The dilemma of parties systems in Czech Republic and Poland is connected indirectly with my work which was concerned in the transitions of these post-communists countries. The rise and development of these two parties systems was strongly inspired by the results of both transitions in these countries. I will concerned with deeper comparison of both parties systems, especially in the consolidated period of democracy.

Bibliographic note STAHL, C. (2014): Cleavage Politics and Europeanisation-induced transformation of the national political space - The Case of the Czech Republic, 94 p. Master thesis, Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies. Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Jiří Vykoukal, CSc. Abstract This research seeks to map the national political space and assess the prevailing cleavage patterns in the Czech Republic. Processes of globalisation and Europeanisation have left their imprint in Western Europe - splitting the electorate into winners and losers of globalisation and denationalisation. This demarcation vs. integration magnet is also relevant in the CEE region - altering and reshuffling the underlying structure of party competition and EU contestation. By employing quantitative content analysis of print media the prevailing issue and cleavage dimensions will be reconstructed both during early stages of democratic transition (1996 Parliamentary elections) and after the 2004-EU-enlargement (2010 elections). While the political discourse and politics in the 1990s are primarily structured by issues of economic transition and post-communist transformation (underlying the classical socio-economic cleavage between market and state), in 2010 also cultural and post-materialist political...

In this dissertation I explore the redistributive effects of second-dimensional identity politics in parliamentary democracies. Specifically, I focus on parties’ electoral incentives to manipulate the salience of the territorial-identity cleavage. My main argument is that a greater electoral salience of the second dimension distorts the nature of redistributive outcomes. Although the redistributive effects of second dimensions of political competition have been explored in majoritarian democracies, much less is known about their effects in democracies with proportional representation (PR). The dissertation brings “bad news” in that regard: when the territorial second dimension is salient, it is no longer true that parliamentary democracies with proportional electoral systems redistribute more –which is the prevalent view in the existing literature. In fact, the so called “left-bias” of PR systems vanishes when the territorial-identity cleavage is politically activated. This key insight therefore offers a fundamental qualification to the institutionalism literature, by making an effort to understand the way in which regional diversity interacts with institutions through multidimensional political competition. The dissertation is divided in two parts: one theoretical and one empirical. First, I develop a formal model that illustrates the way in which parties’ second-dimension electoral incentives affect both the electoral stage and the subsequent post-electoral coalition bargaining among parties in national parliaments. The reason is that both right-wing and regionalist parties have incentives to increase the salience of the second dimension at the electoral stage to attract voters, and subsequently the coalition bargaining among parties in parliaments offers new opportunities for legislative coalitions. In the second part of the dissertation, I test the empirical implications at the macro-level, the meso-level and the individual-level. The main empirical results can be summarised as follows. First, I present empirical evidence according to which the legislative salience of the second dimension induces a negative effect on redistribution and a positive effect on the regionalisation of public policy. Second, I provide evidence which shows that both right-wing and regionalist parties strategically increase the electoral salience of the second dimension when they are “losers” on the first dimension. Finally, I illustrate the way in which the salience of the second dimension affects the formation of individual preferences for redistribution. In sum, this dissertation provides new arguments and empirical evidence that demonstrates how second dimensional politics can have profound redistributive consequences in parliamentary democracies.

