Party Leaders in the Czech Populist Parties and Movements

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the role and importance of leaders in the Czech populist parties and movements, as well as determining significant factors which condition their institutionalisation. The main focus will be placed on the role of leaders in establishing their respective parties, their formal position and intraparty selection processes in VV, ANO, SPD and ÚPD. Examples of actions taken by the leaders of ANO and SPD show that building populist parties on the foundation of the strong, formal and official position of the leader in their party as well as becoming open to more members prove effective when it comes to the discussed issues...

Mapping the COVID-19 Anti­‑Vaccination Communities on Facebook in Czechia

“…The topic includes terms like "truth", "to fight", "power", but also the Czech and Slovak flag emojis. Moreover, the Czech populist party Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), characterized by far-right nationalism, anti-establishment rhetoric, euroscepticism, and xenophobia (Kubát & Hartliński, 2019), is mentioned. Support of the party has been associated with increased vulnerability to belief in COVID-19-related misinformation (Akademie věd České republiky, 2022).…”

‘Let us blow them down!’: Corruption as the subject of (non-)populist communication of the Czech Pirate Party

“…All three anti-establishment parties that succeeded in 2017 are different from each other. ANO and SPD can be characterized as strongly centralized parties with an unshakeable position of the founder and leader, who manages the processes within the party from above (Brunnerová, 2019; Just and Charvát, 2016; Kubát and Hartliński, 2019). On the other hand, the Pirates are a highly decentralized party growing from the bottom with a strong emphasis on intraparty democracy and the use of digital tools for intraparty decision-making.…”

Czech Republic: Running the State Like a Family Business

“…What binds and what differentiates these two populist parties? ANO is an 'extreme form of a business-firm party' (Kopeček, 2016), which is heavily dependent on its leader (Kubát & Hartliński 2019). It was established at the initiative of its leader as a kind of 'personal vehicle' (Lucardie, 2000) that serves the leader as a means of fulfilling his ambitions and needs.…”