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41 Publications
Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2021. Historic Electoral Loss of the Left.
This report represents a contribution to the Political Data Yearbook, which is published yearly by European Journal of Political Research. Several important events occurred in Czech politics in 2021. The cabinet of Prime Minister Babiš primarily focused on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Four cabinet changes were made, two affecting the Health Minister and two affecting the Foreign Minister. The Constitutional Court repealed several sections of the electoral law governing the general election, leaving only a …
The Polls—Trends: Welfare Regimes and Support for Income Redistribution in Europe.
Income redistribution and changes in redistributive policies are highly contested issues that often have a bearing on societal debate and electoral competition. Using European Social Survey data, we trace trends in public attitudes toward income redistribution in 18 European countries from 2002 to 2019, a time period which included the Great Recession, the 2015 migrant crisis, and an increase in income inequality. Although attitudes toward income redistribution were relatively stable, trends presented by count…
Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2022: Parallel Crises Give the New Government No Time to Waste.
The war in Ukraine dominated Czech politics in 2022. The Cabinet of Petr Fiala militarily and politically supported the Ukrainian defence efforts against the Russian adversary. Fiala visited Ukraine twice in 2022 (being the first Western leader, along with the Slovenian and Polish prime ministers, to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv on 15 March). Senate and local elections occurred in the autumn. Fiala’s party (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) had the strongest showing in the Senate election, while the ANO party of th…
Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2023. Legislative Battles: Pension Law Amendment and Opposition Obstructionism.
The 2023 Czech presidential elections, characterized by high turnout and the victory of retired General Petr Pavel in a run-off against former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, marked a significant shift in the country’s political landscape. These elections were marked by intense debates on candidates’ backgrounds and foreign policy orientations, highlighting voters’ preference for pro-Western ideals. Meanwhile, the Cabinet of Petr Fiala witnessed four ministerial changes affecting the Ministry of the Enviro…
The role of empathy in support for inclusive education
According to UNESCO, educating all children in the same classrooms, with adequate support and taking into consideration their different needs, provides benefits for everyone. However, public opinion about inclusive education is rarely uniform and often unsupportive. While public support for placing pupils with special needs in regular classes is crucial for both legislation and the implementation of effective inclusive practices, knowledge about the predictors of this support is limited. Additionally, we know …
Topics: Value Orientations, Education
Developing critical thinking test for adolescents: A validity and reliability study from the Czech Republic
This article presents a comprehensive validation study of a Critical Thinking Test (CTT) conducted among Czech adolescents in 2023. It offers valuable insights into the psychometric properties, correlations, and predictors associated with analytical, evaluative and inferential abilities of critical thinking. While there are tools available for measuring critical thinking, they tend to be lengthy and inaccessible in the Czech language. Our study seeks to address this gap by developing a concise and effective to…
Topics: Education
Validation and psychometric evaluation of the Short Warwick‑Edinburgh Mental Well‑Being Scale (SWEMWBS) among Czech adolescents using Item Response Theory
Background: The topic of adolescent mental health is currently a subject of much debate due to the increasing prevalence of mental health problems among this age group. Therefore, it is crucial to have high-quality and validated mental well-being measurement tools. While such tools do exist, they are often not tailored specifically to adolescents and are not available in Czech language. The aim of this study is to validate and test the Czech version of the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMW…
Výzkumná zpráva z první vlny sběru dat (České panelové šetření středoškoláků)
Na podzim školního roku 2023/24 byla realizována první vlna sběru dat mezi žáky a žákyněmi prvních ročníků středních škol a odpovídajících ročníků víceletých gymnázií. Celkem se do výzkumu zapojilo 249 škol a více než 24 000 žáků a žákyň z celé České republiky. Tato výzkumná zpráva představuje základní informace o tom, jak žáci a žákyně prvního ročníku vnímají sami sebe, jaké mají studijní aspirace, vztah ke škole a s jakou úrovní kritického myšle…
Topics: Trust/Social Cohesion, Identity, Migration and Mobility, Politics and Political Attitudes, Education
Fear, trust, and compliance with COVID-19 measures: a study of the mediating effect of trust in government on the relationship between fear and compliance
As the COVID-19 pandemic became an unprecedented global threat, it was accompanied by an increase in trust in governments as well as fear among the public. Previous research suggests that both institutional trust and fear contribute to the willingness of citizens to comply with anti-pandemic measures. Moreover, fear during the contagion also increases trust in government. This article presents a test of the mediation of the effects of fear on compliance through trust. In addition, it differentiates between thr…
Topics: Trust/Social Cohesion, Politics and Political Attitudes, Public health
Scapegoating Immigrants in Times of Personal and Collective Crises: Results from a Czech Panel Study
According to scapegoat theory, individuals tend to attribute personal or social problems to an out-group (real or imagined). This self-serving bias protects the ego or social identity from responsibility while increasing prejudice towards the out-group blamed for feelings of frustration. In this research note, we test this theory using five waves of the Czech Household Panel Study (CHPS 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), which captures the tail end of the 2015–2016 refugee crisis in Europe through the lockdown i…
Topics: Value Orientations, Interpersonal Relations, Civil Society
Better sleep, better life? Testing the role of sleep on quality of life
Previous research has shown that sleep deprivation, low quality sleep or inconvenient sleeping times are associated with lower quality of life. However, research of the longitudinal effects of sleep on quality of life is scarce. Hence, we know very little about the long-term effect of changes in sleep duration, sleep quality and the time when individuals sleep on quality of life. Using longitudinal data from three waves of the Czech Household Panel Study (2018–2020) containing responses from up to 4,523 resp…
