Comparison of Selected Aspects of Political Culture between the

Czech Republic and Germany1

Daniela Gawrecká

Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Ph.D. candidate Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague

gawrecka.daniela@centrum.cz

Paper prepared for the 4th ECPR Graduate Conference organized by BIGSSS, the joint

Graduate School of Jacobs and the University of Bremen, Bremen 4th–6th July 2012.

Abstract:

The paper deals with the comparison of selected topics from the political climate

among students from both Germany and the Czech Republic. For this purpose, two case

studies of 108 Czech students from Charles University in Prague and 102 German students

from the University of Bremen were carried out.

The case studies deal with the claim´s rate of electoral and non-electoral participation,

preferences on left-right scale and support a particular party, the frequency of discussions

about politics and watching political news, patriotism and attitude to European integration and

direct democracy. The aim of the research is also to measure of political alienation and

disgust with politics and not least the level of political awareness between Czech and German

respondents. The paper tries to find out, how much these attitudes are influenced according to

nationality, gender and field of study of respondents.

Most respondents from both countries have clearly defined links to the political system

and their place in it, which is shown by high level of electoral participation, higher level of

political awareness and relatively regular monitoring of political news and discussions on

public issues with family, friends and less in the university. In some areas, dependence was

proven on the type of education, while respondents with education in social sciences and

humanities (SS&H) reported a higher degree of monitoring political news, debates about

politics and also had higher level of political awareness.

1 This paper is based on my master thesis Comparison of Selected Aspects of Political Culture between the Czech

Republic and Germany and on the project of my doctoral thesis Political Culture across Borders – Comparison of the Czech Republic and Germany.

Key words: political culture, electoral and non-electoral participation, voting behaviour,

political alienation, patriotism, European Union, direct democracy, political awareness

1. Introduction:

Political culture is a very popular but also confused and controversial concept in the

field of political science and political sociology [Elkins and Richard 1979, Skovajsa 2006].

Since 1960s it has become a frequent topic in the area of western political science and after

the fall of so-called Iron Curtain in the post-communist countries as well. Both in scientific

and in laic discourse, there is not only one generally accepted definition.

The paper focuses on the main aspects of political culture according to definition of

Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba used in their comparative study The Civic Culture which is

concerned with attitudes to democracy in five nations. According to them, political culture of

nation means “the particular distribution of patterns of orientation toward political objects

among the members of the nation” [Almond and Verba 1989: 12]. It is a set political

orientation, attitudes toward the political system, its various parts and the role of the self in

the system [Almond and Verba 1989]. Although this approach to study political culture has

been also criticized and revisited [Skovajsa 2006] it is still widely used because of

operationalization of the term political culture for the empirical surveys [Vajdová and

Stachová 2005, Škodová 2007].

Many sociologists and political scientists such as Robert David Putnam, Ronald

Inglehart, Seymour Martin Lipset, Samuel Huntington, Mary Douglas and Lucian Pye dealt

with political culture as well. Robert D. Putnam in his book Making Democracy Work based

on vast data from Italian regions shows how important trust, social capital and interpersonal

ties are for democracy [Putnam 1993]. Valuable approach in studying a shift in political

culture and democratic attitudes in postmodern societies is offered by the book Silent

Revolution by Ronald Inglehart. Inglehart draws attention to the value changes of young

generation in many aspects of life, for instance, towards politics, religious belief, attitudes to

children and work motivation. Young people more often embrace the post-materialistic values

such as protection of social rights and freedom, toleration of social, sexual and ethnic

minorities and endeavor to be more involved into a policy decision-making process in local

and global level [Inglehart 1977, 1993].

Well-known researchers in Germany working in the field of political cultures are Carl

Rohe with his qualitative approach, Dirk Berg-Schlosser and Adolf Hampel, who deals with

Central European political culture and its religious and social aspects. Hans D. Klingemann

and Dieter Fuchs´s deals with relation between democracy and political culture in central and

eastern Europe. For this purpose, they used the international data source World Values Survey

[Klingemann, Fuchs and Zielonka 2006]. In Czech Republic mainly scientist from Institute of

Sociology, Academy of Science and from Masaryk University in Brno e.g. Marek Skovajsa,

Petr Skalník, Martina Klicperová-Baker, Igor Nosál, Zdenka Vajdová and others draw

attention to issue of political attitudes and values [Škodová 2007]. In Prague, in 2004 took

place a Czech-German conference Political culture Germany – the Czech Republic and in

2008 Czech-Saxon workshop Political Culture in the Czech Republic and new German

federal states (Länder).

To summarize, we can see that political culture is very frequent and popular issue in

social sciences. On the other hand, only few researches draw attention to the political culture

of university students. As far as international quantitative researches (e.g. European Social

Survey, World Social Survey, International Social Survey Programme, Eurobarometer, and

World Value Survey) are concerned, they provide secondary data sources of political values

and attitudes, voting behavior and political culture but not directly focused on students, let

alone from the same city or university. Therefore, the contribution of this case study could be

in focusing particularly on students´ political opinions and the Czech-German comparison.

