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Will Václav Klaus unite Europe’s eurosceptics?
Yesterday the Czech media was all aquiver with front page news in the left-wing daily Právo – and its associated news server Novinky.cz – that former Czech president Václav Klaus was ‘seriously considering’ running for the European Parliament. And that he … Continue reading
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Why Miloš Zeman is the Czech comeback kid
The political return of former Social Democrat leader and leading presidential hopeful Miloš Zeman has been one of the more surprising emerging-from-under-the -radar phenomena in Czech politics over the past couple of years. For most observers of Czech politics Zeman … Continue reading
Posted in Czech politics, Uncategorized
Tagged Czech, Czech Republic, election, elections, president, presidential, SPOZ, 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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Party government: All we want for Christmas is you…?
At an eye-watering £75 Hans Keman and Ferdinand Müller-Rommel’s new Party Government in the New Europe which came out earlier this year with Routledge is unlikely to have made it to under many people’s Christmas trees this year. It does, … Continue reading
A spectre of … something is haunting Europe
Photo: Tom Morris, via Wikicommons At 8.30am I am sitting in a thinktank seminar on ‘subterranean politics’ in Europe. At 8pm I am sitting in launch event for a book about populism in Europe and the America. It is a … Continue reading
Posted in populism, protest, Uncategorized, W European politics
Tagged Czech, Europe, farright, Jobbik, Latin America, lse, mary kaldor, mike richmond, parties, politics, populism, protest, subterranean politics, ucl
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Pussy Riot: Russia’s Plastic People?
The widely criticised detention and trial of the three members of the Russian feminist punk collective Pussy Riot, now awaiting verdicts in Moscow on charges of ‘hooliganism’ for an anti-Putin protest happening at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour has … Continue reading
Posted in communism and post-communism, Czech politics, Russia, Uncategorized
Tagged Czech, czechoslovakia, plastic people, pussy riot, putin, russia
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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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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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Tweeting 1848?
Having had a few very interesting conversations about the historical turn in political science with students in my Comparative Methods class and also used the Arab Spring as an example issue for research design, I was interested to pick up … Continue reading
Posted in Book review, Uncategorized
Tagged books, history, political science, revolution, technology
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>An Arab 1989? Look to Bucharest not Berlin
> I know very little about North Africa and the Middle, but like many people interested in comparative politics and political change I have been watching the turbulent and unexpected development in Tunisia and Egypt – and their smaller ripples … Continue reading
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