Archive 1/2013

Oldřich Bureš
Department of International Relations and European Studies, Metropolitan University Prague, Czech Republic
email: o.bures@mup.cz

Abstract

This study offers an analysis of the role of private security companies (PSCs) in the Czech Republic that builds on the model of global security assemblages developed by Abrahamsen and Williams. It applies this model to the Czech experience with the privatization of security since the end of the cold war by utilizing available data, complemented with information derived from structured interviews with the owners of PSCs operating in the Czech Republic. It suggests that the Czech market with commercial security services exhibits several specific characteristics, including the relatively high total number of registered PSCs (7000+) and their professional associations (16), the size of the gray and black markets involving PSC services (30 to 40 percent of the entire market), and the phenomenon of so-called “reverse revolving doors,“ whereby former owners or top managers of PSCs directly, or through family members, enter into, or establish their own, political party. Overall, however, this study confirms the key conclusions from previous applications of the model regarding the partial disassembly of the Czech state’s security functions and the corresponding re-articulation of relations among public and private actors in the provision of security.

Key words

Private security company, privatization, internal security, global security assemblages, Czech Republic, political parties, regulation

Eva Lebedová
Department of Political Science and European Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University, Czech Republic
email: eva.lebedova@upol.cz

Abstract

With reference to ideas presented in the theory of media malaise, the article aims to assess the role of negative campaigning in Czech elections and to analyse how it is perceived by voters, how it correlates with electoral preferences, and other important variables. The analysis is based on data from the Czech Election Survey 2010. The author draws from the causal relationship formulated in the above mentioned theory, according to which the effect of the news media and their emphasis on negative news and negativity contribute to growing political cynicism among citizens. Negative and conflicting media news, which are even more intense during election campaigns, activate the spiral of public cynicism and cause public trust in political actors to fall, as well as alignment and voter turnout (Cappella and Jamieson 1997). The author attempts to test the hypothesis: The more people watch the media and the more they are exposed to election campaign coverage, the greater is their political cynicism.

Key words

negative campaigning, political cynicism, media malaise, Czech Republic

Vilém Řehák
Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Czech Republic
email: vilem.rehak@seznam.cz

Abstract

This study deals with the phenomenon of paradiplomacy, or parallel diplomacy. Paradiplomacy refers to international activities of cities and regions and includes marketing and public diplomacy, cross-border cooperation, functional trans-border cooperation, cultural and educational cooperation, and other activities. Paradiplomacy developed in the last third of the 20th century as a result of economic globalization, state decentralization, nationalism and the strengthening of regional identity, European integration, and the internationalization of cultural, educational, environmental, transport and other topics labelled as “low politics”. Thus, we can identify both economic and political foundations of paradiplomacy. The first part of the study presents a review of literature on paradiplomacy; the second part is a case study of foreign policy instituted by the City of Prague in the electoral term 2006–2010. This case study confirmed initial hypotheses: first, that paradiplomacy is influenced by three supra-national factors: economic globalization (a), regional and global political and economic regimes (b), and transnational networks, mainly based in the EU (c); second, that paradiplomacy is influenced by institutional and constitutional relations between the centre and regions; third, that paradiplomacy is influenced by the antagonistic nature of these relations.

Key words

paradiplomacy, city diplomacy, diplomacy, regionalism, regions, City of Prague.

Lenka Hrbková
International Institute of Political Science, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
email: hrbkova.len@gmail.com

Roman Chytilek
Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
email: chytilek@fss.muni.cz

Abstract

The article explores the influence of the electoral polls on media coverage of political actors during election campaigns. Based on the presumptions of the structural media bias theory we investigate whether the polls can affect the way media report on particular political actors in the course of an electoral campaign. According to Zaller’s media politics theory journalists are supposed to pay most attention to the candidate or political party leading in the polls. Also, the tone of media coverage of the leading candidate should be linked with his/her success in the race. This article adjusts the hypotheses of media politics to the condition of proportional party representation. The aim is to explore how media coverage of the non-parliamentary party Věci veřejné related to its position in the polls and its anticipated importance for future development after the election.

Key words

public opinion polls, horserace journalism, media bias, Věci veřejné

Michal Kubát - Institut mezinárodních studií Fakulty sociálních věd Univerzity Karlovy v Praze
address: U Kříže 8, 158 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic
email: majkkubat@hotmail.com

Abstract

This text is a short reflection on the possibility of studying historical events through a political science approach. The two analyzed publications exemplify the possibility and the failure of such an approach. While the first book presents a coherent political science analysis of the past, the second publication fails to do so. In my text, I argue that by using appropriate theoretical foundations and methodological approaches, politics in the past can not only be effectively examined but that relevant conclusions can be reached as well.

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parliament, parliamentarism, anti-system party, Poland, Czechoslovakia

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Kissinger, H. (2011): On China, New York: Penguin Books, 608 pages.

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Sumner, A., Tribe, M. (2010): International Development Studies, Theories and Methods in Research and Practice, Los Angeles/London/New Delhi/ Singapore/Washington: Sage, 176 pages.

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Schweickart, D. (2010): Po kapitalizme. Ekonomická demokracia, Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo Spolku slo- venských spisovateľov, 208 pages.

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