The focus on university students may allow us to estimate trends in voting behavior and

political culture [Pecka 2000]. Furthermore, young educated people can approach to politics

from different perspective and be more open to innovations and new ideologies [Inglehart

1990, Pecka 2000].

The objective of this article is to describe and compare selected aspects of political

culture between German and Czech university students. The aim of the work is to define the

similarities, differences and specifics in selected issues of the political climate between Czech

and German respondents. The paper is concerned with the attitudes of German and Czech

respondents to the electoral (such as voter turnout, preferences on left-right scale and support

a particular party, membership in political party or movement) and non-electoral forms of

political participation (e.g. frequency of discussion about politics within family, friends,

follow political news across all media types).

Another important issue of the article is to describe a measure of political alienation,

aspiration and feelings about politics between Czech and German respondents, their national

pride, patriotism and attitudes to European integration and a measure of their contempt for

politics. Not least the work is concerned with the respondents´ attitude to the civic society and

decentralization and their level of political awareness. The work tries to find out, how much

these attitudes are influenced according to their nationality, gender and field of study.

There are many reasons why to compare the Czech Republic with Germany. Firstly,

they share more than one thousand years of a common history. They are located in Central

Europe, there is also a mutual influence (although not always positive) concerning the

political, economic and cultural sphere. These countries have some similar traditions, roots of

political thought and patterns of political and civic behavior of Czech and German people.

Secondly, both Germany and the Czech Republic are members of a number of international

organizations such as EU, NATO, OECD, EBRD and the political systems of Czech and

Germany are also more or less similar. They both are parliamentary democracies where

constitution guarantees a great number of civil rights, liberties and social achievements.

2. Data and methodology:

For the study, I decided to carry out my own questionnaire survey of 108 Czech

students from Charles University in Prague and 102 German students from University of

Bremen. The reason why I decided to these two universities is that since 2005, I have been a

student of Charles University in Prague, and I could spend summer 2010 at University of

Bremen as a student of Erasmus programme. That is why I had the opportunity to do that case

study there. I am aware of the fact that the case study does not use a fully representative

sample because different categories of students are not equally represented. (Social

demographic characteristic of the sample provides an appendix table A1.)

Czech and German respondents were randomly asked (the only criterion was to study

at Charles University or at University of Bremen) to fill in the online questionnaire.2

Participation in the research was voluntary; respondents filled out the questionnaire

themselves and were not rewarded. Czech part of the survey was carried out from 01/10/2010

to 11/11/2010, and lasted 976 hours and German part was held from 27/8/2010 to 25/9/2010,

and lasted 703 hours. It is difficult to find out the exact number of returned questionnaires but

we know, that 65,5% of the Czechs and 54,9% of the Germans who opened the questionnaire

online filled it in. It was possible to use all the returned questionnaires. The average time for

completing the questionnaire is almost identical in both states, nine minutes and 55 seconds

for Czech and nine minutes 59 seconds for German respondents [Vyplňto.cz 2011, 2011b].

The data was analyzed in statistical software SPSS 16.0. I will focus only on the statistically

2 Czech and German versions of the questionnaire are available at the website of vyplňto.cz [Vyplňto.cz 2011a, 2011b].

significant differences (p ≤ 0,01 and p ≤ 0,05) among the groups of respondents according to

nationality, gender and in selected case according to the type of education.

3. Research questions and hypothesis:

(1) Aspects of political culture between Czech and the German students will not be too

different; the differences are more likely to occur in the sub-issues. Considering the age of

respondents and their education, it is expected a high turnout of respondents from both

countries and a high level of interest in politics. People with higher education usually show a

higher participation rate [Howard 2003], thus a high interest in political affairs can be

expected with university students. [Pecka 2000].

It is supposed a lower level of left-wing political orientation or smaller willingness to

declare this orientation among Czech respondents due to the former communist regime in

Czechoslovakia.

(2) More active involvement in political life (e.g. membership in political party or

movement) is presumed in case of German respondents due to long lasting democratic

experience in Germany, and the fact that the economic condition is better in Germany than in

the Czech Republic.

High degree of interest (monitoring political news, discussion about politics) and high

level of political awareness is supposed among Czech and German respondents.

(3) Rather low level of frustration and alienation from politics and high support for

democracy are expected. According to Inglehart, young people believe in democracy more

often than general population [Inglehart 1990].

It is also supposed, for historical reasons, German respondents will demonstrate a

lower degree of nationalism, and that they will support the EU more than Czech students

because of the leading position of Germany in the European Union.

