Personalization of Politics in the Czech Republic: Analysis of Manifestations of Personalization in the Electoral Process

The thesis deals with the subject of personalization of politics, the phenomenon that has recently become more and more topical. The process of personalization lies in reinforcement of focus on individual political actors at the expense of the collective ones. In the political system, we can observe personalization on three levels: in the institutional arrangement, in the way politics is perceived by citizens as well as its presentation by media. This process affects both the political parties (change in their organizational structure) and the political system in general (change in the character of mandate, the fragmentation of party system or the weakening of the control of individuals in power). The main topic of the thesis is personalization of politics in the frame of electoral systems through which the process can be encouraged or slowed down. On the background of theory of voting systems, the first part of the thesis analyses the development of Czech electoral system and chosen proposals of electoral reforms with focus on their impact on personalization of vote. The second part analyses outcome of parliamentary elections, namely the use and the impact of preferential voting. Last of all, fragmentation of the party system as a display of personalization is assessed, based on the Laakso-Taagepera index. Conclusions of the analysis confirm the personalization trend -- we can see an effort to personalize the vote from the part of political elites as well as the positive response to this trend from voters.