Czech Journal of Political Science

Divided by Crisis? Spatial Analysis of the Czech Presidential Election 2023 in the Context of the War in Ukraine

2026-01-06T10:11:16+01:00

This article presents the results of a geographical analysis of the first round of the presidential election 2023 in the Czech Republic, focusing on the two most successful candidates: Petr Pavel and Andrej Babiš. The results are analysed in the context of cleavage theory, namely in the context of Ukrainian refugees, whom the Czech Republic has accepted the most in Europe. After the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the country entered another crisis that fuelled populist sentiment. Using geographically weighted regression and the OLS model, the analysis shows a significant spatial non-stationarity of this variable. In accordance with previous research, significantly diverse patterns and an unstable direction of action of this variable in relation to ideologically heterogeneous candidates were also revealed. In addition, the overlap of electoral support for candidates with the electoral results of supporting political parties was also confirmed, as well as the influence of traditional socioeconomic factors. On the contrary, except for the entrepreneur variable, these are rather spatially stationary, and their influence does not change significantly across the country.

Czechoslovak Social Democracy Between Revolution and Evolution

2025-09-26T14:41:48+02:00

This article deals with the historical crossroads of the social-democratic movement. Despite the choice of the environment of interwar Czechoslovakia, the article's conclusion is intended to provide a new conceptualisation of the topic of socialism when the author uses a specific Central European case. Using discursive analysis, the article follows the revolutionary discourse, represented by articles in the official daily newspaper of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Labour Party – Právo lidu. The discursive strategies emerging from the articles in the newspaper Právo lidu correspond to a revolutionary-socialist discourse that stretches from early Marx to the present. Some aspects of revolutionary thinking change, but the fundamental pillars remain the same. The reduction of social problems to a class scheme, the division between us and them, the division between exploiters and exploited. All this is set in a linear scheme that ends in redemption in the form of an egalitarian society. Based on the observed discourse and a reflection on the literature, the article concludes by offering starting points for an analysis of the position of social democracy at the ideological crossroads.

Emotional Impact of Pro-Russian Disinformation in the Czech Media Space: Analysis of Sentiments, Narratives and Manipulative Strategies (2016–2023)

2026-01-29T13:53:15+01:00

The RF’s disinformation campaigns targeting the Czech media space demonstrate a systematic use of emotional manipulation to destabilize public opinion and undermine democratic institutions. These campaigns are characterized by a deliberate interplay of fear, anger, and trust to amplify their manipulative impact. The study aims to analyze the emotional strategies and dominant sentiments in pro-Russian disinformation narratives and to uncover their role in shaping public perception. The findings reveal that the RF’s disinformation employs contrasting sentiments – negative (fear, anger) and positive (trust, hope) – to enhance credibility and emotional resonance; such dominant topics as internal politics, external threats, and economic crises are strategically utilized to align with the Czech socio-political context; the dynamics of sentiments over time indicate a shift from overtly negative narratives to more subtle and complex strategies aimed at increasing public trust in disinformation sources. The analysis highlights the dual function of emotional narratives in pro-Russian disinformation: creating societal tension while fostering selective trust to manipulate public opinion effectively.

China’s Relations with Africa: A New Era of Strategic Engagement

2026-01-02T12:36:36+01:00

This review essay critically engages with the monograph China’s Relations with Africa: A New Era of Strategic Engagement by David H. Shinn and Joshua Eisenman (2023). The essay situates the book within contemporary debates on China–Africa relations, great-power competition, and the geopolitics of the Global South. It evaluates the book’s main arguments, empirical contributions, and analytical strengths, while also identifying key limitations related to the predominance of a bilateral analytical framework. Particular attention is paid to the absence of a systematic triangulary perspective involving China, the United States, and France in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review essay argues that this gap opens important avenues for further comparative and methodologically innovative research, especially through the application of configurational approaches such as fsQCA.

Echoes of the War in Ukraine: Political Ramifications in the Baltics and the Balkans by Vassilis Petsinis, Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, Switzerland, 2025.

2026-03-06T16:47:41+01:00

Two Recent German Language Books Debate the Current Political Situation in Germany

2026-04-02T11:40:08+02:00

Chris Reiter & Will Wilkes: Totally kaputt? Wie Deutschland sich selbst zerlegt (Broken Republik – The Inside Story of Germany’s Descent into crisis), Munich: Piper Press, 2025.

Arne Semsrott: Machtübernahme - was passiert, wenn Rechtsextremisten regieren (The Takeover – What Happens when Right-Wing Extremists Govern), Munich: Droemer Knaur Press, 2024.