„Ostrovy deviace“ v populistické rétorice Miloše Zemana
“The Isles of Deviation” in Populist Rhetorics of Miloš Zeman

Summary/Abstract: “The Isles of Deviation” in Populist Rhetorics of Miloš Zeman. This text contributes to current discussion related to political populism. From Zeman's inauguration speech, we deduced three thematic areas (corruption, extremism, media). Based on these issues and using CAQDAS, we examined the correlation between Zeman's rhetoric and theoretical framework of populism. The dataset for our analysis consists of whole Zeman's textual production during his first presidential term. Our effort was focused on how Miloš Zeman creates basic elements of populism (the people, the elites, the others) in relation to corruption, extremism, and media. Our analysis has shown that some basic principles of political populism have been frequently present in his speeches. Contrary to some other quite often cases of overusing of the concept of populism and using this concept without any proper empirical evidence, the main goal of our article was (based on the transparently explained theoretical and methodological framework) to clearly show that Miloš Zeman is populist. Our research can be used as a standpoint for broader comparative research of populism.

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