Cette thèse porte sur les conflits entre centres et périphéries à l’intérieur des pays. Ces dernières années, de nombreux États ont vu l'émergence de régions ou territoires qui défient leurs «centres» politiques. Ces disputes peuvent atteindre divers degrés d'affrontement, en allant des simples divisions électorales à la sécession d'une périphérie rebelle. Pourquoi certaines régions défient-elles ouvertement leur centre, tandis que d'autres ne le font pas? Dans quelles conditions les différences entre le centre et les périphéries sont-elles maîtrisées et circonscrites, et quelles sont celles qui les exacerbent? La thèse cherche à répondre à ces questions en analysant les cas de la Bolivie et du Pérou. En Bolivie, pendant les années 2000, le conflit régional a donné lieu à un clivage entre centre et périphérie; au Pérou, malgré les similitudes avec la Bolivie, un clivage similaire ne s’est pas déployé. Pourquoi cette différence? La thèse répond à la question par une analyse historique comparée. Elle suggère que les conflits entre le centre et les périphéries doivent s’analyser à partir de la combinaison de deux dimensions. La première est l’absence ou la présence d’élites régionales qui, à partir d'organisations et de mises en discours qu'elles rendent légitimes, définissent et représentent les revendications de la région et négocient avec l'État central. La deuxième dimension renvoie aux conditions structurelles de la région, en particulier l'importance des ressources naturelles et la taille de sa population. La thèse développe une analyse historique de la façon dont les deux dimensions ont évolué en Bolivie et au Pérou au cours de la seconde moitié du XX siècle. Cette analyse permet d’expliquer la divergence entre les résultats dans chacun des cas, et de suggérer des réflexions plus générales sur les relations entre les centres et les périphéries. / This dissertation deals with conflicts between centers and regional peripheries within countries. In recent years, many states have witnessed the emergence of territories or regions that challenge their political centers.These disputes range from mere electoral differences to the secession of an indomitable territory. Why do some peripheral areas openly defy their centers while others do not exhibit similar rebellion? What conditions temper the differences between centers and peripheries and what conditions exacerbate them? The dissertation seeks to answer these questions by analyzing the cases of Bolivia and Peru. In Bolivia, during the decade of the 2000s, the conflict between center and periphery escalated into a political cleavage; in Peru, however, despite similarities with Bolivia, a similar cleavage has not emerged.The dissertation seeks to explain these divergent outcomes from a comparative historical analysis and proposes that conflicts between centers and peripheries should be studied using two analytical dimensions. The first dimension is the presence or absence of a regional elite that could shape legitimate political organizations and discourses, articulating regional demands and bargaining with the central state. The second assesses the region’s structural conditions, specifically the relevance of natural resources and the size of its population. The dissertation explores how these two dimensions changed during the second half of the twentieth century in Bolivia and Peru. The historical analysis helps to explain the divergent trajectories of the two countries as it puts forward some general ideas about the relationship between centers and peripheries. / Esta tesis se ocupa de los conflictos entre centros y periferias al interior de los países. En los últimos años muchos Estados han visto emerger regiones o territorios que desafían a su “centro” político. Estas disputas pueden adquirir distintos grados de enfrentamiento, desde las meras diferencias electorales a la secesión de una periferia irredenta. ¿Por qué algunas periferias desafían abiertamente a sus centros mientras que otras no exhiben una rebeldía similar? ¿Qué condiciones atemperan las diferencias entre centros y periferias y cuáles las exacerban? La tesis busca responder a estas preguntas analizando los casos de Bolivia y Perú. En Bolivia durante los años 2000 el conflicto entre centro y periferia escaló hasta convertirse en un cleavage centro-periferia; en el Perú, en cambio, a pesar de las similitudes con Bolivia, no se ha desplegado un cleavage similar. ¿A qué se debe esta diferencia? La tesis responde a la pregunta desde un análisis histórico comparado y propone que los conflictos entre centros y periferias deben observase desde la confluencia de dos dimensiones. En primer lugar, la presencia o ausencia de elites regionales que puedan dar forma a unos discursos y organizaciones legítimas que den vida a las reivindicaciones de la región y que las negocien con el Estado central. En segundo lugar, las condiciones estructurales que posee la región; esto es, la importancia de sus recursos naturales así como las dimensiones de su población. La tesis hace un rastreo histórico de la forma en que ambas dimensiones se alteraron durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX en Bolivia y Perú. Este análisis permite explicar los resultados divergentes en ambos países, así como sugerir algunas ideas generales sobre las relaciones entre centros y periferias.

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This thesis further analyses the question of political representation of ethnic minorities. Its main theoretical framework is created by theory of cleavages by S. Rokkan and S.M. Lipset, which describes conflict lines within the society and its influence on the party system. Further on, different definitions and approaches to the topic of ethnic identity, ethnic conflict and and ethnic and regional parties are introduced. Second part of this thesis is composed of four case studies of selected European cities with relevant ethnic minorities. These are Leicester in United Kingdom, Espoo in Finland, German Frankfurt am Main and Romanian Cluj-Napoca. These cases are firstly analyzed by context of political representation of ethnic minorities. That is in the first place the share and nature of minority population and in the second place attributes of local political systems within both horizontal and vertical dimension. Factors with direct impact on political representation of ethnic minorities like electoral system, election right and any other special measures are analyzed further on.

This diploma thesis aims to map the work that Ronald Inglehart published after the year 2000 and to include it in the concept of historical sociology. In my work I deal with a total of seven books, which I subject to critical reflection and at the same time I compare with other authors who commented on the given topics. The work will touch on theories of modernization, democratization, secularization and to a lesser extent civilization analysis. I will also add remarks and observations from the point of view of quantitative methodology, as Inglehart's theories are based on a large amount of quantitative data based on questionnaire surveys. The first part of my work deals with modernization theory, the next part deals with secularization and the third part focuses on the analysis of civilization. In modernization and secularization, I will first introduce versions of the theories that Inglehart and co-authors published during the first decade of the 21st century. After that, I will always reflect on recent work (2017- 2021). In the civilization part, which is the shortest, I will summarize his findings across his work. At the end of his work, Inglehart also makes predictions about future society. I also intend to analyze these findings in my diploma thesis. At the end of the work I evaluate the...

