Leader vs. the party dilemma: the case of a party rebirth in Czechia (original) (raw)

The dynamics of the party system in the Czech Republic

Historia i Polityka, 2021

The article examines the changes that took place in the Czech party system from the moment of the political transformation of 1989/1990 to the last parliamentary elections in 2017. It is based on a survey of data on the results of the elections to the Czech National Council and the Chamber of Deputies. The interpretation of the data allows answering several research questions: is the Czech party system stable, and if so, is it possible to determine it model? Are the inevitable model changes sudden or evolutionary as a consequence of an observable trend? Is it possible to distinguish and define the stages of functioning of the Czech party system? To what extent does the party system of the Czech Republic have roots in the party system of Czechoslovakia and did the disintegration of the federal republic significantly affect its change?

Low Membership in Czech Political Parties: Party Strategy or Structural Determinants?

Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 2007

Political parties in the post-communist countries are said to focus on electoral strategies and not on organizational building. This is used as an explanation for low membership base of these parties. Based on the detailed research of Czech political parties, we argue that political parties facing an environment that was hostile to organised partisanship adapted their organizational strategies to make party membership more attractive. Even though they experience a continually falling number of members or at least their stagnation. We show that the main reason for this lies not in parties' lack of interest about members, but in psychological barriers among the public.

The development and transformation of the Czech party system after 1989 1

This article aims to reflect on the multiple dimensions of the Czech party system, examine it for breaking points and, at the intersection of these points, periodize the developments in the years 1989–2014. Attention is paid to four different party system variables – party format, party type, extent of bipolarity, and formation of coalitions and coalition relations.

PARTY LEADERS IN THE CZECH POPULIST PARTIES AND MOVEMENTS

Th e aim of this article is to analyse the role and importance of leaders in the Czech populist parties and movements, as well as determining signifi cant factors which condition their institutional-isation. Th e main focus will be placed on the role of leaders in establishing their respective parties, their formal position and intraparty selection processes in VV, ANO, SPD and ÚPD. Examples of actions taken by the leaders of ANO and SPD show that building populist parties on the foundation of the strong, formal and offi cial position of the leader in their party as well as becoming open to more members prove eff ective when it comes to the discussed issues...

Czech Stalemate? The Role of Party Organization for the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia since 2010

European Review

Almost three decades after the regime change in Central and Eastern Europe, some of the political parties that were successors of the communists continue to enjoy important electoral support. This article makes an attempt to understand why this happens and focuses on the role of the party organization. It includes a qualitative analysis on the typical case of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) based on a series of semi-structured interviews with party cadres and independent researchers. These interviews reveal that the stable territorial distribution of their performance amidst significant electoral volatility since 2010 highlights an organizational impasse within the party.

Understanding Developing European Party Systems: A Case Study of Czechoslovakia

American Review of Politics, 1994

This study focuses on an underdeveloped area in the analysis of post-Communist East-Central Europe: democratizing party systems. The transformation of party systems in this part of the world from one party-dominated to multiparty, democratic systems now impels political scientists to reorient their theoretical and conceptual approaches to reflect the winds of change. Because the Czechoslovak party system of 1990-1992 was a multiparty, segmented one with a number of destabilizing elements, Sartorrs "polarized pluralism" typology (1976) can be applied to analyze the nature of that party system and what the future may hold for the new Czech and Slovak systems. As the groundwork is laid in the analyses of Central and Eastern European party systems, further investigation using Western European party systems literature may help us focus and conceptualize the competing forces that shape the democratization process in these party systems.

Party Management from the Perspective of Party Members: Evidence from Poland

Problems of Post-Communism, 2020

The article deals with the problem of managing party organizations from the perspective of party members. Using the concept of participatory management (PM), we show the factors correlating with the assessment of PM by the rank and file. The analysis demonstrates that the positive grassroots assessment of how the party is directed is influenced by members' engagement in the party's activities and sense of influence on party decisions. The paper is based on a new and unique dataset of over 2,500 questionnaires conducted in 2016-2018 with party members of six Polish relevant political parties.

Objective and Subjective Party Leadership Selection: Regulations, Activists, and Voters in Poland

Over the last two decades, an increasing number of political parties have gradually formalized the influence of members in the process of leadership selection. This evolution has determined two partly contrasting behaviors in the new democracies of Eastern Europe: inclusive decision-making was formally mentioned but empirical evidence indicates implementation problems. Consequently, it remains an empirical question to what extent the East European political parties apply the formal provisions of inclusiveness when selecting their leaders. In order to provide an answer, this article compares the statutes and election regulations of four Polish parties with opinions of party members and voters. This study combines qualitative content analysis with aggregate statistics from individual-level data collected at the national level and covers the 2007–2011 electoral cycle.