(4) No significant differences according to gender of the respondent are presumed in the

whole sample or between Czech and German respondents separately. It is possible that

women will be less active in political life than men in political participation (e.g. membership

in political parties).

Respondents with education in social sciences and humanities (SS&H) will attain

higher level of political awareness and will be more interested in following political news

than those with others type of education.3 This kind of difference is not expected according to

gender.

4. Results:

4.1 Comparison of voter turnout

Voter turnout (if voting is not compulsory) defines respondent´s attitude to the

political system, political parties and self-perception as a citizen [Pecka 2000]. According to

Lukáš Linek [Linek 2010], weak voter participation expresses political alienation, frustration,

ignorance or rejection of a political regime. Electoral participation has been declining in the

Czech Republic as well as in other post-communist countries since the early nineties.

Similarly, the decline of the electoral participation has occurred in western democracies such

as Germany [Linek 2010, Wessels 2006].

In this respect, it is a positive finding that voter turnout of Czech and German

respondents is relatively high. Czech and German students go to the pools more often than the

general population in both countries (see Table 1). 4 Furthermore, the analysis showed

dependence on nationality and gender of the respondents. German students go to pools more

frequently than their Czech colleagues and men more than women. In both countries, there

was the highest turnout in the parliamentary elections (Czech Chamber of Deputies and

German Federal Parliament – Bundestag) which were attended by more than 80% Czech and

90% of German respondents.

On the contrary, the respondents as well as the general Czech and German population

were not very interested in the European Parliament elections. According to the Wessels

[Wessels 2006], people do not vote in the European Parliament elections because they are

convinced that it is not an important institution. „If voters regard the body to be elected not a

relevant actor, at least at comparative terms, they do turn out in smaller number. This has

been shown comparing national and Euro Parliament election as well as national and sub-

national election.” [Wessels 2006: 4]. Additionally, there is little excitement among voters for

the European elections in the whole Europe. The average turnout at the European Parliament

elections in June 2009 was only 43% of 380 million eligible Europeans [European Parliament

2012].

3 SS&H covers: humanities, social sciences, languages, law, other education covers: medicine, natural sciences, technique, sports (see Table A1 Social demographic characteristic of the sample) 4 Voter turnout data of whole Czech and German population comes from Czech statistical office (available at http://www.volby.cz/pls/ps2010/ps2?xjazyk=CZ) and German election server elections.de (available at http://www.election.de/cgi-bin/tab.pl?datafile=btw09l.txt.)

Table 1. Comparison between voter turnout of Czech and German students and the

general Czech and German population (column %)

the Czech republic Germany

Students General population Students General population

Parliament 80,6 62,6 90,2 70,8

Senate 45,4 44,6 – –

Regional council 38,9 40,3 79,4 62,9

Municipal council 54,6 46,4 69,6 44

European Parliament 40,7 28,2 56,9 43,3

Not voted 4,6 – 3,9 – Note: Students means 108 Czech and 102 German respondents.

Figure 1. Voter turnout of Czech and German respondents (%)

4.2 Preferences on the left-right scale

Table 2 shows the preferences on the left-right scale of Czech and German

respondents. The main finding is that there are striking differences between the party

preferences because Czech students support right-wing and German students support left-

wing parties. Results of last parliament elections show that Czech respondents voted for right-

wing parties and German students for left-wing ones more often than general Czech and

German population [Balík 1010, Rattinger, Rődiger, Wessels 2011]. When we focus on the

support for the particular party, it will bring out some remarkable findings. Whereas about

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Parliament Regional

council

Municipal

council

European

parliament

Not voted

80,6

38,9

54,6

40,7

4,6

90,2

79,4

69,6

56,9

3,9

Czechs Germans

18% of German respondents voted for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the

last parliamentary elections, only about 2% of Czech respondents voted for the Czech Social

Democratic Party (ČSSD). The support for the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia

(KSČM) was very low (less than 1%) among Czech students. On the contrary, 10% of German

respondents voted for postcommunist party die Linke in the last parliamentary elections. A

high preference for the Green party is typical for the respondents from both countries. The

Green party was the most popular party among the Germans and the second most popular one

among the Czechs.

Table 2. Preferences on the left-right scale (column %)

Whole sample

Czechs Germans Men Women

Right 28,1 50,9 3,9 29,2 27,2

Left 19,5 6,5 33,3 26 14

Centrist 39,5 38,9 40,2 30,2 47,4

None 12,9 3,7 22,5 14,6 11,4

There is not a statistically significant difference in the left-right political preferences

according to gender, although women prefer centrist parties more often than men.

Additionally, in both countries, there is approximately the same support for the centrist

parties. The analysis has further shown that a quarter of German respondents did not prefer

any type of a party on the left-right scale. Within this context, these people do not approach to

politics from the left-right perspective but focus on post-material values such as ecology,

quality of life, rights of ethnic and sexual minorities, etc. [Inglehart 1977, 1990].