The research problem of this thesis is to explore the effects of top-down, bureaucratic definitions of belonging and social identity on urban social relations. More specifically, the thesis analyses the ways in which the nativist categorisations of indigeneity in Kano and autochtonie in Amsterdam can help to understand the tensions between ethnic groups in these two cities. Methodologically, the study is designed as a least-similar, comparative exploration and uses mixed qualitative and quantitative methods in its case studies of Kano and Amsterdam. Theoretically, this study uses identity cleavages and identification as the mediators between policy categories and social relations. It combines social-psychological, historical, and institutional theories to link bureaucratic nativism to ethnic identities and, finally, to conflictual (or ‘destructive’) interethnic relations. The resulting theoretical argument of the thesis is that nativist policy categorisations are likely conducive to antagonism, avoidance, and conflict between groups defined as ‘natives’ and ‘settlers’. The central finding of the thesis is that both in Kano and in Amsterdam, indigeneity and autochtonie have entrenched a primordial and competitive (or ‘exclusionary’) notion of ethnic identities and have thus been conducive to interethnic antagonism, avoidance, and conflict. Introduced at a time of rapid immigration, social change, and persistent horizontal inequalities, the two top-down policy categories came to redefine urban belonging in Kano and Amsterdam. As a result, previously apolitical ethnic boundaries between ‘natives’ and ‘settlers’ became politicised, connected to exclusionary definitions of religion and class, and ranked on the basis of their claim to a primordial ‘native’ status - that is, their status as historical ‘first-comers’ in their place of residence. The categorisation and group positioning effects of nativism have, therefore, intensified the urban struggle to belong in Kano and Amsterdam. At the same time, however, the thesis underlines that ethnic conflict in Kano and Amsterdam is limited, partly because nativist forms of belonging are continuously challenged by, for example, inclusive multiculturalism in Kano and urban citizenship in Amsterdam.

This dissertation describes the manner by which a multinational corporation (MNC) enacts a market-based logic with a locally embedded partner in a complex and unfamiliar operating setting to fulfil both business and social objectives. It examines a hybrid partnership between BP, an MNC, and SSP, a rural Indian non-governmental organisation (NGO). Together, the organisations trained rural women, who were affiliated with SSP, as agents to distribute and sell BP’s ‘smokeless’ cookstoves and fuel pellets to households who cook on smoky firewood stoves. The research draws on two theories—neo-institutional organizational theory and real markets theory—to examine the process by which logics are aligned across partners and projected and translated into the rural Indian exchange setting. It constructs a four-actor model (MNC, NGO, agent, customer) to explore the exchange relationships between the actors at the meso- and micro-levels. At the meso-level, it explains how the MNC and NGO’s non-aligned logics, asymmetric power dynamics, and lack of mutual trust contribute to the venture’s failure. In addition, the NGO was so determined to succeed as a professional, market-driven, channel partner that it shed part of its identity as a civil advocacy organisation and adopted mainstream commercial practices that were not sensitive to the needs of its local stakeholders. At the micro-level, the partners did not come to a common understanding with the agents regarding the cultural challenges they faced marketing the stove. Moreover, the marketing strategy glossed over the multi-layered social relationships and culinary, behavioural, and religious practices that needed to be translated for the technology to meet the needs of consumers. Using gritty ethnographic data, the dissertation highlights a challenge that large, foreign companies face when entering ‘Base of the Pyramid’ markets, namely the inconsistency between the MNC’s market logic and the wider associational logics that motivate village agents and customers.

