Regionální stranické soustavy, teritoriální pluralismus a výzkum stranických systémů
Regional Party Arrangements, Territorial Pluralism, and Party Systems Research

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with issues of conceptualization of regional parties and regional party arrangements. Regional parties could be defined briefly as independent formations with regional identity, region–based legitimacy and region-based electoral resources. The territorial aspect of their identity and of their modus operandi is the crucial one in this respect. Regional parties must not be mistaken for regional branches of state-wide or supra-regional parties, which are not fully autonomous, independent units. Similarly, it is necessary to distinguish between regional party systems and regional party subsystems. The basic difference between them consists in the presence or absence of relevant regional party or parties. The paper argues that new suitable conceptual frameworks are needed to develop a sophisticated explanation of various combinations of the systemic properties of regional parties and of their patterned interactions within regional as well as state-wide party arrangements. A multi-level approach should be fostered which would enable to assess thoroughly the differing opportunity structures and the nature of territorial–political operational space of regional parties. This might result in the making of complex models of territorial and party-political pluralisms.

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