It is difficult to explain why Czech respondents support right-wing parties and German

respondents tent to prefer the left-wing parties. Firstly, we should take into account the

context of recent parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic and Germany. Declaring

oneself a left-wing oriented in the Czech Republic or a right-wing oriented in Germany might

be considered shameful. Secondly, Czech people might be afraid to declare a left-wing

orientation because of the previous communist regime [Pecka 2000]. On the contrary, it might

be easier for young people in Bremen to show their left-wing preference because they are not

burdened by the legacy of communism.5

5 Bremen belonged to the former West Germany.

4.3 Membership in political parties and other forms of political involvement

Regarding the membership in political parties, respondents from both countries are

passive because only about 6% of them are members of some political party (see Table 3).

According to Marc Howard [Howard 2003], older rather than younger people participate in

politics. For instance, 57 years is the average age of a member of the Christian Democratic

Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CDU/CSU) [Jeřábek 2010].

We should be aware of the fact that the decline of membership among young people in

political parties does not necessarily mean a lower degree of their political engagement.

According to Ronald Inglehart, who is concerned with the value changes of young generation;

young people prefer to be more actively involved into a policy decision-making process than

to be the members of traditional parties [Inglehart 1977, 1993]. Additionally, young people

are often involved in various kinds of NGOs such as human rights watch, environmental and

culture organization, etc. [Císař, Navrátil, Vrábníková 2011, Vrábníková 2009].

Table 3. Membership in political parties (column %)

Whole sample

Czechs Germans Men Women

Yes 5,7 3,7 7,8 9,4 2,6

No 82,9 89,8 75,5 77,1 87,7

Other participation

4,8 2,8 6,9 6,2 3,5

Considering membership

6,7 3,7 9,8 7,3 6,1

Data shows a statistically significant relationship of the membership in political parties

neither according to nationality nor gender of the respondents. Table 3 above shows that the

Germans prefer other forms of political participation more often than the Czechs. They are

involved in the municipalities, the university discussion groups and initiatives, in the non-

governmental environmental organizations or in sponsoring of the non-profit organizations. In

addition, men show more political activity than women. Moreover, Czech women were the

most passive ones in the whole sample.

Many social scientists believe that there is a relationship between economic

development of the country and political engagement of its inhabitants [Inglehart 1990,

Almond. Verba 1989]. According to modernization theory the higher is the standard of living

in the country the more people participated in politics [Howard 2003]. According to OECD

statistics, GDP per capita was $ 38 105 in Germany and $ 23 445 in the Czech Republic in

2010 [OECD 2012]. Therefore, better economic condition in Germany could explain that

higher active political participation of German respondents.

4.4 How frequently students discuss about politics

The family, peer group and school belong to the important factors of the political

socialization [Almond, Verba 1989]. Therefore, respondents were asked to say how often they

discuss political issues with their relatives, friends and university colleagues. When we

compare the level of discussion Czech and German students most often talk about politics

with their friends, then in their family and the least frequently at the university (see Tables 4

and 5). Data shows that about 40% of Czech and German respondents discuss the political

issues with their friends several times a month. A statistically significant difference according

to the field of education was reported. Students of SS&H talk about politics more often than

their colleagues educated in the other fields. However, there was not proved any difference

according to nationality or gender.

Table 4. Frequency of discussions about politics (row %)

Czechs

Daily Weekly Monthly Less than monthly

Never

Family 7,4 21,3 37 32,4 1,9

Friends 6,5 30,6 39,8 20,4 2,8

University colleagues

7,4 19,4 17,6 38 17,6

Germans

Daily Weekly Monthly Less than monthly

Never

Family 5,9 35,3 33,3 21,6 3,9

Friends 12,7 23,5 39,2 22,5 2

University colleagues

19,6 24,5 18,6 25,5 11,8

Table 5. Average frequency of discussions about politics

Whole sample

Czechs Germans Men Women

Family 2,91 3 2,82 2,79 3,02

Friends 2,8 2,82 2,77 2,52 3,04

University colleagues

3,13 3,39 2,85 2,93 3,3

Note: means on a scale 1–5, 1 – daily, 5 – never

4.5 How frequently students follow political news

The aim of this chapter is to describe the frequency of following political news across

all media types. The comparison of monitoring political news between Czech and German

students is listed in the Tables 6, Figure 2 and the appendix Table A2). Table 6 shows that

the Internet is the most popular medium for monitoring political news in both countries. On

the other hand, respondents follow political issues in foreign media and specialized press the

least frequently. Analysis proved dependence according to gender and type of education.

Men watch the political news in all media types except radio more often than women and

students of SS&H more frequently than ones with other education.