Topics: Public health, Lifestyle
Welfare Regimes and Support for Income Redistribution in Europe
Income redistribution and changes in redistributive policies are highly contested issues that often have a bearing on societal debate and electoral competition. Using European Social Survey data, we trace trends in public attitudes toward income redistribution in 18 European countries from 2002 to 2019, a time period which included the Great Recession, the 2015 migrant crisis, and an increase in income inequality. Although attitudes toward income redistribution were relatively stable, trends presented by count…
Topics: Economy, Civil Society, Politics and Political Attitudes
Publication Type: Article with impact factor
Is classroom political discussion able to reduce anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescents? Testing the effect of frequency, length, and topic of classroom political discussions on anti-immigrant attitudes
Anti-immigrant attitudes are associated with many social problems and reduction of negative attitudes toward immigrants is one of many actions which can assist in preventing these problems, promote better relations within society, and subsequently, create a better quality of life. School is one of the environments that provide opportunity to reduce anti-immigrant attitudes by implementing curriculums that require teachers to encourage discussions on the issue of immigrants and immigration. Previous research ha…
Topics: Civil Society
Dočasný nárůst důvěry ve vládu a dodržování protiepidemických opatření na počátku koronavirové krize
Public support for government institutions tends to increase in the face of threats such as armed conflict, terrorism, or natural disasters. This phenomenon, known as the 'rally-'round-the-flag' effect, has also been observed as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic in many countries. Citizens' trust in the government's good intentions and ability to handle a crisis is very important, as it gives government the legitimacy to take strong measures. High trust in government also increases citizens' willingness to c…
Topics: Civil Society, Politics and Political Attitudes
Publication Type: Article with impact factor
The making of a radical: The role of peer harassment in youth political radicalism
Although political radicalism is one of the major societal threats, we have limited understanding of how it is formed. While there are reasons to expect that harassment experienced in adolescence increase the propensity for radicalism, this relationship has not yet been investigated. This five-wave study of Swedish adolescents (N = 892) examined the role of peer harassment in radical political behavior. The results revealed that within-person fluctuations in harassment were positively related to fluctuations i…
Topics: Civil Society
A little more conversation, a little less prejudice: The role of classroom political discussions in the development of youth attitudes toward immigrants
Although previous research has shown that deliberative discussions have consequences for intergroup attitudes, very little is known about this impact during the formative adolescent years. In addition, the mechanism explaining the mechanism through which discussions affect intergroup attitudes is not clear. This 3-wave study of Swedish adolescents (N = 892, 51.1% girls, MageT1 = 13.41, nested in 35 classrooms) examined the role of teacher-initiated political discussions in the classroom for the development o…
Topics: Civil Society
Like the cool kids? The role of popular classmates in the development of anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescence
While classmates have been identified as important socializing agents in relation to adolescents’ prejudice, there is limited understanding of how popularity status plays into classroom transmission of prejudicial attitudes. Drawing on theories of social influence, we used a three-wave panel of Swedish adolescents (N = 941, aged 13–15) to examine the role of sociometric and prestige popular classmates in the development of adolescents’ anti-immigrant attitudes. Multilevel repeated measurement models reve…
Topics: Civil Society
Students’ School and Political Participation in a Former Socialist Country
Former socialist states made great progress in the institutional set up and development of civil societies after the fall of their non-democratic regimes. However, the gap in levels of political participation between former socialist states and old democracies remains. Using two-wave panel data, this study explores how four different types of participation are related to each other and whether a sense of internal political efficacy is a prerequisite or a product of these types of participation. The results imp…
Topics: Civil Society, Politics and Political Attitudes, Education
Effects of School Forums on Political Development in Early Adolescence. A Field Experiment
Scholars and practitioners endorse public participation in the decision-making process as enhancing the health of democracy, justice, and effectiveness of policy outcomes. To sustain or even increase the number of participants in the long run, it is crucial to start raising a new politically active generation already during their youth and even early adolescence. This article presents School Forums as an extracurricular participatory method involving early adolescents (11–15 years old) in decision-making co…
Topics: Civil Society, Politics and Political Attitudes
Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2020
Topics: Politics and Political Attitudes, Elections and Electoral Research
Czech Republic
Topics: Politics and Political Attitudes, Elections and Electoral Research
Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2019
Topics: Politics and Political Attitudes, Elections and Electoral Research
What Does It Take to Fight Fake News? Testing the Influence of Political Knowledge, Media Literacy, and General Trust on Motivated Reasoning
This study explores youth accuracy judgments of disinformative and nondisinformative claims. Analyses are based on a nationally representative youth (16–20 years old) survey experiment conducted in the Czech Republic in 2017. When they were exposed to posts regarding refugee crisis, young people were asked to judge the accuracy of the statements accompanying the posts. Motivated reasoning of youth depended primarily on the alignment with the posts and the ideology of participants. Results of this research su…
Topics: Politics and Political Attitudes
Czech Republic: Political Developments and Data in 2018
Topics: Politics and Political Attitudes
A study of the moderating effects of obesity and poor health on the distance to the ballot station and probability to vote relationship
Topics: Politics and Political Attitudes, Elections and Electoral Research
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