THE EXTREMIST ORGANISATION'S POTENTIAL IN ADDRESSING TEENAGERS IN CZECH REPUBLIC Theses MIROSLAVA PAPAJIKOVÁ Abstract This paper is engaged in teenagers and their attitude towards the extremist organisation. The author sums up basic connotations of terms used in connection with the extremism. She acquaints readers with the best known extremist organisation in Czech republic and their methods how to address other people, namely teenagers. However, the text is focused especially on the real situation and that s why it contains an empirical part dedicated to research, where she submits and evaluates the dates obtained from questionnaires. The aim of this text is an analyse of the attitude of teenagers (without the right to vote) to the extremist organisation and vice versa the attitude of this organisation to the teenagers. The hypothesis is based on the notion that teenagers join the extremist organisation because of their dissatisfaction with the political situation and even as the absence of the right to vote.

The thesis focuses on the use of political marketing by the political party TOP 09 during the municipal elections in 2010. This chosen topic explores issues that have not been covered by the Czech political research yet. The thesis is mostly based on the theoretical concepts of Lees-Marshment and Bruce Newman. The research surmised that the political party TOP 09 had implemented political marketing techniques during the last municipal elections, and it might be considered, as described by Lees-Marshment model, as a market-oriented party. The thesis uses qualitative research methods. Its second part comprises of two case studies on the municipal campaigns of TOP 09 in the cities of Olomouc and Prague: the empirical evidence reviews campaign strategy, electoral programme, election polls, relations to the other candidate parties, media coverage, campaign organization, internal marketing and (last but not least) campaign financing. The thesis comes to conclusions that TOP 09 was using political marketing on municipal level, but still there are differences in the extent of its usage. While the Prague party organization behaved as a market-oriented one, the Olomouc regional organization might be described as a sales-oriented party.

The presented thesis mainly focuses on an analysis of twenty years of the politics of electoral reform in Czechoslovakia (1990-1992), on the federal level (the Federal Assembly), and the national level (the Czech National Council), respectively, and later on the politics of electoral reform in the Czech Republic, on the national level (the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic). First, the thesis discusses how and why electoral systems are chosen and changed. Recent analysis of the politics of electoral reform has yielded two main theoretical perspectives regarding the reforms of recent decades. The first one, the power-maximizing perspective, assumes that politicians control the choice of the electoral system and that they are motivated to maximize their power. The other perspective allows for a wider range of actors - in particular, including ordinary citizens as well as politicians - and sees electoral reform as the product of a mix of inherent and contingent factors. Reform can, under this approach, occur in response to specific instances of systemic failure. More recently, Alan Renwick (in 2010 and more precisely in 2011) seeks to develop a more refined understanding of electoral reform processes through two steps. At the outset, there is an acknowledgement that there are...

The thesis examines a phenomenon of small political parties in the Czech Republic in the period since 1998 until now. It reveals their position in the Czech party system, their potential to survive in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic and examines their chances of being a relevant coalition partner. The thesis is divided into 6 parts. An introduction opens the issue of small political parties. In the first chapter there is an identification of small political parties acting in the Czech political system. It focuses on their formation and development, their participation in elections, entering the Chamber of Deputies, prospective coalition cooperation and their current activity without any representation within the Parliament. In the next chapter the theses examines electoral systems and their key variables in regards to small political parties by using a concrete example of the election mechanism used for the Czech Chamber of Deputies. The question of election reform is raised together with revealing the key points of a relevant academic and public discussion. The last chapter examines the relationship among small political parties and media in regards to the key moments of election campaigns for the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. The hypothesis stated in...

The thesis "Proposals to amend the electoral and political system in contemporary Czech public debate" examines proposals presented by different types of entities who are trying to rectify the Czech policy. The current political scene is struggling with problems such as corruption, bribery and government instability. Such a situation leads to dissatisfaction with politicians and it may ultimately lead to their alienation. The starting point is to reform the policy and restore the confidence of citizens and their interest in public affairs. The aim of this paper is to describe what proposals dominate the current debate on the amendment of the Czech electoral system and in many cases can lead to a change of the political system. The thesis is divided into four thematic sections. The first, theoretical part briefly introduces the concept of democracy, individual elements of direct democracy and the typology of political systems. In addition, there are information about the Czech constitutional order and the development of the electoral system in the Czech Republic. Other three chapters deal with those proposals, which are divided according to the type of the entity that proposed them. This is a set of proposals by entities established by power and relevant political parties; smaller political...

