Europeanization of Political Representation in the Czech Republic

This research project adresses central questions within the study of parliamentary representation in the Czech Republic. Our study is focused on three themes: (1) Parlamentarians - who are Czech republic's political representatives and how do they conceptualise their role? (2) EU accession - how is political representation within a system of multilevel governance percieved by parlamentarians? Is there a division of labour or competition between representative institutions? What are Czech parlamentarians' attitudes toward EU institutions and proposals for reform? (3) Policy-making - how do parlamentarians percieve the legislative process? Has there been a fundamental change in the policymaking process following accession?

More generally, this project extends previous research at the national level and explores how accession has changed the nature of political representation in the Czech Republic. Using theoretically informed empirical methodology, this study makes a substantial contribution to debates surrounding the quality of democratic representation in the Czech Republic.