The Theory of Coalitions in the Context of Elections to the Regional Board of Representatives in 2000 and 2004

The master thesis "The theory o f coalitions in the context o f elections to the regional board o f representatives in 2000 and 2004 " deals with formation of executive bodies at the regional level. The theory of coalitions, concerned exclusively with coalitions at the national level, is applied herein to a lower political level. This is contributed by the fact that in the Czech Republic the regional (as well as municipal) level operates on the same basis as the national level. The legislative body - the board of representatives - disposes of the direct mandate; from it the executive - the council - draws its own mandate. Thus, the effort to transpose the theory of coalitions to a specific environment of regional politics is hereby facilitated. This thesis commences with a theoretical introduction in which the theory of coalitions is presented, focused on the typology of coalition governments. The work follows with an analysis of the institutional aspect of regional politics. The regions as the new regional authorities of self-government needed to establish not only their structure of organization and certain powers, but also the electoral system through which the main body of the region would be filled. Following the theoretical introduction, emphasis is put on the examination of each region (within two..