Sudetoněmecký Landsmanšaft nebo podpora migrace? Německo jako zdroj ohrožení v rétorice Miloše Zemana
Sudeten German Landsmanshaft or the Support of Immigration? Germany as a Source of Threat in the Rhetorics of Miloš Zeman

Summary/Abstract: This paper is supposed to be a contribution to contemporary discussion about creating “the others” as a populist strategy. One can say that the role of the most important “the others” in modern Czech history has been played by the Germans (as a nation) and/or by Germany (as a political unit). On the case of Czech President Miloš Zeman, the goal of this paper is to show the process of creation “the others”. The main questions of this text are: “Are the Germans the object of othering by Miloš Zeman? If yes, what are his arguments for creating this enemy of the Czech people?” This paper stands as a content analysis of dataset consist of all speeches, interviews, and articles by Miloš Zeman from his whole first presidential term in office. The main findings of this analysis are related to the reframing of the image of the Germans as a source of danger for the Czech people. Originally, Miloš Zeman used to speak mostly about the problems related to the so-called “Sudeten question”. However, this argumentation has been changed and Miloš Zeman has been speaking especially about the negative role of Germany during “immigration crisis” and immigration politics of Angela Merkel during the last years. Islam and immigration seem to be discoursively strong topics able to replace former importance of some other issues (the insignificant number of immigrants and especially Muslims in the country notwithstanding). Zeman often uses the historical images of Nazism to delegitimize Islam.

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