Download full issue

Radical Right-Wing Parties in Central Europe: Mutual Contacts and Cooperation

Pavla Dočekalová, p.7–23

Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyse mutual contacts between and cooperation of the strongest extreme right-wing political parties in Central European countries, i.e. in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The article defines the extreme right, introduces its member parties in the region (those who had or still have parliamentary representation, namely the Association for the Republic – the Republican Party of Czechoslovakia, Hungarian Truth and Life Party, League of Polish Families and the Slovak National Party) and analyses what kind of bilateral or multilateral relations they have maintained. It explains the possibilities of and obstacles to the transnational cooperation of the Central European radical right. Special emphasis is placed on European Union structures and the question of whether EU membership has influenced the mutual contacts of these parties. The conclusion states that although radical right political parties have maintained mutual relations, these links have been rather limited. The main reason can be found in the very nature of the radical right: its ideology is based on nationalism, which means that these parties do not consider international cooperation beneficial. Furthermore, they often have contradictory interests and aims, and these parties are heterogeneous and prefer different strategies for transnational cooperation.

Keywords: extreme right, Central Europe, transnational cooperation, political parties, party family

The Notion of Security and free Access to Information Creation and Development of the right of the public to know in European and Croatian Jurisprudence

Branko Smerdel and Đorđe Gardašević, p. 24–37

Abstract: The contemporary notion of security, both in legal terms and international relations, reveals several important issues of crucial importance. The core of the matter centres upon a proper understanding of the balance between the competing values of the public interest on one side and individual rights on the other. The authors deal with the relevant European developments and Croatian experiences in the legal interpretation of standards guaranteeing free access to information, understood as a fundamental right, and show that an appropriate method of interpretation is indispensable for its protection.

Keywords: democracy, free access to information, European and Croation jurisprudence, individual security and liberty, notion of security

Voting “à la carte”: Electoral Support for the Radical Right in the 2005 Bulgarian Parliamentary Elections

Boyka Stefanova, p. 38–70

Abstract: This paper explores the sources of votes for radical-right parties using the example of electoral support for the Attack Party in the 2005 Bulgarian parliamentary elections. It expands theoretical propositions on the presence of extremist parties in electoral politics by proposing an analytical model which explains radical-right voting as the result of disequilibria between political supply and voter demand in the electoral market. The paper argues that support for the radical right represents unmet voter demand and combines à la carte elements of single-issue politics, xenophobia, protest and charismatic political agency in electoral choice valid for individual voters but not for clearly identifiable cohorts of voters. The paper examines the evidence on electoral support for the Attack Party against the premises of the à la carte model – the structure of electoral competition, radical-right political agency, and voter preferences – and finds that the radical-right vote in the 2005 election validates its key proposition: electoral support for the radical right lacks coherent social structure and correspondence between voter expectations and party programmatic appeal. Based on the Bulgarian case study the paper concludes that the ability to offer voting choices à la carte, regardless of its ideological positions and the political expectations of its own electorate represents a resource for the sustained presence of the radical right in the electoral market.

Keywords: Bulgaria, post-communist party systems, parliamentary elections, radical-right voting, Attack Party, à la carte model of electoral choice

The role of Internet in the »war« against terrorism – threatening privacy or a ensuring mechanism (national) security (the Slovene perspective)

Uroš Svete, p. 71–82

Abstract: The use of information-communication technology (ICT) undoubtedly leads towards greater decentralization and individualization of societies. On the other hand, due to the use of ICT, the perception of physical reality has basically changed. When the ICT (security) implications of individual (human) or national security theoretical and empirical perspectives are discussed, a very interesting turning point can be observed. After 11 September 2001, and following the terrorist attacks in Europe, the state has been trying to increase control over ICT and especially the Internet. At the same time, civil society, non-governmental organizations and even individuals have been expressing their own security and other interests, expressed in the fight for privacy and individual human rights. Although the state reactions against particular security challenges are often disproportionate, we can see very different policies, even within the same security communities such as NATO and the European Union. Meanwhile, some countries have developed very strong mechanisms for controlling ICT and data retention; in others individual privacy and human rights are still respected and untouchable. Nevertheless, the terrorist attacks showed very clearly that telecommunication data retention as well as other control mechanisms could not prevent all kinds of such attacks. They could only be used after security incidents occurred as a means for identifying perpetrators. How much liberty society is prepared to sacrifice in exchange for greater, but in no way absolute, security depends on societal, political and cultural standards.

Keywords: human security, privacy, national security, intelligence, civil society, virtual community, human information security, data retention, terrorism

Between Atlanticism, Anti-Americanism and Europeanization: Dilemmas in Czech Foreign Policy and the War on Terrorism

Šárka Waisová, p. 83–94

Abstract: US–Czech relations have a long tradition, dating back to the time of an independent Czechoslovakia. The author analyse US–Czech bilateral relations in the post-Cold War period. The primary focus will be on long-term trends, along with the influence that particular events have had on the evolution and periodization of these relations. Some of the consequences of 9/11 and the War on Terrorism for US–Czech relations will be examined.

Keywords: Czech Republic, the war on terrorism, US-Czech relations

DISCUSSION

Jerzy J. Wiatr: Civic Education for Human Rights

BOOK REVIEWS

Martin Jeřábek: Right-Wing Radicalism in Germany and Poland (National and European Perspectives)

Přemysl Rosůlek: Is the European Union a global actor?

David Šanc: Left-Social Democratic and (Ex-)Communist Parties in Contemporary Europe