In my opinion, following online political news is popular between Czech and German

respondent for many reasons. Firstly, the Internet is widely spread in the Czech Republic

and Germany. About 56% of Czech and even 79% of German households had Internet

access in 2010 when I collected the data [Czech statistical office 2010, Internet world stats

2010]. Secondly, online journalism is unique in many respects. The Internet is the fastest

source of information; however, it is at the cost of reduced reliability. Moreover, the Internet

differs from traditional media by combining text, hypertext, audio and visual information

[Allan 2006, Osvaldová, Halada 2002].

Table 6. Frequency of following the political news across all media types (row %)

Czechs

Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Never Domestic press

16,7 26,9 27,8 19,4 9,3

Specialized press

3,7 14,8 24,1 24,1 33,3

TV 15,7 36,1 19,4 18,5 10,2 Foreign media

8,3 17,6 15,7 23,1 35,2

Radio 7,4 13,9 14,8 26,9 37

Internet 51,9 22,2 17,6 8,3 0

Germans

Daily Weekly Monthly yearly never

Press 21,4 21,6 25,5 12,7 8,8 Specialized press

5,9 12,7 33,3 21,6 26,5

TV 39,2 37,3 14,7 5,9 2,9 Foreign media

4,9 21,6 16,7 29,4 27,5

Radio 29,4 31,4 16,7 13,7 8,8

Internet 53,9 23,5 10,8 7,8 3,9 Figure 2. Average frequency of following political news

Note: the means on a scale 1–5, 1 – daily, 5 – never

4.6 Level of political awareness

The level of political awareness was tested using the following knowledge questions

relating to domestic and foreign politics. Although Czech and German questions differ

somewhat, the goal was to achieve high comparability of both versions.

1. „Progressive taxation means that the more income I have, the less I pay taxes.”

2. Czech version: „The Supreme Court has its seat in Prague.” German version: „The

Supreme Court has its seat in Bonn.”

3. Czech version: „The Czech republic is not a member of OSCE.” German version:

„Germany is not a member of OSCE.”

4. Czech version: „The Czech republic joined NATO in 1999.” German version: „Germany

joined NATO in 1955.”

5. Czech version: „What is the name of the Czech EU commissioner?” German version:

„What is the name of the German EU commissioner?”

6. „When Euro was introduced as a currency for cash payment in some countries of EU (e.g.

Germany, France)?”

2,5

2,6

2,7

2,8

2,9

3

3,1

3,2

3,3

Czechs Germans Men Women SS&H

education

Other

education

3,07

2,82

2,75

3,12

2,85

3,25

7. Czech version: „How many presidents have had the Czech Republic and former

Czechoslovakia since 1918?” German version: "How many Federal Chancellors have had

Germany since 1949?”

8. „What does the acronym NATO stand for?”

Table 7. Correct answers to questions testing knowledge about politics (%)

Question no.

Whole sample

Czechs Germans Men Women

1 86,7 92,6 80,4 88,5 85,1

2 81,9 82,4 81,4 85,4 78,9

3 68,1 63,9 72,5 75 62,3

4 82,9 78,7 87,3 87,5 78,9

5 30 32,4 27,5 41,7 20,2

6 33,3 21,3 46,1 35,4 31,6

7 35,2 32,4 38,2 43,8 28,1

8 60 53,7 66,7 65,6 55,3

Analysis of data confirmed the assumption about high level of political awareness

between Czech and German students. Table 7 shows that a relatively high percentage of

respondents answered correctly the first four questions. This was an alternative type of

questions where respondents choose the answer YES or NO, depending on their agreement

with the submitted statement. Moreover, the respondents could also guess. Question no. 1 was

the easiest for Czech and German students because about 87% of them answered it correctly.

On the other hand, respondents erred more often in the answers to the last four questions

because it was more difficult type of semi-opened questions. Additionally, question no. 5 was

the most difficult for respondents from both countries. Only about 30% of them knew the

name of Czech / German EU commissioner (see table 7).

The further analysis has shown dependency according to gender. On the other hand,

there was no statistically significant relationship according to the type of education or

nationality. However, students of SS&H and German respondents knew more about politics

(see Figure 3 below). These differences might have been statistically significant in a larger

sample.

Figure 3. Average level of political awareness

Note: the means on a scale 1–2, 1 – correct answer, 2 – incorrect answer

4.7 Level of patriotism and attitudes to the European integration

This chapter is concerned with the attitudes of German and Czech respondents to the

EU and to their own country and nationality. For this purpose, students were asked three

questions. Firstly, the respondents were asked whether they preferred national to united

Europe or vice versa. The preferences of respondents are listed in the Figure 4 below. Data

analysis brings out statistically significant differences according to nationality. German

students support the European Union more often than the Czechs. About 90% of German

student prefer united to national Europe whereas only 60% of the Czechs share this opinion.

