Far-Right Politics in the Czech Republic

MLEJNKOVÁ, Petra. Far-Right Politics in the Czech Republic. In A. James McAdams, Samuel Piccolo. Far-Right Newspeak and the Future of Liberal Democracy. London: Routledge, 2024, p. 65-84. Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right. ISBN 978-1-032-56626-9. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003436737-6.

Basic information

• Original name: Far-Right Politics in the Czech Republic
• Authors: MLEJNKOVÁ, Petra (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: London, Far-Right Newspeak and the Future of Liberal Democracy, p. 65-84, 20 pp. Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right, 2024.
• Publisher: Routledge

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Chapter(s) of a specialized book
• Field of Study: 50601 Political science
• Country of publisher: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: printed version "print"
• WWW: URL
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• ISBN: 978-1-032-56626-9
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003436737-6
• Keywords in English: far right; liberalism; democracy; freedom; newspeak
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The chapter introduces Tomio Okamura, a Czech populist far-right politician who entered politics in 2012, a period of popular dissatisfaction with established political parties, and who offered a distinctive populist and nativist alternative to liberal democracy. Okamura may be less well known than his counterparts in countries like Hungary and Poland, but he has had notable success pursuing similar political objectives. This chapter begins by providing background on the Czech political landscape and Okamura’s emergence, before addressing Okamura’s use of the language of liberal democracy to camouflage nativist and far-right identity politics. Okamura uses the liberal language of freedom, especially free speech, in claiming to be a defender of liberal values. The chapter continues to show how Okamura seeks to recruit new supporters by drawing analogies between Czechoslovakia’s communist-era governments and the current Czech political establishment, casting both as enemies of democracy. He offers a vision of direct democracy that he promotes as genuine democracy, suggesting that his real aim in making these claims is not to support the Czech Republic’s democratic system, but to undermine it.

Links

• MUNI/A/1488/2023, interní kód MU: Name: Aktuální problémy politologického výzkumu X.

Investor: Masaryk University, Current Issues in Political Science Research X.