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Category Archives: Czech Republic
Eastern Europe: Parties and the mirage of technocracy
Many commentators saw the governments of non-party technocrats formed in Greece and Italy in 2011 as an ill omen for development of party-based democracy in Europe. Established parties, it is suggested, are turning to technocratic caretaker administrations as a device … Continue reading
Posted in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, political parties
Tagged Bulgaria, caretaker, central and eastern europe, Eastern Europe, Greece, hungary, Italy, party government, technocracy, technocrats
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Václav Klaus live and unplugged
A few years ago I honestly told myself that I would spend less time academically on Czech right-wing politics and more time on other things. The world really did, after all, need some decent research about Central European interest groups … Continue reading
Posted in Czech politics, Czech Republic, EU politics, Václav Klaus
Tagged Czech, czechoslovakia, Euro, European integration, euroscepticism, eurozone, Vacav Klaus
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Václav Klaus: A political phenomenon without political power
In many ways a medium-sized Central European country like the Czech Republic could hardly have wished for a better president: an experienced, energetic and erudite politician of international standing able to engage both with the big European issues and handle … Continue reading
Posted in Czech politics, Czech Republic, Václav Havel, Václav Klaus
Tagged Czech, Czech Republic, Karel Schwarzenberg, klaus, Milos Zeman, president, presidential, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Klaus
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Czech Republic: Four things you didn’t know about Miloš Zeman
Ever since Miloš Zeman won the Czech presidential elections on 26 January, analysts have been scrambling to say just what his political views actually are – especially his views on foreign policy and the EU. Never quite as prolific a … Continue reading
Posted in Czech Republic
Tagged Czech, Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, president, zeman
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What will Klaus do next?
What will Václav Klaus do next? This has been a pertinent question in Czech politics pretty much any time over the last twenty years and, of course, no more so than now: VK steps down from his second and final … Continue reading
Posted in centre-right, Czech politics, Czech Republic, Uncategorized
Tagged Czech, Czech Republic, politics, Vacav Klaus
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Left with questions
I’m at conference on the Future of the Left in Central Europe in Prague co-organised by CESTA, one of the Czech Republic’s few centre-left thinktanks, and the German SPD’s Ebert Foundation, having been to an academic workshop on a similar … Continue reading
Posted in Czech Republic, Hungary, left-wing politics, political parties
Tagged CESTA, CSSD, Czech Republic, FES, hungary, left, LMP, Poland, political parties, political science, slovakia, Smer, social democracy, Visgrad
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Is there a Czech Berlusconi in the wings?
A recent report I read suggested that the travails of Public Affairs (VV) party had put voters in the Czech Republic off new political parties: VV, which burst from nowhere onto the political scene in the 2010 elections as an … Continue reading
Posted in Czech Republic, populism
Tagged ano2011, Babis, Berlusconi, Czech, Czech Republic, Okamura, parties, political parties, populism
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The Lion sleeps tonight? Former Czech PM’s new party launches
I share a bias with many political scientists working on political parties: I tend to over-rate new parties with political organisation and some real grassroots presence and under-rate those which are top-down vehicles created for individual politicians. So I am … Continue reading
Posted in Czech politics, Czech Republic, euroscepticism, left-wing politics, populism, TOP09, Uncategorized
Tagged Czech, lev, paroubek, parties, political
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Schwarzenberg: From castle to Castle?
And no sooner do I post on Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg at Chatham House than he decides to make waves in Czech domestic politics by announcing that he will be a candidate for the Czech Presidency, when Václav Klaus … Continue reading
Posted in Czech politics, Czech Republic, TOP09, Václav Havel, Václav Klaus
Tagged Czech Republic, havel, paroubek, politics, president, schwarzenberg, spidla, vaclavklaus, zeman
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EU Czechs and balances
I’m sitting listening to Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. I look up occasionally at the map on the wall and wonder what projection it is. Europe seems big and fat compared to the more politically correct/geographically accurate cartography I usually … Continue reading
Posted in Czech Republic, economic crisis, EU politics, euroscepticism, Slovakia, TOP09, Uncategorized, Václav Havel
Tagged Chathamhouse, Czech Republic, EU, eurozone, schwarzenberg
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