The thesis aims to analyze and explain nature of Euroscepticism of political parties. The objects of the research are two players of the Czech party system - the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). The thesis starts with a theoretical part, which summarizes the current debate in political science and Euroscepticism in the context of political parties. The aim of the empirical analysis is based on the verified KSČM and ODS in relation to the party Euroscepticism due to theory of Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak. The thesis tries to answer the research questions whether KSČM and ODS are truly Eurosceptic and which aspects of Euroscepticism are typical for that parties, as well as how Euroscepticism manifests. Key words: euroscepticism, european integration, ODS, KSČM, European Union

The current discussion about party-based Euroscepticism forms in the Federal Republic of Germany is usually limited to the Alternative für Deutschland issue and neglect inside-parties forms before its formation. This master thesis examines this type of Euroscepticism in Germany in relevant political parties between 1990 and 2013. This period is defined by the time between German reunification and the formation of the AfD. The term 'Euroscepticism' is conceptualized in the theoretical section, and theories defined by selected scholars are reflected. Subsequently, the theoretical section reflects the perception of Euroscepticism as a thin- centered ideology, its applications in the left-right dimension, and focus on 'new cleavages' GAL/TAN theory. This section emphasizes a deficiency of 'classic' hard-soft Euroscepticism theory and reveals empirical limits of any typologies. The author uses the methodology of content analysis of program papers (PDS/Die Linke, Die Grünen, SPD, and CSU) in the empirical section. Its corpus is defined by the program thesis for Bundestag and European Parliament elections. The coding divides analyzing statements into logical topic groups, which correspond to a subject of research. The synthesis of this coding introduces a clear image of EU attitudes by every single party,...

Euroscepticism is considered as a stream of thoughts whch is typical of the EU distrust or of the European integration and its goals as such. The most common objections to joining the integration proces are loss of national sovereignty, not paying enough attention to national interests or too strict policy unification that does not allow for national particularities. This master thesis will focus on euroscepticism as a concept, il will analyze its ideological roots and the most frequent arguments in favour of this concept. Furthermore, it will analyze various classifications of euroscepticism as well as its potential to be called a new cleavage or even ideology as I suggest that there is no widely-accepted definition. Great Britain - a representative of traditionally very sceptical approach towards European integration project has been chosen as a model case. In this case study firstly, the development of potential eurosceptical thinking within the Conservative Party and the Labour Party will be explored. More importantly, it will concentrate on the (in)consistency of their European policies in time, analysis of their attitudes in the 21st century and finally it will try to derive the future development of their possible eurosceptical opinions from their current manifestos and public speeches. The...

This thesis analyzes how the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the European Union was portrayed in selected Czech and German printed media throughout the year 2018 and investigates whether Euroscepticism - in its widest sense - expresses itself within the articles. The research on Euroscepticism in media so far has largely focused on "historic" events and "significant" questions of the European integration, not on technical-legal topics, i.e. topics with presumably lesser impact on the future course of the European project. An analysis of Euroscepticism in media texts dealing with a specific EU legislative act has so far been lacking. The paper at hand therefore examines whether Euroscepticism manifests itself also in connection to such topics. As denying and/or criticizing EU's policies is accepted by most academics as an expression of Euroscepticism, next to denying the EU as such, this study defines Euroscepticism as any criticism on part of the EU and the GDPR, since this regulation can be understood as embodiment of EU's policy on data protection. The paper uses a comparative research design, using the method of content analysis of six printed daily newspapers, namely Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Bild, Mladá fronta DNES, Právo, and Blesk. The results...

The thesis deals with analysis of parties′ documents of four Czech Eurosceptic political parties. The goal is to divide political parties into groups of different levels of Euroscepticism, based on attitudes of political party to European Integration according to typology of Euroscepticism by Paul Taggart and Aleks Szczerbiak. Authors made division of "soft" and "hard" Euroscepticism, which divides political parties by depth of negative positions and attitudes towards European Integration and European union. Furthermore, the thesis answers several research questions and hypothesis. Thesis analyses party documents for election to European Parliament in 2014 and 2019. Examined political actors are Communist party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Free Citizens Party (SSO), and Dawn of Direct Democracy - Tomio Okamura (Dawn)/Freedom and Direct Democracy- Tomio Okamura (SPD). Because of the principal role of leader, SPD is considered for the ongoing Dawn movement in this thesis. Keywords : Euroscepticism, Czech political parties, party documents Title: Euroscepticism of Czech Political Parties

