The purpose of the thesis is to evaluate the position of political parties in the Czech Republic on basis of constitutional and special statutory legislative regulations. First the position of political parties in the Czech Republic as a democratic state (constitutional point- of-view) is analyzed, followed by wording focused on legislation of basic aspects of existence and activities of political parties (particularly from the viewpoint of the statutory regulation). When processing the theme the jurisprudence and historical development of the relevant legislation was considered. The thesis is composed of five chapters, each of them as a rule divided into subchapters. Chapter One describes the position of political parties in a democratic system of government, resulting from their relation to the state and the society. Individual subchapters deal with term and function definitions of political parties derived from the legal regulation and completed by corresponding jurisprudence of the Constitutional court. There is also reference to critical view typical for political parties institution in connection with legal regulations as a possible means for correction of some negative features mentioned. The Chapter Two is mainly focused on historical development of legal regulation of political parties on...

Legal regulation of the position of political parties The thesis examines the legal regulation of political parties in the Czech Republic, which is an essential part of constitutional law. The thesis is composed of eight chapters, usually broken down into the following subchapters. The first chapter provides a general definition of a political party and its role in the democratic rule of law. The second chapter deals with the historical development of Czech political parties law and its relevance to current treatment. The third chapter discusses the applicable law regulating the status of political parties in (Act No. 424/1991 Sb., on association in political parties and political movements, the constitutional foundations of law and separation from the state. The next two chapters assesses the creation of political parties and modification of membership. The sixth chapter deals with issues of abolition and dissolution of political parties, suspending their activities and dissolution. Much of this chapter is devoted to the case of dissolution of the Workers' Party, and I come mainly from the case of the Supreme Administrative Court. The seventh chapter is focused on the financing and management of political parties. There is also laid emphasis on the law of the Constitutional Court, which on several...

Banning Political Parties - Theory and Discourse The political regime change of the Velvet revolution in 1989 brought to light many questions, that the Czech politics and law had not to answer until then. Arguments about the legitimacy of the post-revoutionary Czech communist party marked the early years of the free competition of political parties. There being no precedent in the decision-making of Czech courts, the Supreme Administrative Court had to decide many substantial questions when dealing with the case of Dělnická strana (The Workers' Party) in 2010. Some of those were elaborated by the European Court of Human Rights, other were more of a political and philosophical nature. The history and experience of pre-war Czechoslovakia and dissolution of German national-socialist parties in 1933 also influenced the debate. The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic changed in the decison of Dělnická strana the nature of Czech political discourse and brought it out of the post-communist context to the contemporary European level. Using the concept of self-defending or military democracy, that is also used by the ECHR, it created a shared framework of both Czech and European debate on the limits of political rights and freedoms of association. The concept will be contested in the future, but its...

ANOTATION The thesis focused on František Soukup (1871-1940) and political party Czechoslavic Social Democratic Party, because he was the member of this party since 1896. Text describes his life before World War I. The work combines biography of František Soukup and development of the workers and social democratic movement in the context of political modernization - first at the example of party's newspaper, in which Soukup works. In the centre, there is a main theme of the party before World War I - the universal suffrage. Conclusion presents Soukup's activities after the legalization of this requirement, i.e. his work and speeches in House of Deputies, which are placed in contrast with his activities in the Socialist International. The aim of the thesis is write the biography of an important representative of the party and on this basis - analyze political discourse of social democracy at the end of the century. KEY WORDS: political parties, social democracy, František Soukup

These days are western democracies in serious crisis. We could observe this crisis in disconnection societal topics, not only, but especially political, from the citizens, who are affected with these topics the most. The citizens are becoming apathetic; they have no interest file their energy beyond their own private and professional life. This situation could develop in two directions. The first way means conservation of current state, status quo, and it leads to not so happy future. Or another way change of course happens and the interest in public life will be activating in the citizens. And I believe in the second possibility. However, there is lot to do, to revise many aspects of public life, e.g. political parties, funding to these parties, institute of representation and how community perceive it, or elections, the way legitimation.

The subject matter of this paper is an analysis of the current system of political parties funding in the Czech Republic. The aim of the thesis is to critically assess the current legal regulation and to point out potential shortcomings and possibilities for improvement. At a time when public confidence in political parties is characterized by a systematic and long-term downward trend, it is a recent and widely discussed topic. We may well ask whether the legal regulation of this issue does not provide room for improvement and innovation. The extensive topic is structured into two areas - the question of financial resources and the question of control and transparency. The paper is composed of five chapters. Chapter one deals with the political parties in general and with the law of political parties, especially with constitutional aspects. The second chapter examines the financing of political parties, its basic principles, models and division. In brief, it covers also the development of funding. The subject of the third chapter is a detailed description of the funding of political parties in the Czech Republic. In the fourth chapter the thesis deals with control, transparency and enforcement, at both the general and the specific level, when Czech regulation is subject to scrutiny. Chapter Five is...

The thesis analyses the position and strategy of the opposition in the Parliament. The thesis also provides an international comparison within the Visegrad Group (The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). Main attention is paid to the opposition in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate which factors affect behavior of opposition and how the strategy of opposition differs in the Parliament. The thesis deals with behavior of representatives of political parties with low coalition potential and with options which opposition can use in relation to the government.

This thesis examines statements of chosen political parties towards the European Integration, based on the Content Analysis of Programs in the federal elections of the years 2007, 2010 and 2014, especially in the economic policy, common foreign and security policy, enlargement, migration policy and environmental policy. The position of these parties is categorized into the typology of Nicola Conti and are processed not only from the view of development of chosen parties, but within comparison of the Flemish and the Wallonia regime. The Belgian Kingdom is perceived as one of the most pro-Europe states that supports the project of the European Union and the European Integration in general. Belgium, one of the founding states of the European Economic Community and a member of the long-term prospering project of Benelux, was the perfect example of positive repercussion that the membership in the EU might bring. In 1993, the federalization of Belgium occurred and it is evident that the parties dedicated most of the attention to the question of nationality and to the autonomy of (the?) regions, especially then, the Flemish political party didn't consider the topic of the European Integration that much in local politics. A change occurred, when Eurosceptic parties started stretching out throughout Europe,...

This thesis deals with the relationship between media coverage of political parties and election results. Specifically, it focuses on four political parties (TOP 09, Věci veřejné, KDU- ČSL and Strana zelených) in the period of nine months before the parliamentary elections in May 2010. The two established political parties were not successful in these elections (KDU- ČSL and Strana zelených), the other two parties were. Using quantitative content analysis of media content this work examines media coverage of these four parties in nationwide television, radio and print media. The thesis compares differences between media presentations of the parties with the evolution of political preferences of the parties. As a source, monthly data acquired by two public opinion research agencies - CVVM and Median - was used. Even more important to answer the research questions was to compare the media presentation of the parties with their final election results. The thesis assumes that the form of media presentation of the parties is one of the factors that affects their voters' support. Based on the data found this thesis tries to find out trends and patterns guiding the relationship between media space which parties achieved, the development of their electoral preferences and the final election results.

This thesis is focused on the British entry into the European Economic Community in 1973. The reasons why the United Kingdom was led to join the Community are researched in great details. Such reasons also influence the attitude and behaviour of the United Kingdom toward the European Union at present. This historical backdrop could account for British reluctance to join the Community in 1950' as well as the present attitude of British politicians toward the EU. The main British political parties, namely the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, stood on the same side as far as the basic goal was concerned - to maintain the British Empire after the 2WW. The collapse of the British Empire, the poor economy and the Cold War all forced British political parties to find a new position for the United Kingdom in the post-war world. Key words: Great Britain, the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, European Communities