{"title":"The Pirates of Czechia: The Curse of Preferential Vote","authors":"Pavel Maškarinec, Vladimír Naxera","doi":"10.34135/sjps.220101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.220101","url":null,"abstract":"At the 2017 parliamentary elections in Czechia, the Czech Pirate Party was unprecedentedly successful compared to most Pirate Party in Europe. However, while the Pirate-led alliance PirSTAN won 15.62% of the votes in the 2021 Parliamentary Election, the number of Pirate MPs dropped from 22 to 4. The goal of this paper is therefore to explain this decline. We show that the pirates’ failures were primarily due to the tactical and strategic failures of the pirates, who, although acting as a data-based party, were unable to assess the danger of an electoral alliance with STAN, whose local and regional reputation and tactics targeting preferences have managed to minimize the representation of pirates.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41691742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Political Messianism in Portugal, the Case of André Ventura","authors":"João Ferreira Dias","doi":"10.34135/sjps.220104","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.220104","url":null,"abstract":"The article aims to discuss Populist Radical Right (“PRR”) through the case of the Portuguese party, Chega (“enough”), presenting its leader, André Ventura, as a political Messiah. Confronting the literature, this article emphasises that, until Ventura came into the scene and contrary to the idea of Portuguese exceptionalism, populism was historically evident in Portuguese politics long before the advent of Chega. Although much has been written about the PRR party, this article presents its leader, André Ventura, in the frame of political messianism. Supporting the argument with tweets from Ventura, this article shows that the leader of Chega navigates the waters of Portuguese colonial memory, with its narrative of a country without racism and of political messianism with roots in Sebastianism in case of Portugal, a poetic-prophetic aspiration for the return of the political saviour. To acquire a religious aura, Ventura uses elements of popular Portuguese religiosity, such as the Miracle of Fatima.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46986632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enlightenment and Nation-Defence Profile of Ján Čaplovič","authors":"Marcela Gbúrová","doi":"10.34135/sjps.220105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.220105","url":null,"abstract":"Ján Čaplovič (1780 - 1847) was one of the major figures of the Slovak national-revivalist generation, in large part due to the role he played in bridging the professional and language gaps during the reform course of the rulers of the Austrian monarchy, and the struggle of the Hungarian nobility for Hungarian independence in the late 18th and early 19th centuries due to the search for soft but effective forms of nation-defence activities. This study presents the enlightenment and nation-defence profile of the Slovak patriot Ján Čaplovič who has received minimal attention from the Slovak academic community after 1990s. Although he is not considered a prominent national revivalist, his publishing devoted to ethnographic and national defence issues significantly contributed to Slovaks taking their stance in the multinational Austrian monarchy, in strengthening their ethnic identity, and in fostering the process of codification of their literary language as the most important national identification sign in 1843. The study is divided into three relatively separate but interrelated sections. The first part outlines his enlightenment profile, with special attention paid to its most important component, which was used in his ethnographic and patriotic works. The second part profiles the Slovak national defences of the first four decades of the 19th century of authors such as Pavol Senický, Juraj Rohonyi, Samuel Hoič, Matej Šuhajda, Ján Chalupka, Jozef Meltzer, Ondrej Soltys, Ľudovít Štúr, Ján Francisci, and Michal Miloslav Hodža. Their defences played an important role in supporting active political forms of enforcing the ethnic-emancipatory demands of the representatives of the Slovak nation-forming elite for a more democratic settlement of the contemporaneous conditions in the monarchy, especially in historic Hungary. The last part analyses in detail the national defences of Ján Čaplovič and evaluates their expressive value.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46229661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Psychological Aspects of Political Choices: Focus on Cognition, Decision-Making Styles, and Emotions in Voting Behaviour","authors":"Lucia Viteková, I. Václaviková","doi":"10.34135/sjps.220102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.220102","url":null,"abstract":"The presented paper focuses on the issue of voting behaviour. It aims to determine the importance of selected cognitive factors, decision-making styles and emotional factors in electoral decision-making and behaviour in voters with different political preferences and voters of specific Slovak political parties. The cognitive style was evaluated using the Cognitive Reflection Test - Version 2. Decision-making styles were explored using the General Decision Making Styles Questionnaire and emotion preferences in information processing were evaluated using the following affective states test. Within the research sample (N = 308, average age 36.2 years), distinct groups of Slovak voters were created: 1. based on parties with different ideological orientations, and 2. based on specific Slovak political parties. The predictive significance of the observed characteristics for the choice of a political subject with a particular ideology and the choice of a specific Slovak political party was explored. All the variables monitored – cognitive style, decision-making style, and emotion preferences in information processing – proved to be significant.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48494121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Krno, S., Juza, P., Práznovská, M. and Čajková, A. (ed.). (2021). Čína v súčasných medzinárodných vzťahoch. (In English: China in Contemporary International Relations)","authors":"Beáta Izsófová","doi":"10.34135/sjps.220107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.220107","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45734678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"European Union Energy Security: Constructing a “Shelter” for Small States’ energy security preservation","authors":"Javad Keypour","doi":"10.34135/sjps.220103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.220103","url":null,"abstract":"Energy security has been one of the most important issues in the European Union over the past few years. Although the debate has focused primarily on the approach of the main EU powers, this research aims at studying the impact of small Member States’ size on their energy security in the EU. Then it provides proposals to safeguard the energy security of EU small countries by providing a comprehensive interpretation of the term alliance in shelter theory. Applying the composed “smallness” index and the quantitative method, the results imply a direct relationship between the small states’ size and energy security in the first step. The study shows that such a relationship cannot be proven in non-small States. Although the EU has tried to strengthen collective energy security in Member States, such differences show that complementary policies are needed to ensure energy security in small countries. Given an extensive interpretation of “alliance” in shelter theory, this research proposes deep integration of the small states’ energy infrastructure in order to ensure their energy security. In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the EU’s energy security, especially in the small states, is more fragile than ever, adopting such a policy seems more vital.