Is the “new” always “new”? Theoretical framework problems of new political parties’ research: The Czech Republic experience

Abstract

New political parties can be essential holders of party systems' change. A lot of scholars underline this reality. In fact, it is often not enough only to establish a new political subject. There is a significant relationship between a new party emergence and the subsequent electoral success, which is often an overlooked research dimension. This article intends to focus on the most important features narrowly connected with new political parties' study approaches. There is no concurrence on what a new political party exactly is. It is possible to find a whole range of high -quality based articles exploring newness in a current or recent state of knowledge. Despite it, this research still has several substantial doubts about this question. Examples of Czech political parties that have been successful in the first -order elections (FOE) and where the problematic aspects of their declared novelty can be traced will be compared here. The evidence of complexity pertaining to this phenomenon is obvious: every political party is new in the moment of its formation in reality, but on the other hand not every political party is new regarding an appropriate theoretical concept. This empirical base shows that declared novelty can be rather more a tool of broader communication and image strategy than a real indisputable party attribute. Dawn -Dawn of Direct Democracy (Úsvit přímé demokracie) FOE -first -order elections KDU -ČSL -Christian and Democratic Union -Czechoslovak People's Party (Křesťanská a demokratická unie -Československá strana lidová) KSČM -Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy) LIDEM -Liberal Democracy (Liberální demokracie) MS Piráti -Moravian and Silesian Pirate Party (Moravská a Slezská pirátská strana) ODA -Civic Democratic Alliance (Občanská demokratická aliance) ODS -Civic Democratic Party (Občanská demokratická strana) PP -Czech Pirate Party (Česká pirátská strana) PRO2016 -Political movement PRO 2016 (Politické hnutí PRO 2016) SPD -Freedom and Direct Democracy -Tomio Okamura (Svoboda a přímá demokracie -Tomio Okamura) STAN -Mayors and Independents (Starostové a nezávislí) SZ -Green Party (Strana zelených)

Assured Newcomers on a Squally Sea? The Czech Pirate Party before and after the 2017 Elections

“…The professional literature from Czech authors focusing on Czech parties 2 has also noted the successes of the new political parties in various contexts (e.g. Charvát 2014;Maškarinec, Bláha 2014;Cirhan, Kopecký 2017;Hájek 2017;Hloušek, Kopeček 2017;Buštíková, Guasti 2018;Kopeček et al 2018;Krčál, Naxera 2018or Šárovec 2019. 3 Against the backdrop of changes in the Czech party system and the rise of new political formations after the so-called "election earthquake" in 2010 (Hanley 2012), anti-party and antiestablishment-oriented formations (Public Affairs (VV), ANO 2011, Dawn of Direct Democracy (Úsvit) and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD)) have emerged in addition to standard splitter formations (TOP 09).…”