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This article analyses and compares two Czech entrepreneurial parties, Public Affairs (W) and ANO (meaning 'yes' in Czech). Both parties achieved great success in the first parliamentary elections in which they contested; however, whereas W quickly collapsed, the success of ANO proved to be sustainable. The theoretical framework of the article Is the development model of institutionalisation proposed by Robert Harmel and Lars Svásand, which has three phases: identification, organisation and stabilisation. We show that in the identification phase the leaders of both parties, Vít Bárta (W) and Andrej Babiš (ANO), proved to exploit the crisis in traditional political representation and the hunger for new parties and personalities effectively, while successfully developing their protest appeals. The differences were visible during the organisation phase. On the one hand, Bárta's strategy of dual leadership (formal and actual) of his party caused conflicts, defections and undesirable media attention. On the other hand, Babis's leading role in the new party was clear. He also constructed the party's internal mechanisms, and as such was able to control intraparty dissent. The problems of Bárta's W deepened in the stabilisation phase. The combination of unmanaged government engagement and growing scandals discredited the party. By contrast, Babiš was able to gradually transform ANO into a competent and credible government party. This successful stabilisation greatly helped to facilitate an efficient and disciplined party organisation, 'accommodating the neutrality' of some important media, effective communication with voters and improvement of the economic situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers a conceptual framework to investigate the phenomenon of entrepreneurial parties in the countries of East-Central Europe. The authors evaluate existing concepts related to increasing interdependence of party politics and the business sector, such as business-firm parties. These concepts are typically much too bound to a particular example of historically emerging entrepreneurial party and therefore the paper offers a more general concept of entrepreneurial party. The concept is based on five basic features: (1) the central role of the leader and his private initiative, (2) the party as a personal vehicle, (3) the crucial formative influence of a leader over the political project. Two other features are related to the social and institutional un-rootedness of the entrepreneurial party which is neither a product of (4) a promoter/sponsor organisation or social movement, nor it is an outcome of (5) a parliamentary split or emergence of a new faction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the Public Affairs Party, which entered the Czech House of Deputies after the 2010 parliamentary elections. The aim of the paper is to cover organizational matters and certain peculiarities of the party. As the most appropriate tool of analysis, the concept of a business firm party is used. The author shows how the political and economic interests of the party's most influential member, Vit Bárta, overlapped significantly and that Bárta could be depicted as a kind of "political entrepreneur" misusing political activity for his business purposes. The analysis of the functioning of the Public Affairs Party and especially the distribution of power inside the party shows, in comparison to classical examples of business firm parties, that Public Affairs embodies a new way of intersecting politics and business practices: the already existing party was taken over (in a hostile way, to use the language of business) by a business company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the "state of the art" of municipal and local politics research in Germany. The main objective is to describe and analyze good practice in German sub-regional politics research and to demonstrate its main distinctive features. The paper provides a general overview of current approaches to sub-regional politics research existing mainly in the framework of political science with strong connections to other disciplines (such as law or sociology) and a strong tendency to form a multidisciplinary approach. Our analysis deals with the following: a description of the main research institutions and distinguished scholars in the field, a discussion of prevailing topics, and a study of the most cited publication outcomes since the year 2000. The paper also examines the main differences between Czech and German research in the field of municipal and local politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the Europeanizatlon of Czech political parties. The authors assess the scope of Europeanization of Czech political parties from the point of view of manifesto changes, changes in organizational patterns, and other important aspects. The study focuses on relevant parties during the period when the Czech Republic was a candidate country, and later a member country of the European Union. The main thesis argued in the paper is the limited impact of Europeanization processes on Czech political parties. The authors also demonstrate that the prospective development leaves little room for further Europeanization of political parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the conceptualisation of the issue of European integration from the perspective of cleavages. First, the author presents 'post- Rokkanian' politics as a metaphor for the current composition of European societies and subsequently more fluid ties between parties and voters in the political space. The effects that lead to the re-conceptualising of the cleavage concept are discussed within this context. In agreement with Bartolini and Mair, cleavages are seen as the combination of a societal division, a value element and an element of political organisation, but more emphasis is put on the active structuration of social and political conflicts by political parties. Second, the author analyses European integration observed in terms of its cleavage-producing potential. The main argument is based on a specific feature of 'European' cleavages, which combine both functional and territorial dimensions that reflect social and political structures. Only in cases where different aspects of these dimensions are reinforced do 'European' cleavages emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]