Eurointegration in Czech Left-Wing Parliamentary Parties’ Programs in the 1990s – 2010s

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comparative historical analysis of the foreign policy sections of the programs of the Czech Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia using documents from their current archives. Particular attention in the approaches of the two parties is paid to the issues of the integration of the Czech Republic into the structures of NATO and the European Union. Based on the study of the available scientific literature, a conclusion is made about the need to consider this problem through the prism of two main lines in the context of European integration: security policy and economic rapprochement with the EU. Fundamental differences in the interpretations of Czech Social Democrats and Communists about the prospects for their country's entry into European and Euro-Atlantic associations have been revealed. If the Social Democrats defended the need to “enter Europe” and even into its “core”, seeing this as a significant benefit for the country’s economy due to the free movement of labor, protection from currency crises and a reduction in transaction costs, the Communists called for maintaining the focus on a multi-vector foreign policy of the state – cooperation with all countries of interest to the Czech Republic. At the same time, both parties, although with varying degrees of intensity, resorted to criticism of European institutions. The results of the study help to identify the reason why the major Czech left-wing parties lost the elections to the lower house of the Czech Parliament in 2021.

Full Text

Restricted Access

About the authors

Mstislav Yu. Ankhimyuk

Institute of Slavic Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: mankhimiuk@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6785-2070

Postgraduate Student

Russian Federation, Moscow

References

  1. Hanley S. Are the exceptions really the rule? Questioning the application of «electoral‐professional» type models of party organization in East Central Europe. Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Leiden, Brill Academic Publishers, 2001, vol. 2, pp. 453–479. URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1570585018458772.
  2. Havlík V. A breaking-up of a pro-European consensus: Attitudes of Czech political parties towards the European integration (1998–2010). Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Berkeley, 2011, no. 44(2), pp. 129–147.
  3. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251630498_A_breaking-up_of_a_pro-European_ consensus_Attitudes_of_Czech_political_parties_towards_the_European_integration_1998-2010.
  4. Havlík V., Vykoupilová H. Two dimensions of the Europeanization of election programs: The case of the Czech Republic. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Berkeley, 2008, no. 41(2), pp. 163‒187. URL:
  5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248415294_Two_dimensions_of_the_Europeanization_of_election_ programs_The_case_of_the_Czech_Republic.
  6. Kopeček L., Pšeja P. Czech Social Democracy and its «cohabitation» with the Communist Party: The story of a neglected affair. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Oakland, 2008, pp. 317‒338. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223285460_Czech_Social_Democracy_and_its_cohabitation_ with_the_Communist_Party_The_story_of_a_neglected_affair.
  7. Kořan M. Domestic Politics in Czech Foreign Policy: Between Consensus and Clash. International Issues & Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs, Bratislava, Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, 2007, vol. 3, Is. 2. pp. 23–45. URL: https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/journals/iisfpa/v3i2/.
  8. Kuznetsova Z. Perspektivy vkhozhdeniia Chekhii v zonu jevro. Svobodnaia mysl’, 2008, no. 12, pp. 35–49. (In Russ.)
  9. Mareš M. Konsolidace levice ve stranickém systému České republiky. Czech Journal of Political Science/Politologický časopis, Brno, 2011, no. 2, pp. 133–159. URL: https://czechpolsci.eu/article/view/34768.
  10. Ocherki politicheskoi istorii stran Tsentral’noi i Iugo-Vostochnoi Jevropy. Konets XX – nachalo XXI v. otv. red. K.V. Nikiforov (Tsentral’naia i Iugo-Vostochnaia Jevropa v XX–XXI vv. issledovaniia i dokumenty, vyp. 1. Moscow; St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriia Publ., 2020, 464 p. (In Russ.)
  11. Pink M. The Electoral Base of Left-Wing Post-Communist Political Parties in the Former Czechoslovakia. Středoevropské politické studie, Brno, 2012, ročník XIV, číslo 2–3, pp. 170–192. URL: https://journals.muni.cz/cepsr/article/view/4580/6142
  12. Polášek M., Novotný V., Perottino M. Mezi masovou a kartelovou stranou: Možnosti teorie při výkladu vývoje ČSSD a KSČM v letech 2000–2010. Sociologické nakladatelství, Praha, 2012, 192 p. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236143005_Mezi_masovou_a_kartelovou_stranou_Moznosti_teorie_pri_vykladu_vyvoje_CSSD_a_KSCM_v_letech_2000-2010_Mass_and_Cartel_Parties_Sources_of_Theory_for_Interpreting_the_Development_of_CSSD_and_KSCM_in_2000-. (In Czech.)
  13. Roe H.L. The Electoral Success of Communist-Successor Parties in the Czech Republic and Romania. Scholarship Repository, San Francisco, 2016. URL: https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/203/.
  14. Shcherbakova Iu.A. Problema jevropeiskikh tsennostei i natsional’nogo gosudarstva v cheshskoi diskussii o jevropeiskoi integratsii. Jevropeizm i natsionalizm v stranakh Vostochnoi Jevropy, 2014, no. 2014, pp. 107–126. (In Russ.)
  15. Tarasov I.N. Parlamentarizm i politicheskaia konkurentsiia v Cheshskoi Respublike. Perspektivy. Elektronnyi zhurnal, 2008. URL: https://www.perspektivy.info/oykumena/europe/parlamentarizm_i_politicheskaja_konkurencija_v_cheshskoj_respublike_2008-05-21.htm. (In Russ.)
  16. Tavits M. Post-Communist Democracies and Party Organization, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2013, 295 p.
  17. Trukhachev V.V. Chekhiia: raskol iz-za antirossiiskikh sanktsii. RSMD. 4 dekabria 2017 g. URL: https://russiancouncil.ru/analytics-and-comments/analytics/chekhiya-raskol-iz-za-antirossiyskikh-sanktsiy/. (In Russ.)
  18. Tsentral’naia i Iugo-Vostochnaia Jevropa. Konets XX – nachalo XXI vv. Istoriko-politologicheskii spravochnik. Moscow; St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriia Publ., 2015. 480 p. (In Russ.)
  19. Tsentral’naia i Vostochnaia Jevropa: uroki mirovogo krizisa, pod red. k.g.n. N.V. Kulikovoi. St. Petersburg, Aleteiia Publ., 2011. 343 p. (In Russ.)
  20. Vedernikov M.V. Protestnyi kren v cheshskoi politike: vybory 2017. RSMD. 23 oktiabria 2017 g. URL: https://russiancouncil.ru/analytics-and-comments/analytics/protestnyy-kren-v-cheshskoy-politike-vybory-2017/. (In Russ.)
  21. Vedernikov M.V. Vystraivanije vneshnei politiki Cheshskoi Respubliki v otnoshenii Rossii (2014-2016). Nauchno-analiticheskii vestnik IJE RAN, 2018, no. 3, pp. 23–30. (In Russ.)
  22. Zadorozhniuk E.G. Sotsial-demokratiia v Tsentral’noi Jevrope, otv. red. d-r filos. nauk Iu.S. Novopashin. Moscow, Academia Publ., 2000, 312 p. (In Russ.)
  23. Zadorozhniuk E.G. Vneshnepoliticheskije prioritety cheshskikh parlamentskikh partii (po itogam vyborov 2017 goda). Slavianskii mir v tret’jem tysiacheletii, 2018, no. 1–2, pp. 144–159. (In Russ.)

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c) 2024 Russian Academy of Sciences