Přehled o publikaci

If one would look for trends characterizing the Czech party system in the 2020s, it would be fragmentation and a wave of new anti-establishment parties. Although relatively stable and electorally predictable in the past, the Czech party system has registered fundamental changes in recent years. The influx of many newcomers changed the number of parties in the parliamentary arena and influenced the issues structuring political competition. No longer driven by the ideological struggle, the conflict began to be drawn along the lines of the political establishment versus anti-establishment parties. Many of the latter were often short-lived, haunted by intra-party divisions and conflicts. We focus on these recent party system transformations, mainly on the surge of anti-establishment parties exemplifying the most significant of these changes. Our findings highlight how several of their organizational features influence their survival, pre-disposing their political fates. Our analysis shows what the fragmented party system means for government formation and democratic development.