Participatory Democracy and Political Activism

(in English): This bachelor thesis is dedicated to theories of participatory democracy and utilization of their ideas on the work of political activists in the Czech Republic. A theoretical basis of this work is definiton of participatory democracy, mainly according to Carole Pateman, Benjamin R. Barber and Brian Barry. This theoretical frame is subsequently used for the research part of the thesis, which is based on interviews with chosen representatives of political activism in the Czech Republic. These interviews are analyzed to find out, if the ideas of participatory democracy are important for the work and self-understanding of political activist, and if they are necessary for them. Since nowadays view of sociologists is, that there is mainly the transactional activism in the Czech Republic which does not include ideas of participatory democracy, the aim of this thesis is to point out, that there should be a general sociologist opinion which counts with the ideas of the participatory democracy as an important part of the political activism in the Czech republic, because, as my research has shown, these ideas are significant part of the self-understanding of chosen political activists