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Tag Archives: democracy
Czech democracy in the mirror: What the presidential elections tell us
The first direct elections of the Czech president offered a refreshing contrast to the back room manoeuvring and political horse-trading that accompanied the election in parliament of presidents Havel and (especially) Klaus. Despite the nastiness of the Zeman campaign and … Continue reading
Posted in Czech politics
Tagged CSSD, Czech Republic, democracy, election, elections, Karel Schwarzenberg, Milos Zeman, ods, parties, political parties, presidential, schwarzenberg, zeman
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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
Europe as antipolitics machine
The customers in this Westminster café seem a strange mix of suited civil servants and builders in boots and hi-vis. But it’s worth the early start and the cup of industrial strength tea to beat a path back to the … Continue reading
Posted in academia, EU politics, Ireland, protest, W European politics
Tagged antipolitics, crisis, democracy, ECB, Euro, Europe, European Commission, eurozone, Greece, Ireland, political parties, politics, populism, protest, technocracy, technocrats, UCD
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Uncorking democracy
Like a good wine or an old cheese, comparative research on democratisation is often described as a ‘mature’ academic literature and, as such, one that can lay claim to have accumulated some real knowledge about one of the central trends … Continue reading
Posted in Book review, Democracy
Tagged books, democracy, democratisation, political science
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Difficult Hungarian lesson
The constitutional and institutional changes pushed through by Hungary’s ruling conservative-national Fidesz party following its emphatic election victory in April 2010 have attracted increasing coverage – and almost enirely negative - from academic and journalistic observers of Central European politic, … Continue reading
Posted in CEE centre-right, CEE far-right, Hungary
Tagged Bulgaria, central and eastern europe, democracy, Eastern Europe, fidesz, GERB, hungary, Poland, political parties, slovakia
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Populism in Central and Eastern Europe Spectres of moderation?
Radicalism and extremism, especially of the far-right variety, hold an enduring hypnotic fascination for political scientists and journalists. Extremist populism and illiberal movements more generally, we are told, relentlessly on the rise in both Western and Eastern Europe. In countries … Continue reading
Area studies in the dock again?
In the early-mid 1990s - along with a chain of momentous social and political consequences- the fall of communism also triggered soul searching and crises in the academic world among specialists on Soviet and East European politics: Why, with the … Continue reading
Posted in academia, Arab Spring, Area studies, communism and post-communism
Tagged Arab Spring, area studies, communism, democracy, political science, universities, ussr
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