Euro-attitudes in the Czech Republic - A new way to measure distance between political parties in relation to the EU

Mgr. Dániel Péter

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Academic literature in the past has used several existing methods to classify a party's attitude vis-á-vis the European Union and put them into preset categories based on official manifestos and voting patterns. As the debate about the future of the EU has increasingly incorporated different sets of ideas regarding competences and institutional structure, the re-evaluation of the term and the content of „euroscepticism” has become necessary, including its adaptability to certain parties. This thesis intends to build on this tendency and will try to present a new way of measuring a party's posture towards European integration by combining two existing methods and creating a single continuum on which these positions can be described more accurately. Using the previously untested categorization of Chris Flood and adapting it to the brand new “PERC” method devised by a Hungarian research group, we will be able to demonstrate that single-scale typologies are able to be applied in practice on a wide range of party opinions. The theory will be applied on the party system of the Czech Republic. As the country has traditionally been characterized by scholars as a strong base of eurosceptic attitudes, both among the public and on the side of political parties, the Czech Republic can be an ideal candidate for such an analysis. Recent changes in the party system and the emergence of new formations also provide a relevant basis for the research. By implementing the above-described methodology, we can present an up-to-date picture about the Czech euro-attitudes and prove that a more gradual and detailed scale can bring new inputs to research, thus giving a different perspective to the study of euroscepticism in general as well.

Abstract:

Academic literature in the past has used several existing methods to classify a party's attitude vis-á-vis the European Union and put them into preset categories based on official manifestos and voting patterns. As the debate about the future of the EU has increasingly incorporated different sets of ideas regarding competences and institutional structure, the re-evaluation of the term and the content of „euroscepticism” has become necessary, including its adaptability to certain parties. This thesis intends to build on this tendency and will try to present a new way of measuring a party's posture towards European integration by combining two existing methods and creating a single continuum on which these positions can be described more accurately. Using the previously untested categorization of Chris Flood and adapting it to the brand new “PERC” method devised by a Hungarian research group, we will be able to demonstrate that single-scale typologies are able to be applied in practice on a wide range of party opinions. The theory will be applied on the party system of the Czech Republic. As the country has traditionally been characterized by scholars as a strong base of eurosceptic attitudes, both among the public and on the side of political parties, the Czech Republic can be an ideal candidate for such an analysis. Recent changes in the party system and the emergence of new formations also provide a relevant basis for the research. By implementing the above-described methodology, we can present an up-to-date picture about the Czech euro-attitudes and prove that a more gradual and detailed scale can bring new inputs to research, thus giving a different perspective to the study of euroscepticism in general as well.

Keywords

euroscepticism, czech parties, typologies, single-scale, euro-attitudes, od, kscm, top 09, cssd, ano, usvit, kdu csl

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 13. 5. 2016

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 1. 6. 2016
• Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Petr Kaniok, Ph.D.
• Reader: prof. PhDr. Vít Hloušek, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Political Science / European Politics (Eng.)