Tomáš Cirhan, Ph.D.

Tomáš Cirhan, Ph.D.

Posts:

  • Department of Political Science

E-mail: tomas.cirhan@fsv.cuni.cz

Website

Rooms: No. C513, Jinonice, building C

CV

Tomáš Cirhan is a post-doc researcher at Charles University within the SYRI and AUTHLIB projects. He received his doctorate from Leiden University in the Netherlands. He completed his previous education in the United Kingdom – HNC at Banff and Buchan College, BA (Hons) at Robert Gordon University and MSc at the University of Aberdeen.
He deals with political parties and their organization, primarily within Central and Eastern Europe, and has published articles in East European Politics, the Czech Journal of Political Science, and book chapters for Palgrave Macmillan and Oxford University Press. In 2023, he published a book called Party Organization and Electoral Success of New Anti-establishment Parties in Routledge. As part of his work at IPS FSV UK, he is the guarantor and teacher of the course entitled Era of political entrepreneurs: a party capture by private interests.

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Monographs

Chapters in monographs

Articles

Contributions in the conference proceedings

 

Era of political entrepreneurs: a party capture by private interests

This course deals with an important topic in the contemporary politics. The majority of party systems in European democracies witness a relatively recent phenomenon of new anti-establishment parties electorally succeeding at the expense of their established counterparts. Many of such parties are formed and led by political entrepreneurs. The entry of these individuals, who often have vast economic power, and who use their parties as tools to fulfil their personal interests, raises many concerns. When combined with their newly acquired political power (and in some cases also media power), the success of parties led by political entrepreneurs represents certain risks. Simultaneously, a specific approach to party organization practiced in this type of parties questions our understanding of internal party democracy.
During this course, students will try to tackle several questions and points of discussion, such as: What are the key characteristics of entrepreneurial parties? How do parties belonging to this group differ from the other types of parties? What are the dangers behind the concentration of different types of power by a single institution/individual? How are entrepreneurial parties functioning within and what does that tell us about their perception of internal party democracy? Are there any similarities in regards to these parties´ ideology and rhetoric? What is the difference between entrepreneurial party and business-firm party? What are the wider consequences of entrepreneurial parties´ entry into politics?

Tomáš Cirhan´s research deals with the party politics in central and eastern Europe. His research interests lie in the cross-national comparative analysis of anti-establishment political parties and their party organization. Additionally, as a part of SYRI (National Institute for Research on the Socio-Economic Impact of Diseases and Systemic Risks), supported by the CZ National Recovery Plan EXCELES Programme, he focuses on polarization and populism in Czech society. He also participates in Horizon AUTHLIB project (Neo-Authoritarianisms in Europe and the Liberal Democratic Response) addressing the impact of illiberal political actors on the politics in central and eastern Europe.