System of proportional representation in the Czech Republic and its critique Abstract The diploma thesis "System of proportional representation in the Czech Republic and its critique" deals with the proportional representation in the Czech Republic, particularly its most criticized aspects. The purpose of this paper is to analyse this system, its characteristics, forms and reforms under the Czech conditions. The first chapter defines proportional representation and describes its constituent elements - a legal threshold, electoral formulas (quotas and divisors), electoral districts and tiers and preference votes. Chapter Two is concerned with four specific forms of this system applied in the Czech Republic. It describes elections to the Chamber of Deputies, local elections, elections to the regional assemblies and European elections. The third chapter outlines the problems of Czech electoral reforms - specifically the big reform of elections to the Chamber of Deputies from 2000 and the case of Prague elections in 2010 which both had to be brought to the Constitutional Court. Chapter Four offers a critical look on proportional representation in the Czech Republic. It consists of five parts. The first part focuses on the confusing system of local elections. Part two deals with the legal threshold. The third...

The diploma thesis is based on the phenomenon of Europeanization and its limits in third countries (with a focus on the European neighbourhood countries). It focuses on the influence of the European Union on the adopted electoral reforms in Georgia. It is processed in the form of diachronic comparison. Thanks to it, it will be possible to achieve an understanding of the dynamics of the changes and their development. According to the analysis of the current research of the limits of Europeanization in third countries, the main factors behind these limits have been identified. These were applied to the two pre-selected electoral reforms. It was monitored whether these factors were valid for the given reform, whether they were also valid for the second selected electoral reform over time, or whether these factors contribute to the overall failure of Europeanization in Georgia.

Electoral systems have an enormous importance on how political power is distributed, on governability and the dynamics of representation of any given democratic society. Political science has traditionally considered electoral systems to be stable institutions and has paid more attention to understand how political parties adapt to the electoral rules than to how “electoral institutions themselves are adapted by political parties” (Benoit 2004). However, given their importance, unveiling the factors that influence the change and the choice of electoral rules is crucial and an increasing number of studies has addressed the issue since the 1990s. <p>This dissertation lies at the crossroads between traditional explanations of the stability of electoral systems and the more recent interpretations of electoral system change. Through three empirical parts, this thesis shows how these literatures are reconcilable and complementary. This study encompasses a comprehensive set of explicative factors at the micro, meso and macro levels that shed light on the incentives and barriers to reform electoral systems. Methodologically, the large-N approach of this thesis goes beyond the usual case studies and small-N analyses that characterize the field of electoral system change. Besides, the consideration of cases of reforms and cases of stability contributes to a better understanding of the determinants of electoral system change. While traditional accounts of electoral system change are predominantly based on political parties’ self-interest, this study demonstrates that the context matters. In this regard, this dissertation has three main findings. <p>Firstly, this study calls into question the body of literature addressing the change of electoral institutions by analyzing the impact of different barriers in the success of reform debates. At the party level, it shows how intraparty division can constitute an important factor to explain institutional inertia. The analysis is based on the responses of Irish Members of Parliament (Teachtaí Dala, or TDs) to a number of survey items designed to measure their evaluations of the current electoral system. The study discusses how the heterogeneity of preferences within parties over this issue may act as a barrier for reform. Besides, at the micro level, it sheds light on the determinants of individuals’ incentives to support reform. Beyond the classical power-seeking motivations, individual legislators also appear to be driven by values and attitudes about the quality of democracy.<p>Secondly, this thesis focuses on institutional contexts. This study analyzes the capacity of institutions to deter reforms using empirical evidence of the occurrence of reforms and the duration of electoral systems in 17 European countries. Drawing on Lijphart’s framework of the patterns of democracy, this research analyzes the extent to which the elements that differentiate between majoritarian and consensus democracies can hinder electoral reforms. On the one hand, it shows the impact of individual institutions on the occurrence of reform and the duration of electoral systems. It demonstrates that higher numbers of veto players, more proportional electoral systems, limited vested interests of the incumbent parties, constitutional rigidity and the existence of judicial review can reduce the likelihood of reform. On the other hand, this study demonstrates that the different combinations of institutional elements provide important explanatory leverage on the duration of electoral systems. In this regard, contrary to what is often assumed, it is shown that the occurrence of electoral reforms is linked to the incumbents’ capacity to develop their preferred policies. Those systems in which power is more concentrated, that is majoritarian systems, appear to be those in which electoral systems reforms are more frequent. <p>Finally, the thesis explores the impact of external shocks on the likelihood of reform. On the basis of an analysis of a dataset of electoral reforms that have been enacted in Europe since 1945, this study demonstrates that economic crises and citizens’ dissatisfaction with democracy are related to the introduction of electoral reforms. However, the mechanism is mediated by the existence of new parties that capitalize on this dissatisfaction and that can threaten the established parties. In these circumstances, restrictive reforms – those that aim at hindering the entry of new parties - are more likely to be introduced, though too late to prevent the entry of these newcomers.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis informs a reader about problems of establishing new/small political parties and their activities in Czech Parliament during the period of 2002 -- 2010. The surprising and unexpected results of Chamber of Desputies election that took place in May 2010 and brought considerable transformation of contemporary political establishment in Czech republic, represented the main impulse for writing this thesis. The aim of the thesis was to find out the size of political market openness for new/small political parties during the period of 2002-2010 and simultaneously evaluate what kind of position and substance these new/small political subjects in the political market have. A content of thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is focused on theoretical theme and includes four chapters. There are mentioned mainly the issues of new/small political parties' definitions, the role of relevant parties in proportional representation systems and also some of the most important attempts of electoral reforms. The second part includes the final chapter that is focused on analysis of the factors that had influence on increase or decrease in chances of new/small parties to be successful in Chamber of Desputies elections from 2002 and thus become the part of political establishment. The fundamental questions were: How have the new/small political parties built up in that period of 2002-2010 and under what circumstances have they become the part of political establishment.