1 Abstract This paper tries to demonstrate an incorrect perception of the Czech municipal electoral system by voters. In order achieve this aim I identified the following research questions. Firstly, what is the perception of preferential voting by voters in the Czech local electoral system? Secondly, do voters use a strategic voting in the municipal elections? Thirdly, is there some influence on voters' decisions depending on the form of a candidate subject? These questions were answered on the basis of my own research, which took place in a chosen municipality. I showed that voters perceive preferential voting by the wrong way, which primarily comes from their low awareness of the electoral system. Furthermore, it was found that the different perception of the candidates affects a voter behavior. Unfortunately, whether voters use a strategically choice in municipal elections, I could not prove it.

The presented Thesis "Political Communication and Politainment in the Presidential Election in the Czech Republic in 2013" analyses political communication in the historically first presidential election campaign in the Czech Republic. I saw the presidential election as an opportunity to research a new platform of political communication that politainment is. The primary aim of the Thesis is to introduce this concept in the context of the current nature of political communication and at the same time to identify variables defining this phenomenon in the Czech environment. Analysis of the elements of politainment is performed on campaigns of the two most successful candidates aspiring for the office of the President of the Czech Republic - Miloš Zeman and Karel Schwarzenberg. I focused primarily on the television appearance of both candidates in TV debates broadcasted by Czech Television, which were the climax of the entire presidential campaign. I was interested in the content of communication of both candidates and the overall character of the debates. The Thesis answers the following questions: What is political communication and its role in politics? How does its form change over time? Does personalisation of election campaigns result in the emergence of politainment as a phenomenon of political...

This thesis deals with the applicability of Anthony Downs rational choice theory to the Czech environment, respectively the utility of its model to explain voter turnout and identification of rationality among Czech voters. First part provides theoretical foundation of work, explanation of basic concepts from which the work draws and alternative theories to the research problem. It also presents current state of society in terms of policy perceptions, and participation in elections. The core of the work is to present Downs' rational choice theory, different views on it and its possible extension in terms of criticism. The basic variables introduced are here, in particular how are percieved by various authors, what is their content and what affects them. In the analytical part, the variables are examined within the reserach aims in terms of frequency in the population and individual segments of the electorate. The primary parameters of the rational choice theory model are then tested in terms of interdependence, and in terms of their significance in the model and their influence on voter turnout. The conclusion summarizes the research results, and demonstrates evaluation of the applicability of the model to the Czech voters, the relevance of individual variables representing the rational choice...

Diploma thesis Transformation of Visual Image of American Presidential Election in Magazines Time and Newsweek concentrates on visual depiction of topics related to the American presidential campaigns in newsweeklies between the years of 1992 and 2012. The first part of the thesis describes the development of modern political communication, political marketing and political campaigns. The following chapter is devoted to characterization of analyzed periodicals and to the current status of newsweeklies on the media market. The state of newsweeklies in the digital era is described by an example of the Newsweek magazine's current history and present. The American election system is briefly described in the end of the theroretical part of the thesis. A detailed research of visual materials dedicated to the American presidential campaigns in the Time and Newsweek magazines is carried out by the means of qualitative alalysis in the practical part of the thesis. The conclusion of the thesis evaluates the evolution of these materials between the years of 1992 and 2012 in the context of the development of the political communication and the current state of the media landscape.

General Election to the House of Commons Abstract The aim of this thesis is to analyze the electoral process of general elections to the House of Commons of the British Parliament. The text analyzes the problematics of the two basic questions. The first question is, in regards to the scope, more comprehensive, and it is an analysis of the aforementioned general elections. The second area of the matters relates closely to the first area and concerns the referendum on changing the electoral system in 2011. The text is logically structured into four chapters, which are usually further divided into subsections. The first chapter is devoted purely to the British Parliament in general, spanning from their historical origins to today's modern appearance. It also includes a brief specification of both of the Houses, including their composition and a scope of work. The second chapter is discussing the matter of general elections, the introduction to this chapter is devoted to applied electoral system. This system is based on the principle of "first past the post", which belongs to the "family" of majority electoral systems. The specifics of the application of the system are mentioned, pointing out the benefits and so-called system errors that the system entails. Next subsection discusses the systematics of election...