Eurosceptic ideas in the Czech Republic (hereinafter the “ČR”) began to spread more especially since the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and they strengthened with increasing global problems, which did not help this sentiment in any way. Negative politicians' opinions regarding the EU may eventually undermine the confidence of Czech citizens in the EU and therefore have an impact on the overall relationship of the ČR with this European political-economic union. The thesis will offer a list and analysis of specific Eurosceptic topics in the ČR. The research will examine the current political situation in the ČR in relation to Euroscepticism, and its results will reflect on how Euroscepticism is manifested in the political discourse of the Czech political parties that were, in the 2017 parliamentary elections, elected into the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament. The thesis will analyze the Eurosceptic situation in the ČR at the political level in 2018 and will focus on the negative references regarding the EU, which were mentioned by the above Czech political parties.

The Euroscepticism is a very popular issue now. Its popularity has risen because of inability of European states to solve the crisis since the start of the Eurozone crisis. This thesis is based on analysis of party program documents and other statements. It attempts to capture the increase in Euroscepticism among German political parties. The public opinion is taking into account as well. Germany has become one of the main actors in the search for ways out of the crisis. This role associated with some financial burden has led to series of discussion and to the growth of skepticism among the political parties. The European Stability Mechanism was the one of the most discussed topics. The crisis provoked uncertainty and skepticism among the German public as well. This scepticism was largely influenced by the actual situation in the Eurozone. In direct response to the crisis a new political movement was created. It was called the Alternative for Germany. The Alternative for Germany rejected remaining in the Eurozone. It reached some success in provincial elections in 2014. There were more reasons for its success which not just correspondent with its eurosceptic agenda. The thesis identifies these reasons as well. Despite this situation, Germany remains a pro-European state.

The diploma thesis Czech media and public euroscepticism examines frames of public euroscepticism in Czech media agenda and public agenda. The thesis is framed in agenda- setting and framing theory which explains processes of shifting themes between public agenda, media agenda and political agenda. Plethora of studies set in agenda-setting and framing theory has proved correlations between media agenda and public agenda. The goal of this diploma thesis is to examine what is the correlation between Czech media agenda and public agenda in terms of public euroscepticism, which eurosceptic frames are brought in public agenda by media agenda and how pervasive those frames are. For the comparison of agendas is used the typology of public euroscepticism by Catharine Sørensen which consists of economic euroscepticism, euroscepticism based on sovereignty, democratic euroscepticism and social euroscepticism. Author postulates positive correlation between media agenda and public agenda and presence of pervasive frames in media agenda. The first part describes the theoretical frame of the thesis, the agenda-setting and framing theory. The second chapter presents existing research about euroscepticism on EU and Czech level. The third part describes the Czech public agenda based on the public opinion research,...

Ireland is generally seen as one of the biggest supporters of the European Union. Irish public opinion researches have been showing long-term and extremely positive attitudes to the European integration. The pro-European consensus is also known among the local political parties. Moreover, at the end of the 20th century, a strong economic growth had started and the Ireland quickly became a model example of how positive impact the European integration may have on its Member states. European issues therefore did not attract too much attention in the local political discourse. This changed in the early 21st century, when the increasing public euroscepticism began observable. The thesis examines whether selected Irish political parties adapted their rhetoric and actions to ever more critical mood of voters. These are Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. The thesis covers three critical moments of the Irish European integration, namely the Nice Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty and the Irish debt crisis. It searches for negative comments about the EU and European integration of examined political parties in the campaigns before the referendum on European issues, as well as in their election statements to the Irish parliamentary elections, also taking place in the selected period. The aim of the thesis is...

The diploma thesis "Framing of euroscepticism in the Czech daily press" deals with political communication about the European Union realized in the czech daily press (namely MF DNES, Právo and Hospodářské noviny) during three events which were essential fot the Czech republic. It was referendum (2003), signing of Lisbon Treaty (2009) and signing of ESM (2013). It focuses on quality and europeanisation of public debate and its changes within this events. It also investigates how eurosceptic actors and and oponions are represented. It is trying to examine what are their possibilities of participating in public debate and identify attitudes of individual tituls. Research methods are quantitative analysis plus frame analysis. It also treats (in theoretical part) concepts like political communication (generally and on the european level), european public sphere and also euroscepticism itself.