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Participatory, deliberative and agonistic democracy: current theories and practical applications
Sekerák, Marián ; Salamon, Janusz (advisor) ; Valeš, Lukáš (referee) ; Müller, Karel B. (referee)
The rapidly changing political environment in our Western liberal democracies poses a big challenge not only to elected representatives but also to scholars. In this dissertation thesis I describe and clarify the main principles and ideas of the three currently most dominant, debated and promising democratic theories, namely participatory democracy, deliberative democracy and Mouffe's agonistic pluralism. Their criticisms and the most important polemics are included as well. The first theory introduced in dissertation's theoretical part is participatory democracy, which is heavily neglected in the Slovak academia. It is presented especially through the prism of Carole Pateman's, C.B. Macpherson's and Benjamin Barber's writings. Their ideas on civic engagement in public life appear to be noteworthy again, especially in the light of the changing conditions of democratic citizenship - particularly in regards to the EU-wide decline in voter turnout, increasing income inequality, downgrade of social solidarity and cooperation, growing intolerance or dissatisfaction with representative democracy and its institutions. This theory has been verified on the example of the European Citizens' Initiatives (ECI), which are deemed to be one of most promising political tools adjusting EU's democratic deficit....
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Deepening democracy at the local level / Civic participation in Utrecht
Blahetová, Kristýna ; Skovajsa, Marek (advisor) ; Benyovszky, Selma (referee)
This thesis focuses on the topic of active citizenship in democratic societies. An emphasis is placed on the clarification of the role of the citizen as an engaged participant in the political process at the local level. This issue is contextualized within the theory of democracy, which legitimacy is fulfilled by the citizen participation. The empirical part is devoted to the research of the citizen participation in the Dutch city of Utrecht, where the way of cooperation between citizens and public officers was investigated in the process of public policy making. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the form and the contribution of the civic participation in Utrecht. Keywords democracy, democracy at the local level, participatory democracy, citizen, participation, codecision, cooperation, relationship between the citizen and the politician, level of participation
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The Comparision of the Chosen Concepts of Socioeconomic Alternatives
Ulrych, Lukáš ; Stracený, Josef (advisor) ; Samek, Tomáš (referee)
The aim of this diploma thesis is to enrich the political imagination in terms of the ability to think about alternative socioeconomic arrangement of the human society. Its topic is a comparison of three chosen concepts of socioeconomic alternatives according to the following criteria: (1) the degree of economic democracy in terms of the employees' control of enterprises and in terms of the citizens' control of economy, (2) their political systems and (3) the means of remuneration. The chosen concepts of alternative socioeconomic arrangement present concepts of market socialism of David Schweickart, cybersocialism of Allin Cottrell and W. Paul Cockshott and the participatory economics of Michael Albert. The aim of this diploma thesis was realized through the analysis and description of the chosen concepts of socioeconomic alternatives and their subsequent comparison by virtue of the mentioned criteria. Besides the method of analysis and comparison there were also used the methods of induction, deduction, analogy and abstraction. By virtue of the comparison of the chosen socioeconomic alternatives according to the criteria we found out that large measure of economic democracy in employee's control of enterprises, as in the case of market socialism, decreases the degree of influence of citizens on...
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Participatory Democracy and Political Activism
Polák, Martin ; Znoj, Milan (advisor) ; Bíba, Jan (referee)
(in English): This bachelor thesis is dedicated to theories of participatory democracy and utilization of their ideas on the work of political activists in the Czech Republic. A theoretical basis of this work is definiton of participatory democracy, mainly according to Carole Pateman, Benjamin R. Barber and Brian Barry. This theoretical frame is subsequently used for the research part of the thesis, which is based on interviews with chosen representatives of political activism in the Czech Republic. These interviews are analyzed to find out, if the ideas of participatory democracy are important for the work and self-understanding of political activist, and if they are necessary for them. Since nowadays view of sociologists is, that there is mainly the transactional activism in the Czech Republic which does not include ideas of participatory democracy, the aim of this thesis is to point out, that there should be a general sociologist opinion which counts with the ideas of the participatory democracy as an important part of the political activism in the Czech republic, because, as my research has shown, these ideas are significant part of the self-understanding of chosen political activists.
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Involving users of social services in the community planning process in Karlovy Vary Region
Pisár, Robert ; Tollarová, Blanka (advisor) ; Růžička, Michal (referee)
This Master's thesis deals with the description of the current state of community planning of social services and the mid-term planning of development of social services in the Karlovy Vary region. At the same time, the thesis reflects the historical content which led to the use of the community planning method in The Czech Republic. In the thesis, the author uses examples from abroad and from The Czech Republic that show specific problems especially encountered by organizers planning social services. The author bases his research on his analysis of interviews held with planning coordinators in the Karlovy Vary region. From the coordinators viewpoint, they describe structure and course of social service planning processes in the region. The author also examines the role of users invited into the planning of social services, how planning organizers communicate with those users, and how all representatives evaluate the plan's results. An additional information source regading social services planning dealt with publicly available resources, particularly websites of individual cities and their regions. The objectives of using this sources were to describe the planning of social services in the Karlovy Vary region and to determine its main active players. In conclusion, the author summarizes the...
