Archive 2/2010

Abstract

The emergence of strong parties of the centre-right in the Czech Republic in the early 1990s of a predominantly neo-liberal or “liberal conservative” orientation was one of the more un- expected outcomes of early post-transition politics in Central and Eastern Europe. Many com- mentators had assumed that Czech(oslovak) party system would be shaped by what they took to be) the country’s “social democratic tradition” or cultural proximity to the social market economies such as Austria or Germany. A centre-right bloc, if it emerged at all, was expected, to be Christian Democratic in character. Such expectations were rapidly confounded by the formation and rise of the Civic Demo- cratic Party (ODS) in 1990–1 which, as academic observers more correctly anticipated, became one of the most electorally successful and enduring party formations in the region, contribut- ing both to stable broader pattern of centre-right politics and the wider consolidation of the Czech party system. Rather than providing a narrative overview of the development of Czech centre-right parties or considering its “unexpected” character (for my own attempts to address this see Hanley 2007), this paper reflects upon the question of the Czech centre-right’s stabili- zation, reviewing how existing literature has addressed this issue and considering what future directions might be open to researchers. The paper considers three principal sets of issues: • The extent to which centre-right parties in the Czech Republic have undergone patterns and processes of consolidation distinct from general processes of party (system) con- solidation in the country. • The extent to which centre-right parties in the Czech Republic have undergone patterns and processes of consolidation distinct from comparable cases in the Central and East European region and beyond. • The extent to which research on the Czech centre-right might make a broader theoreti- cal and comparative contribution to the literature on parties. In doing so, I am guided by the view that single country studies, however theoretically informed and empirically rich they might be, must be explicitly integrated into a comparative perspective that goes beyond a mere juxtaposition of national cases. As Kitschelt (2006) ar- gues, when this not undertaken – or is undertaken inadequately – such approaches risk degen- erating into mere “story-telling” and have limited (and decreasing) intellectual impact (Lees 2007; see also van Biezen and Carmani 2006).

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The paper focuses on the impact of addressing the communist past (decommunization) in the evolution of the Civic Forum and in the formation of the Civic Democratic Party at the beginning of 1990s. The author discusses the explosive potential of removing the communist cadres from public administration and state enterprises, the issue of banning the communist party or lustration. Special attention is paid to disputes over how radical and thorough decommunization should be. The paper shows that the agenda of decommunization became a significant divisive factor within the Civic Forum and served as one of the key issues through which the Civic Democratic Party defined itself.

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Civic Forum, dealing with the communist past, lustration, Czech right

Abstract

Typologies can be a very useful tool for directing the study of both contemporary and past forms of party politics in various polities; in many respects they seem irreplaceable. However, although they can fulfil this directing role, they do not necessarily always do so, and can vary significantly from case to case. The grounding of the (empirical and/or theoretical) categories employed and the ability of a typology to cover the field of research play very important roles in this. As a rule these two key elements are not adequately reflected by contemporary political science research into party phenomena and processes. Using the example of one of the contemporary “new typologies” of political parties drawn up by Richard Gunther and Larry Diamond, the authors point out the undesirable consequences which follow from underestimating the theoretical justification of the choices made in the construction of party types, namely the choice of dimensions and criteria employed. Narrowly connected with this underestimation are both the unwillingness to make an unbiased evaluation of the research potential of the categories and schemata used, and the tendency towards direct and indirect justification of incoherent procedures employed in the making of descriptive and classificatory schemata. According to the authors, it is precisely awareness of the different possibilities provided by the variously grounded and developed typologies (with varying proportions of theoretical and empirical elements) that is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition of the adjustment of the horizon in which forms of political partisanship existing in both the Old and New Worlds are presently studied.

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political parties, party types, typology, analysis

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This article deals with the Chilean electoral system that has been used for elections to the lower house of the National Congress since 1989. The binominal electoral system was instituted at the end of Pinochet’s rule and has been used for twenty years. The aim of this article is to analyse the effects of this unique electoral system. First it describes the electoral system and analyses how the system works in practice. The article also analyses Chile’s party system and describes the strongest party coalitions. The effects of the electoral system and its impact on political parties are examined by using selected methodologies, including an examination of the validity of Duverger‘s and Sartori‘s laws as applied to this case. The Laakso-Taagepera index of effective number of parties is also used to analyse the effects of the electoral system on the calculation of proportionality.

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Chile, electoral system, political party system, effects of the electoral system, binominal system, elections, Chilean political parties

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The goal of this article is to analyse the Czech private sector’s role (or more precisely the Czech brewing industry) in the Europeanization process. The first section examines the Europeanization concept as applied to two case studies from the Czech brewing industry. The second section analyses the polity, politics and policy dimensions of these two examples. The final section reviews these results to draw conclusions about the relevance of the private sector in research on Europeanization.

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Europeanization, Private Sector, Brewing Industry, Excise Duty, Best Available Techniques

Abstract

Michel Foucault. 2009. Zrození biopolitiky, Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury, 352 pages.

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Roger Boyes. 2009. Meltdown Iceland. How The Global Financial Crisis Bankrupted an Entire Country, London: Bloomsbury, 256 pages.

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Roman Chytilek, Jakub Šedo, Tomáš Lebeda a Dalibor Čaloud. 2009. Volební systémy, Praha: Portál, 376 pages.

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Simone Bunse. 2009. Small States and EU Governance, Houndmills/Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 290 pages.

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