POLITICAL-PARTIES IN THE CZECH PARLIAMENT (1992-1996) - ORGANIZATION,BEHAVIOR AND INFLUENCE

The paper studies relationships between political parties and parliame nt in the Czech Republic. The main contention of the paper is that, co mpared to the Federal Assembly between 1990 and 1992, political partie s played a crucial role in the functioning of the Chamber of Deputies between 1992 and 1996. Preliminary empirical evidence is presented on how the dominance of parties has been exhibited in the internal functi oning of parliament, e.g. in the work of individual MPs, parliamentary committees, and the Chamber as a whole, and on how the autonomy of pa rliamentary parties has been influenced by the extra-parliamentary par ty organisation, e.g. ordinary party members, party executives, and pa rtisan ministers.