How to grasp the opportunity? The rise of party populism and the state of democracy in the Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The Czech parliamentary elections which were held in May 2010 are often labeled as an electoral earthquake. The support of the two biggest parties dropped to a historical minimum and the christian democratic party left the lower chamber of the parliament for the first time in history. Moreover, two new political parties gained parliamentary representation and entered the new government coalition. One of the new successful parties are the Public Affairs (Věci veřejné, VV) which are often labeled as a populist party or a bussines party. What are the reasons of the electoral breakthrough of the VV? Are there any specific conditions for the rise of party populism in the Czech Republic, and potentially in other countries with the communist past? Are the post-communist democracies more vulnerable to populist challenges than „old democracies“ in Western Europe? The paper tries to find answers to these question (or at least formulate hypothesis) by a detailed examination of the case of the Czech Republic. |
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