Figure 4. National versus united Europe (%)

Secondly, I wanted to know if respondents though that the EU suppresses national

identity of their country. Some differences between Czech and German students were

1,28

1,3

1,32

1,34

1,36

1,38

1,4

1,42

1,44

1,46

1,48

Czechs Germans Men Women SS&H

education

Other

education

1,43

1,38

1,35

1,45

1,38

1,48

0

20

40

60

80

100

Czechs Germans Men Women

40,7

9,8

21,928,9

59,3

90,2

78,171,1

National Europa United Europe

apparent, for instance, about 47% of the Germans and only 25% of the Czechs totally disagree

with the statement mentioned in the Table 8 below. Nevertheless, data analysis didn´t reveal

any statistically significant relationship.

Table 8. “Membership in the EU suppresses our national identity" (row %)

Totally agree

Tend to agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Tend to disagree

Totally disagree

Czechs 5,6 13,9 16,7 38,9 25

Germans 6,9 5,9 12,7 27,5 47,1

Thirdly, Czech and German students reported how much they were proud of their

country and nationality. Table 9 shows the striking distinctions between the Czechs and the

Germans. Analysis has revealed statistical significant difference according to nationality.

German students show less national pride than their Czech colleagues. The most significant

difference was expressed in the item called "strongly disagree" which choose almost 20% of

the Germans and just 2% of the Czechs (see Table 9).

Table 9. “I am proud to be a Czech / German” (row %)

Totally agree

Tend to agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Tend to disagree

Totally disagree

Czechs 23,1 47,2 15,7 12 1,9

Germans 11,8 38,2 14,7 15,7 19,6

To conclude, data analysis has revealed the striking differences between the Czechs

and the Germans. German students support European integration more often than their Czech

colleagues. Additionally, the Germans show a lower level of patriotism what confirms my

hypothesis. The lack of German patriotism could be caused by trauma and guild from World

War II. A statement published in Spiegel magazines illustrates the attitudes of German people

to their country. “National pride, especially when it comes to publicly what is displaying a

love, or even a mild affinity, for Germany is still simply taboo. When Horst Köhler left a plum

job as head of the International Monetary Fund to become Germany's president -- mostly a

ceremonial position -- in 2004, he said in his speech, ,I love Germany‘ Reuters reported at the

time that the sentence, sent a hush through the packed Reichstag chamber‘.“ [Spiegel Online

International 2006].

German respondents could support the European Union more often than the Czech

ones because of the leading position of Germany in this institution. The reasons for Germans´

leadership in the EU are threefold. Firstly, Germany is the largest economy in the EU, and it

is the most populous member state with more than 80 million inhabitants [Hyde-Prince 2000].

Secondly, Germany has had 99 deputies in the European Parliament since June 1994. It is the

most numerous group from all member states [European Parliament / MEPs 2012]. Thirdly,

Germany and France were one of the pioneers of European integration after World War II.

Germany was one of the founding members of ECSC, EEC, EURATOM and EC6 which

formed the basis of the European Union [Hyde-Prince 2000, Fiala, Pitrová 2003]. On the

other hand, the Czech Republic, with its 10 million inhabitants and 22 deputies in the

European Parliament [European Parliament / MEPs 2012], has much weaker position than

Germany in the EU. Furthermore, the Czech Republic belongs to the new member states

which joined the EU in 2004.

4.8 Attitudes to direct democracy and referendum

Regarding attitudes of respondents to direct democracy, the students were asked

whether they preferred representative to direct democracy or vice versa. Figure 5 shows that

distinction between the Czechs and the Germans is only small. Data analysis does not bring

out any statistical significant relationship between according to gender or nationality.

Furthermore, the support for direct democracy is surprisingly high; it is about 50% in the

whole sample.

Figure 5. Representative versus direct democracy (%)

6 the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Community

40

45

50

55

Czechs Germans Men Women

51,9

46,1

53,1

45,6

48,1

53,9

46,9

54,4

Representative democracy Direct democracy

The respondents from both countries are convinced of the importance of the

plebiscites. About 80% of the Czechs and the Germans agree with the statement “referenda

are important” (see Table 10). Analysis has also shown that about 14% of Czech students and

only 2% of German ones disagree with this statement.

Table 10. “Referenda are important.” (row %)

Totally agree

Tend to agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Tend to disagree

Totally disagree

Czechs 31,5 48,1 6,5 13,9 0

Germans 37,3 41,2 19,6 1 1

As far as the direct democracy and its instrument referendum are concerned, I am not

sure whether respondents are aware of their potential risks. In other words, referendum and

direct democracy can get out of control in unstable countries or in the states with short

democratic tradition, a weak civil society and uninformed citizens. Charismatic leader can

manipulate a crowd that is why a referendum can be an instrument of populism or even

totalitarianism. Within this context, we can recall the right-wing or left-wing dictatorships in

Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and communist Bulgaria and Poland [Žaloudek 2004, Pechanec

2010].