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41621443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review: De Vries, M. S., Nemec, J., and Špaček, D. (2022) International Trends in Participatory Budgeting: Between Trivial Pursuits and Best Practices, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, ISBN 978-3-030-79929-8.","authors":"Martina Balážová","doi":"10.34135/sjps.210207","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.210207","url":null,"abstract":"A decade ago, when many European countries were only commencing with participatory budgeting (PB), research literature remained fragmented and rather scarce. The book International Trends in Participatory Budgeting: Between Trivial Pursuits and Best Practices provides a unique report on the state of PB in Europe. In particular, it has a focus on Central Eastern European (CEE) cases in a comparative perspective. The book unveils to the reader the beginnings and first steps of PB implementation, and it opens a discussion on its development and durability. In the first chapter of the book, the authors emphasize the specific nature of the spread of PB. “When the innovative practice spread [...] something strange happened. The main intended effects and the unintended sideeffects of PB changed places. The main effects became secondary, and the unintended side-effects became major goals of PB” (p. 16). The book then in-depth details the practices and expected and unexpected results of PB implementation. The reader is invited to set out on a discovery through thirteen countries: Germany, Italy, Sweden, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Slovakia. As acknowledged by the authors, these countries were still a “black box” (p. 21), where hardly anything was known regarding PB developments. The authors naturally identified some countries as “old democracies” (Germany, Italy, Sweden) and used them as benchmarks for analysing the PB in the CEE region. They opened this black box, with each chapter dedicated to one country. The book also provides reasons for implementing the PB in each country, information on the stage of its implementation, and concludes with a statement of outcomes, their acceptance, and overall satisfaction with PB among decisionmakers and other participants in its implementation and sustention. The editors of the book are well-known authors in terms of local government, public administration, and budgeting innovations in and outside the CEE region. Following the previously published book Performancebased Budgeting in the Public Sector (2019), the editors Michiel de Vries,","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48379369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Participatory Budgeting: Case Study of Possible Causes of Failures","authors":"Michal Soukop, Pavel Šaradín, Markéta Zapletalová","doi":"10.34135/sjps.210202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.210202","url":null,"abstract":"Participatory budgeting is perhaps the most widespread and popular form of democratic innovation (DI). It is often identified as an appropriate tool to deepen the democracy at the local level. The text shows that this is not always the case, as some elected officials may use it as a innovation “façade” or its design suffers from various forms of imperfections leading to its failure to be implemented. The authors focus on the practice of participatory budgeting and its failures in the Czech Republic. Through the empirical testing of causal mechanism, the article reveals the main causes of that failure, in the case of its implementation in Prague 7 borough. The mechanism presented is based on the theory-testing minimal process-tracing design in which part of the findings of the previous research have been tested. It also attempts to support empirically only the significant steps of the mechanism between cause and outcome. In particular, the three scope conditions are tested: political support, sufficient funding for participatory budgeting and the existence of a source of know-how. Authors conclude that in the selected case, there was a domino effect of failure, with successive failures in all observed conditions, which ultimately led to a complete brake of causal mechanism and failure of participatory budgeting tool.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46565914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Selected Factors Determining the Adoption and Use of Participatory Budgeting in Central and Eastern Europe","authors":"D. Klimovský, Veronica Junjan, J. Nemec","doi":"10.34135/sjps.210206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.210206","url":null,"abstract":"This is a summary article of the SJPS thematic issue on participatory budgeting in the Central and Eastern European region. Its authors provide an overview of the diffusion of participatory budgeting, and they classify relevant countries in terms of the pace of this diffusion into four different groups: frontrunners, early majority, later majority, and lagging adopters. In addition, they uncover various diffusion mechanisms that have been used. Since the research articles included in this thematic issue unpack various factors that influence the diffusion of the innovative practice of participatory budgeting in the specific settings of Central and Eastern Europe, the main goal of this article is to sum up their crucial findings and formulate several conclusions, including a few avenues for further research. A clear majority of countries in the region have already collected a relevant amount of experience with the adoption and further use of participatory budgeting. An analysis of the individual experiences reveals that the position and characteristics of mayors, organizational resources, and available capacities, as well as the quality of public trust, are likely to be important factors that determine the adoption and use of participatory budgeting in the region.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48182994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Participation of Citizens in Public Financial Decision-Making in Serbia","authors":"Mirela Trtovac Šabović, Miloš Milosavljević, Sladjana Benkovic","doi":"10.34135/sjps.210205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.34135/sjps.210205","url":null,"abstract":"Participation in the local public finance decision-making process in Serbia is not a new concept as it was implemented even during the ‘Titoistic’ period. However, direct participation is still in an infant phase altogether with the low interest of citizens in participating in local financial decision-making procedures. The aim of this paper is to explain the main types of civic participation in the local financial decision-making process (i.e., referendum voting on self-imposed contribution, participatory budgeting, and civic crowdfunding) and to focus on the main factors that lead to a low participation of citizens in such processes. Additionally, the article analyses how these factors affect general mistrust in politics and society. For this purpose, a total of N=421 citizens were interviewed. Using the principal component analysis, the following three main components for low participation were defined: 1) lack of knowledge, 2) lack of interest, and 3) lack of political will. Thereafter, using the regression analysis, the study confirmed that the first two components are statistically significant predictors for mistrust in politics and society.","PeriodicalId":36889,"journal":{"name":"Slovak Journal of Political Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47119433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}