Dissent in Parliamentary Majority: Legislative Activities of the Chamber of Deputies Parliament of the Czech Republic 1996-2010

Parliamentary system of government demands parliamentary competent parties. Dissension within parties can block the entire political system; the government cannot rely on its majority and fails in processing its proposals on the agenda of the parliament. From the analytical perspective, inquiry in dissension in the parliamentary majority is one of basic questions. The thesis deals with dissension at the theoretical level. Using the Czech Chamber of Deputies as an example, the thesis conceptualizes forms of dissension (a disapproval of a governmental proposal at the first reading as the absolute dissent). The thesis conducts voting unity tests of Czech political parties that forge government. According to the empirical inquiry, the dissension that leads to the disapproval of governmental proposals stems from the dissent within the political parties, not from the dissent among parties.