On the other hand, the direct democracy and referendum can contribute to the better

legislation, higher public engagement, political awareness and civic responsibility. The

referenda are occasionally held on the local but not on the national level within the Czech

Republic and Germany. Moreover, the support for the referenda is growing in both countries;

for instance, German political movement Mehr Demokratie supports the enforcement of

national plebiscites [Pechanec 2010]. „Mehr Demokratie is the driving force for referenda and

a better electoral law. Every vote counts equally, and everybody has the right to participate.

That's what we stand up for.“ [Mehr Demokratie 2012].

4.9 Level of political alienation and disgust with politics

In order to measure a degree of political alienation and disgust with politics, the

students were asked three questions. Firstly, the respondents were asked whether they agree

with the statement “politics is dirty”. Their answers are listed in Table 11 below. It is a

positive finding that the majority of Czech and the German respondents reject this statement.

Data analysis does not show a statistical significant difference according to nationality or

gender, although German respondents disagreed with the statement more often than the Czech

ones. The differences according to nationality might have been statistically significant in a

larger sample.

Table 11. “Politics is dirty” (row %)

Totally agree Tend to agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Tend to disagree

Totally disagree

Czechs 9,3 29,6 16,7 32,4 12

Germans 7,8 23,5 17,6 27,5 23,5

Secondly, respondents expressed their opinion on the statement “elections are

manipulated”. It would be alarming for the state of political culture and democracy if the

large proportion of the respondents thought that the elections were manipulated in their

country. Furthermore, it would be even worse if the manipulation of electoral results had

occurred in the Czech Republic or in Germany. According to the Freedom house analysis, the

level of political rights and civil liberties is high in both countries. This NGO monitoring

democracy, freedom and human rights all over the world, does not mention any case of

election manipulation in the Czech Republic or in Germany [Freedom House 2010].

Analysis brings out statistical significant difference according to the nationality. In

most cases, the Czech and German respondents do not think that elections are manipulated in

their country. However, the disagreement of the Czech respondents is weaker than the

German ones (see Table 12). For instance, more than 55% of the Germans and only 23% of

the Czechs completely reject the claim that “elections are manipulated”. It could be possible

that some Czech respondents were influenced by the scandal of buying votes in the municipal

elections in some Czech cities (e.g. Český těšín, Roudnice nad Popelkou, Krupka), which

took place during the Czech part of this case study in 2010 [Šimíček 2011].

Table 12. “Elections are manipulated” (row %)

Totally agree

Tend to agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Tend to disagree

Totally disagree

Czechs 0,9 10,2 17,6 48,1 23,1

Germans 2,9 2,9 16,7 21,6 55,9

Thirdly, the level of political alienation and resignation was measured by the statement

“I cannot influence anything in politics”. Table 13 shows that the distinctions between the

Czechs and the Germans are only subtle. It is a positive finding, that the majority of

respondents from both countries believe that they can influence politics. Moreover, this

statement is rejected by only a quarter of respondents. Analysis reveals no significant

differences according to the nationality or gender.

Table 13. “I cannot influence anything in politics.” (row %)

Totally agree Tend to agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Tend to disagree

Totally disagree

Czechs 4,6 16,7 10,2 46,3 22,2 Germans 3,9 20,6 13,7 41,2 20,6

5. Conclusion:

This article has presented the research findings from the own questionnaire survey

between Czech and German university students. It is very difficult to describe the overall

character of the political culture of the respondents because it is a highly complex issue that

goes beyond the intent and also possibilities of this article. Therefore, the aim of the work was

to describe the selected aspects of their political culture.

The data analysis confirms the hypothesis about high turnout of Czech and German

students. They go to the polls more often than general population in both countries. This fact

can be caused by their higher education. Data shows a statistically significant relationship

according to gender and nationality. German respondents are more interested in the elections

than Czech ones and men than women. In both countries, there is the highest interest in the

parliamentary elections (Czech Chamber of Deputies and German Federal Parliament –

Bundestag), whereas the lowest turnout was reported in the European Parliament elections.

A statistically significant difference was also reported in the preferences on the left-

right scale in the Czech Republic and Germany. Czech respondents tend to prefer the right-

wing parties, and German respondents prefer left-wing ones what confirms my hypothesis.

There is about the same support for centrist parties in both countries. Moreover, the high

support for the Green party is typical for the whole sample.

When we compare the membership in the political parties, there are no striking

differences between Czech and German respondents. They do not show much interest in the

membership in the political parties. Nevertheless, the analysis confirmed my assumption of

more active involvement in political life in case of German respondents. Bremen students

were politically engaged more often than their Prague colleagues. This finding could be

explained by long lasting of German democratic experience as well as by the better economic

condition in Germany than in the Czech Republic [Howard 2003, Klicperová-Baker 1999,

Vrábníková 2009].