En 2012, en pleine crise économique, le gouvernement autonome de la Catalogne convoque des élections anticipées et demande, pour la première fois depuis le retour de l’Espagne à la démocratie suivant la mort du dictateur Francisco Franco, une forte majorité afin de pouvoir mener la région vers la sécession. Plus ou moins en même temps, le groupe armé sécessionniste basque, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, annonce la fin de sa campagne meurtrière qu’elle mène depuis des décennies et qui fait plus de 800 victimes. Si l’on accusait depuis longtemps les Basques d’être plus séparatistes que les Catalans, ces nouveaux faits suggèrent un renversement des rôles de leurs mouvements sécessionnistes. En s’appuyant sur les littératures sur les mouvements sociaux et la sécession, l’objectif de cette étude est d’expliquer ce phénomène. Nous montrerons d’abord en quoi les structures économiques et institutionnelles encadrant les régions et leurs relations avec l’État central font en sorte que la crise économique espagnole (2008-2014) offre une structure d’opportunité politique pour la réussite du sécessionnisme catalan alors que cela n’a pas été le cas au Pays basque. Ensuite, nous démontrerons que le manque de synchronisme entre les processus basque et catalan de pacification des clivages de la violence politique joue un rôle déterminant sur la capacité de coopération entre nationalistes sur la question nationale durant la crise, ce qui affecte le potentiel de mobilisation sécessionniste. Enfin, nous verrons que grâce aux structures présentées tout au long de cet ouvrage, les cadres sécessionnistes mobilisés par les revendicateurs stratégiques et les fervents champions de la sécession sont plus crédibles et pertinents en Catalogne qu’au Pays basque, ce qui explique les niveaux opposés de résonance transversale du discours sécessionniste. / In 2012, in the midst of an economic crisis, the autonomous government of Catalonia called snap elections, seeking for the first time since Spain’s return to democracy following the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, a strong majority in order to lead the region towards secession. At roughly the same time, the Basque secessionist armed group, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, announced the end of its decades-long murderous campaign, which had claimed over 800 lives. If the Basques have long been accused of being more separatist than the Catalans, these new developments suggested a role reversal for both secessionist movements. By drawing from the literature on social movements and secession, the aim of this study is to explain this phenomenon. We will firstly show that the economic and institutional structures framing for the regions and their relations with the central state made it that the Spanish economic crisis (2008-2014) offered a political opportunity structure for the success of Catalan secessionism, whereas this was not the case in the Basque Country. Secondly, we will demonstrate that the lack of synchronicity between both regions’ processes of pacifying their political violence cleavages played a decisive role in determining the capacity for nationalists to cooperation on the national questions, thereby affecting the potential for secessionist mobilization. Finally, we will see that, due to the structures presented throughout this work, the secessionist frames used by the strategic claimants and the consistent champions of secession were more relevant and credible in Catalonia than in the Basque Country, which explains the opposite levels of transversal resonance of the secessionist discourse. / En 2012, en plena crisis económica, el gobierno autónomo de Cataluña convoca elecciones anticipadas y, por primera vez desde el restablecimiento de la democracia española tras la muerte del dictador Francisco Franco, exige una mayoría amplia para llevar a la región hacia la secesión. Más o menos al mismo tiempo, el grupo armado secesionista vasco, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, anuncia el fin de su campaña mortífera de décadas, que ha cobrado más de 800 víctimas. Si los vascos han sido acusados durante mucho tiempo de ser más separatistas que los catalanes, estos nuevos acontecimientos sugieren una inversión de roles de sus movimientos secesionistas. Apoyándonos en la literatura sobre los movimientos sociales y la secesión, el objetivo de este estudio es explicar este fenómeno. En primer lugar, mostraremos que las estructuras económicas e institucionales que enmarcan las regiones y sus relaciones con el Estado central aseguraron que la crisis económica española (2008-2014) proporcionara una estructura de oportunidad política para el éxito del secesionismo catalán, mientras que no fue el caso en el País Vasco. A continuación, demostraremos que la falta de sincronía entre los procesos vasco y catalán de pacificación de los clivajes de la violencia política juega un papel decisivo en determinar la capacidad de cooperación entre nacionalistas sobre la cuestión nacional durante la crisis, lo que afecta al potencial de movilización secesionista. Por último, veremos que, gracias a las estructuras presentadas a lo largo de esta encuesta, los marcos secesionistas movilizados por los reclamantes estratégicos y los fervientes defensores de la secesión han sido más creíbles y relevantes en Cataluña que en el País Vasco, lo que explica los niveles opuestos de resonancia transversal del discurso secesionista. / Al 2012, en plena crisi econòmica, el govern autònom de Catalunya convoca eleccions anticipades, demanant per primera vegada des del retorn d’Espanya a la democràcia després de la mort del dictador Francisco Franco, una majoria àmplia per dirigir la regió cap a la secessió. Més o menys alhora, el grup armat secessionista basc, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, anuncia la fi de la seva campanya mortífera de dècades, que va fer més de 800 víctimes. Si els bascos han estat acusats des de fa temps de ser més separatistes que els catalans, aquests esdeveniments suggereixen una reversió dels papers dels seus moviments secessionistes. Recolzant-nos en les literatures sobre els moviments socials i la secessió, l’objectiu d’aquest estudi és d’explicar aquest fenomen. Primer, mostrarem que les estructures econòmiques i institucionals que emmarquen les regions i les seves relacions amb l’Estat central van assegurar que la crisi econòmica espanyola (2008-2014) proporcionés una estructura d’oportunitat política per a l’èxit del secessionisme català, mentre que això no va ser el cas al País Basc. En segon lloc, demostrarem que la manca de sincronia entre els processos basc i català de pacificació dels clivatges de la violència política juga un paper decisiu en determinar la capacitat de col·laboració entre nacionalistes sobre la qüestió nacional durant la crisi, el que afecta el potencial de mobilització secessionista. Finalment, veurem que, gràcies a les estructures presentades al llarg d’aquest estudi, els marcs secessionistes mobilitzats pels reclamants estratègics i els fervents defensors de la secessió han estat més creïbles i rellevants a Catalunya que al País Basc, el que explica els nivells oposats de ressonància transversal del discurs secessionista.