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Participatory, deliberative and agonistic democracy: current theories and practical applications
Sekerák, Marián ; Salamon, Janusz (advisor) ; Valeš, Lukáš (referee) ; Müller, Karel B. (referee)
The rapidly changing political environment in our Western liberal democracies poses a big challenge not only to elected representatives but also to scholars. In this dissertation thesis I describe and clarify the main principles and ideas of the three currently most dominant, debated and promising democratic theories, namely participatory democracy, deliberative democracy and Mouffe's agonistic pluralism. Their criticisms and the most important polemics are included as well. The first theory introduced in dissertation's theoretical part is participatory democracy, which is heavily neglected in the Slovak academia. It is presented especially through the prism of Carole Pateman's, C.B. Macpherson's and Benjamin Barber's writings. Their ideas on civic engagement in public life appear to be noteworthy again, especially in the light of the changing conditions of democratic citizenship - particularly in regards to the EU-wide decline in voter turnout, increasing income inequality, downgrade of social solidarity and cooperation, growing intolerance or dissatisfaction with representative democracy and its institutions. This theory has been verified on the example of the European Citizens' Initiatives (ECI), which are deemed to be one of most promising political tools adjusting EU's democratic deficit....
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European citizens' initiative: An effective tool of participatory democracy?
Fitzeková, Tereza ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (referee)
European citizens' initiative was introduced by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and further specified by Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011, as a tool of participatory democracy; and this thesis examines whether European citizens' initiative is an effective tool. It starts with an introduction of theories of legitimacy and democratic deficit related to the European Union, in connection with which the European citizens' initiative came into existence, and also the theory of participatory democracy, within the scope of which the European citizens' initiative can be placed. The thesis then specifies three criteria in order to examine the effectiveness of this tool. In the first criterion, it analyses the criteria set for the European citizens' initiative in the above-mentioned Regulation in comparison with similar tools on national levels, and with regard to other academic analyses on this topic. In the second criterion, the thesis examines citizens who use European citizens' initiative on the basis of a questionnaire among representatives and substitutes of selected initiatives. In the third criterion, it analyses up-to-date results of two initiatives with closed collection of statements and with European Commission's conclusions,...
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Deepening democracy at the local level / Civic participation in Utrecht
Blahetová, Kristýna ; Skovajsa, Marek (advisor) ; Hrubeš, Milan (referee)
This thesis focuses on the topic of active citizenship in democratic societies. An emphasis is placed on the clarification of the role of the citizen as an engaged actor who has the right to influence political processes and decision-making at the local level. Democracy is seen from a variety of angles in the theoretical part, particular attention is given to participatory democracy and deliberation. The practical part is devoted to the research that was carried out in the Dutch city Utrecht, where the specific tools used for engaging citizens in policy- making were investigated together with motivations of public officials as well as citizens to support civic participation. This thesis attempts to provide a picture of the functioning of democratic principles in Utrecht with reference to an example of good practice. Keywords democracy, democracy at the local level, participatory democracy, citizenship, participation, deliberation, tools of civic participation, civic participation, political participation
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Deepening democracy at the local level / Civic participation in Utrecht
Blahetová, Kristýna ; Skovajsa, Marek (advisor) ; Benyovszky, Selma (referee)
This thesis focuses on the topic of active citizenship in democratic societies. An emphasis is placed on the clarification of the role of the citizen as an engaged participant in the political process at the local level. This issue is contextualized within the theory of democracy, which legitimacy is fulfilled by the citizen participation. The empirical part is devoted to the research of the citizen participation in the Dutch city of Utrecht, where the way of cooperation between citizens and public officers was investigated in the process of public policy making. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the form and the contribution of the civic participation in Utrecht. Keywords democracy, democracy at the local level, participatory democracy, citizen, participation, codecision, cooperation, relationship between the citizen and the politician, level of participation
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The regulation of lobbying in the CR - recommendations based upon foreign experience
Kraus, Lukáš ; Wintr, Jan (advisor) ; Ondřejek, Pavel (referee)
Lobbying regulation in the Czech Republic - recommendations based on international experience Summary Lobbying is a natural part of contemporary globalized world, where political interests meet intensively with the economic and other private interests. In order to strengthen the principles, especially transparency and responsibility, some countries adopt lobbying regulation. The USA, Canada, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and the EU institutions approach to lobbying in some aspects in the same way, in many other aspects they approach to it very differently. Different historical and socio-economical experience of these entities has, often substantial, influence on the differences of their regulation approach. The Czech Republic shares with many mentioned countries the experience of post- communist state, which does not have long democratic political culture and which has many problems with corruption in the public decision-making process. Lobbying regulation under Czech conditions is therefore necessary for raising transparency and responsibility of politicians. During the preparation of the future regulation, it is necessary to respect recmmendations of the international organizations and to thoroughly analyze experience of other states. The necessary parts of the future law should be especially: clear...
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