As far as the level of interest in politics is concerned, the respondents discuss about

politics quite frequently as well as they regularly follow political news across all media types.

Regarding discussions about politics, respondents from both countries talk about politics the

most frequently with their friends, then with family and the least frequently at the university.

The analysis does not prove a significant difference according to gender or nationality.

However, data shows a significant relationship according to the type of study. Students of

SS&H talk about politics more often than students educated in other fields. The respondents

with other types of education also follow political news less frequently and report higher level

of political awareness than their colleagues with education in SS&H.

When we compare exposure to political communication in media, the Germans follow

political information across all media types except the Internet more often than the Czechs.

However, there was not proved a statistically significant relationship. Respondents from both

countries watch political news the most often on the Internet, followed by the television and

reading newspaper. On the other hand, the least frequent sources of information are

specialized press and foreign media. The further analysis has shown the dependency of

monitoring political news according to gender. Czech and German men follow political

information across all media types except radio more often than women. Moreover, the

hypothesis about high level of political awareness between Czech and German students was

also confirmed.

Regarding attitudes to nationalism and European integration, there are the striking

differences among Czech and German respondents. The Germans demonstrate a low degree

of nationalism, and they support the European Union more often than the Czechs. Data shows

that German students prefer united Europe to patriotism more often than Czech ones. In

addition, the Czechs agree more frequently with the statement “Membership in the EU

suppresses our national identity” and they express more national pride as well. The lack of

nationalism can be caused by historical reasons after World War II. German respondents can

support the European Union more often because of the leading position of Germany in this

institution.

The further aim of the case study was to measure of political alienation and disgust

with politics. Data analysis proved the assumption of a low level of frustration and alienation

from politics. It is the positive finding for the political culture in both countries that the

majority of respondents disagree with the statements “politics is dirty” and “elections are

manipulated”. Moreover, the majority of Czech and German students believe that they can

influence the public affairs.

To summarize, the most respondents from both countries have clearly defined links to

the political system and their place in it, which is shown by high degree of electoral

participation, high level of political awareness, regular watching political news and frequent

discussion about political issues. The analysis did not reveal the striking differences in many

aspects of political culture between Czech and German students. However, the Germans are

more actively involved in political life than the Czechs. In addition, German respondents

support left-wing parties whereas Czech respondents prefer right-wing parties. The Germans

also report a lower level of patriotism and national pride than the Czechs. Data also shows the

dependence on a type of education. The respondents with education in SS&H follow political

news and discuss about politics more often than the respondents with the other type of

education. The analysis proves that women are more passive than men in going to the pools,

in membership in the political parties and following political news. On the other hand, their

level of political awareness is the same as in the case of men.

The case study does not use a fully representative sample so the results cannot be

completely generalized. It might be useful to carry out the further researches and case studies

on a larger and more representative sample of students or of the general Czech and German

population. The hypotheses could be tested again, and the results could be verified. The next

researches could also deepen some of the tendencies, which failed to demonstrate at a

statistically significant level in the sample due to the low number of respondents. Moreover,

the interesting results could be achieved by using advanced multilevel methods of data

analysis.

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Appendix:

Table A1. Social demographic characteristic of the sample (column %)

Whole sample

Czechs Germans

Nationality Czech 51,4 100 0

German 48,6 0 100

Gender Male 45,7 45,4 46,1

Female 54,3 54,6 53,9

Age

20 and less 4,8 4,6 4,9

21–22 27,1 29,6 24,5

23–24 33,8 36,1 31,4

25–26 20 17,6 22,5

More than 26 14,3 12 16,7

Degree

Bachelor 48,1 57,4 38,2

Master 44,8 37 52,9

Doctoral 3,3 3,7 2,9

University completed 3,8 1,9 5,9

Field of study

SS&H: 75,6 77,8 73,6

Humanities 29,5 34,3 24,5

Social sciences 39 38 40,2

Languages 3,8 0,9 6,9

Law 3,3 4,6 2

Others: 24,4 22,2 26,4

Medicine 7,2 9,3 4,9

Natural sciences 8,1 8,3 7,8

Technique 8,1 3,7 12,7

Sports 1 0,9 1 Note: the Czechs and the Germans mean 108 Czech respondents and 102 German respondents.

Table A2. Average frequency of watching political news across all media types

Whole sample

Czechs Germans Men Women

Press 2,62 2,78 2,46 2,55 2,68 Specialized press

3,6 3,69 3,5 3,41 3,75

TV 2,35 2,71 1,96 2,34 2,35 Foreign media

3,56 3,59 3,53 3,32 3,76

Radio 3,09 3,72 2,41 3,18 3,01

Internet 1,83 1,82 1,84 1,59 2,04 Note: means on a scale 1–5, 1 – daily, 5 – never