Archive 1/2020

Jaroslav Bílek
University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9997-6430
jaroslav.bilek@uhk.cz

Barbora Vališková
University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7961-386X
barbora.valiskova@uhk.cz

Abstract

One of the specific characteristics of the contemporary world is the frequent occurrence of competitive authoritarianism, a new kind of political regime in which democratic institutions formally exist, but abuse by power holders skews the playing field against opponents. Recently, researchers have often been highlighting the difficulty to discern competitive authoritarianism from liberal democracy, which leads to intellectually unsustainable concept-stretching that weakens our ability to understand political processes. Also, a no less important flaw of past studies on this topic is the insufficient analysis of civil-military relations, due to which a different kind of hybrid regime, namely the tutelary regime, is often marked as competitive authoritarianism. In the present study, this problem is demonstrated with analysis of the political regime of Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela. The results of the analysis clearly show that researchers should pay more attention to the nature of civil-military relations when classifying political regimes in the grey zone.

Key words

Latin America; Venezuela; competitive authoritarianism; hybrid regimes; civil-military relations

Lukáš Hájek
Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9142-6055
e-mail: hajek.lukas@mail.com

Abstract

Members of parliament (MPs) and parties enjoy mutually beneficial cooperation in a legislature. Nonetheless, representatives often face cross-pressure from more than one principal, which may result in a voting dissent. Since the voting dissent of MPs in the Czech Republic has been scrutinised only on the party level, I present the very first study dealing with individual aspects of voting rebellion. The pioneering results show that between 1993 and 2017 MPs voted against a parliamentary party group (PPG) chairman more often than against the majority of PPG colleagues. The frequency of voting dissent remained the same, on average, during legislative terms regardless of an approaching election. Next, the analyses show that being a male MP, enjoying more parliamentary experience, and holding a ministerial mandate are factors that increase the chances of individual voting dissent. Conversely, voting dissent decreases for MPs from a ruling party, and for PPG (vice-)chairmen. The results imply that voting rebels attend fewer roll calls and abstain more compared to other MPs. As MPs vote against the majority of their party counterparts, they elucidate such a contradiction at plenary sessions. Overall, MPs adjust their parliamentary behaviour more if they vote against the majority of party colleagues than against a PPG chairman.

Key words

Voting Dissent of MPs in the Czech Republic

Lucie Charvátová
Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1903-3641
e-mail: lucie.charvatova@fsv.cuni.cz

Abstract

During the local election period 2014–2018, the Czech Republic experienced a previously unseen surge in governing coalition breakdowns at the level of municipal administration. Judging by the election results, these numerous coalition crises were caused primarily by the weakening of established parties, which appeared unready to fight the appeal of the ANO 2011 party. The failure to maintain and establish internal and external political networks in more than half of coalitions took its toll mainly on the economic and infrastructural development of the affected cities. The purpose of this article is to present an exploratory comparative analysis of Czech statutory cities that avoided, survived or succumbed to a coalition breakdown in the defined election period. The fact that ANO 2011 links all the cases of breakdown supports a general assumption that both its intra-party organization and inter-party coalition behaviour lack the necessary cohesion to last in a coalition government. ANO 2011 emerges from the analysis as an uncooperative party true to its anti-system and anti-party rhetoric, with an extremely high fluctuation of ambitious representatives and extremely low tradition of political conformity, respect for hierarchy and coalition loyalty at the municipal level.

Key words

coalition breakdown; local government; statutory cities

Bronislav Jaroš
Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9313-4961
e-mail: bjaros@mail.muni.cz

Roman Chytilek
Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2900-7746
e-mail: chytilek@fss.muni.cz

Abstract

Recent findings related to the controversy over proximity and directional spatial models of voting suggest that the relevance of the models can change under different conditions. The political sophistication of voters and the issue factor are discussed in this article. In line with other authors, we believe that it is necessary to focus also on the question whether the examined issue is salient for the voter-party relationship. Contrary to what was expected, when voters’ preferences for parties emphasizing a particular issue are predicted by increasing sophistication of voters, it does not mean that these preferences are predicted by the proximity theory at the same time. Moreover, the directional theory is a better predictor of voters’ preferences for most of the issues, regardless of the sophistication influence. Yet voters’ proximity utilities from their preferences are increased by their increasing sophistication across all of the issues under examination.

Key words

sophistication; voting behaviour; proximity theory; directional theory; saliency; knowledge

Abstract

Kaufmann, Eric: WHITESHIFT: POPULISM, IMMIGRATION AND THE FUTURE OF WHITE MAJORITIES. London: Allen Lane. 2018. 624 pages

Key words

Abstract

Mounk, Yascha: PEOPLE VS. DEMOCRACY – WHY OUR FREEDOM IS IN DANGER AND HOW TO SAVE IT. London: Harvard University Press. 2018. 393 pages.

Key words