Treaty is the most important document in the last decade of EU history not only because of its content, but also due to the process of its development. The European Convention on the future of the EU, as the founding platform of this treaty, reveals a number of controversial areas. It is questionable whether it is possible to declare the European Convention a genuinely democratic body & to accept its procedures as part of the EU's future. The aim of this paper is to outline the specifics of the Convention, especially its working methods, strategies & aspirations. The author maintains that the Convention can serve as an inspiration & possible supplement to current treaty procedures, but considering experience to date it cannot be an acceptable procedure for the EU treaties revision. Adapted from the source document.

This article aims at problems of legitimacy, sovereignty & decision-making process in the context of European integration. Several concepts of legitimacy & sovereignty are introduced & subsequently analyzed in the context of latest development of the European Union. Adapted from the source document.

The image of the social scientist as a stranger is well known. However, there are different approaches to the notion of the stranger in sociology. A comparison of Schutz's & Simmel's conceptions of the stranger enables us to distinguish two forms of fieldwork used in the project Transitional Processes. The social anthropological approach strives to avoid intrusive interventions into the research area. The so-called heuristic investigation uses intentional interventions. Both approaches bring some opportunities & threats especially in the case of cooperation with a scholar who is native to the studied locality. The local researcher can overstep his ethnocentrism thanks to the teamwork. On the other hand, collaboration with strangers may disrupt his loyalty to his ingroup.

This paper deals with the issue of building Wales as a unique region in the context of the European Union and its resources. The author focuses on the period after 1999, i.e. the time when devolution took place and when official Welsh representatives emerged via the National Assembly for Wales (NAW). Since then, Wales has entered into cooperation with the EU, in order to gain access to resources provided by the Union. The cooperation is however of a specific kind, since officially, Welsh representatives have to communicate with the EU through the political representation of Great Britain. Nevertheless, by acting informally, Welsh representatives manage to avoid the British government in relevant contexts and communicate with the EU directly. In this way, they are able to exploit the formal and informal rules for their advantage (i.e. for building Wales as a unique region). The main purpose of this text is to show that the case of Wales can be replicated by any region that has official political representation, even if it has only weak representative institutions and has to deal with limitations posed by the existence of a central government.

This paper examines the issue of ballot voting in elections with a focus on traditional and modern voting methods. The purpose is to provide policy analysis with a survey of the development of voting methods, from their earliest form up to contemporary democratic technologies. The study offers a systematic evaluation of the voting mechanism, especially the paper ballot, machine voting, punchcard voting, optical mark-sense voting and electronic voting. On the basis of case studies, their impact on electoral process and the accuracy of election results is evaluated, as well as their impact on the quality of democracy. The accent is put on voting procedures which are user-friendly and trustworthy at the same time.

The article analyses how the standpoints of political parties on energy related issues are formed. The effect of the process of forming these standpoints on energy policy in general in the Czech Republic, the divergence among ideologies (coming out not only from the election programs), and other factors, as well as the parties' ideological continuity in time are particularly emphasized. The analysis comes to the conclusion that energy related issues are important for each political party but not crucial. In addition, it is concluded that parties are internally consistent, their standpoints are based on ideology, and they are all rather constructive in policy formulation. An interesting conclusion is also the fact that energy policy in the Czech Republic is generally highly personalized, thus strongly influenced by particular individuals.

The article focuses on an analysis of the situation in which information is obtained from respondents in questionnaire surveys. From the perspective of the cognitive aspects of survey methodology the article takes a complex view of this situation and applies theoretical concepts and empirical evidence in order to explain the close connection between the interview situation and the quality of the information obtained. The interview situation is portrayed in its twofold form: personal aspects (the mental operations of respondents) and social aspects (the interaction and communication between the interviewer and the respondent). The analysis of the interactive aspects of the interview situation draws attention to the rules of standard communication, which interfere with the ordinary concept of the standardised interview and the course of mental processes. The cognitive aspect of responding to questions is analysed from the perspective of the wider understanding of context effects, the author refers to the most important theoretical concepts relating to individual effects and empirical evidence of some effects that infl uence the response process. The article takes a somewhat untypical approach to some aspects of data collection in questionnaire surveys and into the Czech context introduces the cognitive aspects of the methodology of questionnaire surveys.

3.2.1 Národní demokracie v hlasité opozici (společně s fašisty)3.2.2 Konsolidace poměrů uvnitř národní demokracie na podzim 1926 -- nástup křídla živnostenské banky; 3.3 Volba prezidenta republiky 1927; 3.4 Politická emancipace fašistů na národní demokracii a komunální volby na podzim 1927; 3.5 Spor s mládeží demokratického zítřku a konec roku 1927; 3.6 Národnědemokratický ministr ve vládě; 3.7 Rozpad koalice občanských stran a hledání spojence do parlamentních voleb v roce 1929; 3.8 Politický nástup křídla živnostenské banky v národní demokracii a volby do Národního shromáždění 1929

This article provides a look at the main turning points in research on educational inequalities, both at the level of the fi eld's subject matter and its methodology. The text focuses on authors and concepts that in their time constituted a major innovation, signifi cantly advancing analysis and knowledge in the fi eld of research on educational inequalities. In the article the authors propose viewing researchers in the fi eld of educational inequalities through the lens of their era and in relation to the major turning points between them, which can be identifi ed in terms of subject matter and methodology, and even chronologically. The authors define three basic periods, and for each one present two key concepts. The first period is represented by the basic model of the stratification process and by the socio-psychological model. The second period is characterised by the concept of educational allocation and the theory of 'maximally maintained inequality' (MMI). Presented for the third period are the multinomial transition model and the theory of 'effectively maintained inequality' (EMI). Across these stages of development the authors highlight three of the cited concepts as ground-breaking methodological innovations (the basic model of the stratification process, the concept of educational allocation, and the multinomial transition model) and the other three as innovations in subject matter (interpretive), though closely tied to the advancement of quantitative methods used in the analysis of educational inequalities (the socio-psychological model and the MMI and EMI theories).

The paper attempts to interpret the subsidiarity principle as an intervening variable of a policy cycle, one of the models commonly used in the context of a broad policy analysis approach. The text is based on a legal analysis of the subsidiarity principle. Methodologically, the model of a policy cycle facilitates the "transfer" of its results into the framework of European studies & forms a basis for further research of the subsidiarity principle & its role in particular legislative processes in the multilevel political system of the European Union. Adapted from the source document.

It is obvious that lobbying in European institutions is an inseparable part of the EU legislative process. The growth of lobbying & the greater sensitivity of European institutions to their public image have resulted in lobbying being more closely regulated now. The basic purpose of all regulation & codes is to bring lobbying into the open. The regulation of lobbying in Brussels seems essential so as to introduce greater transparency in EU law making. The aim of this paper is to outline the particularities of lobbying regulation in the European Commission & the European Parliament, ie., the two most lobbied EU institutions. The European Commission, with its monopoly of legislative initiative, offers a unique possibility to influence the process of legislation formation from the very beginning. The EP has been able to amend legislation since the enactment of the Single European Act in July 1987, thereby incorporating certain interests & policy aims in the decision making process. The paper aims to tackle the following questions: What is the development of European institutions' attitudes towards interest group actions? Are there any explicit regulation criteria for the assertion of interests? In this respect, does the EU act homogenously or not? And in the case that it does not, is there any substantiation for different approaches? Adapted from the source document.