https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/911 Mon, 27 Jul 2026 17:03:25 GMT 2026-07-27T17:03:25Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3881 Preventing Radicalisation, or Forcing Ideological Consent? Crises, Uncertainty Reduction and Collective Identity Negotiation in Collaborative Communities of Online Third Spaces Vochocová, Lenka; Rosenfeldová, Jana With regard to the recent accumulation of crisis events in Europe, scholars stress the potential of online spaces to reduce people's uncertainty through collective identity formation, providing their members with emotional support and recognition. However, polarisation and radicalisation are mentioned as possible negative consequences of online community formation in crisis times. "Third spaces" are described as online forums where political talk emerges against the background of the primary purpose of the environment - exchanging ideas or goods and mutual support. Our article explores how the "purpose-based" collective identity of the participants of a parenting forum, a typical "third space," is challenged with their potentially conflicting political identities in the context of strongly polarising issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. A qualitative analysis of nearly 2,500 contributions confirms that, to a certain extent, a third space constitutes an environment of cooperation and support even during major societal crises and provides space to negotiate conflicting ideological identities. However, broader societal polarisation is reflected in the forum which clearly sets boundaries to diversity, strictly excluding opinions considered extreme or unacceptable by the majority. Proponents of minority opinions are thus pushed to the margins, where they may radicalise. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3881 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3879 Does finance change the taste for redistribution? Horváth, Roman; Kořínek, Matěj; Weill, Laurent This paper investigates whether financial development is associated with people's preferences for redistribution. Although a large literature examines the effects of finance on growth and inequality, much less is known about its influence on the political demand for redistribution. Using individual-level data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study, we estimate the relation between financial development and preferences for income equality. We find no significant average effect of financial development on redistributive demand. However, this aggregate neutrality masks significant individual-level heterogeneity. We find that financial development is associated with lower support for redistribution among men, married individuals, and right-leaning respondents. In contrast, the effect is significantly positive for more educated individuals. These results suggest that financial development may alter the composition of pro-redistribution coalitions even when average preferences remain stable. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3879 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3818 Does Saying It Out Loud Matter? Strategic Communication Transparency as a Marker of Developed Democracies Moravcová, Hana Purpose: To assess whether government transparency about strategic communication(SC) policies affects citizens' trust in government and their perceived "say" in public matters.Design/methodology/approach: Using a cross-national sample (N = 28), I estimateordinary least squares (OLS) models and bootstrap confidence intervals. I also performprincipal component analysis (PCA) and k-means cluster analysis on six standardizedindicators: SC transparency (dummy), GDP per capita, good governance, social policyeffectiveness, communication coherency (all SGI expert scores), plus OECD measures of trustand "say". The goal is to obtain ceteris paribus estimates of the association between SCtransparency and the two outcome variables (Trust Score and Say Score), and to explore countrygroupings with similar trait profiles.Findings: OLS models show no statistically significant predictors of Trust Score or SayScore, with one borderline exception: a one-point increase in the Coherency score is associatedwith a 14.38-point increase in Say Score. The 2-cluster solution clearly separates countries:Cluster 1 scores higher on all analyzed indicators than Cluster 2 (all mean differences arestatistically significant, and effect sizes are large). Transparency differs sharply across clusters:in Cluster 2, 13 of 17 countries (76%) are non-transparent, whereas in Cluster 1 only 4 of 11(36%) lack transparency.Originality/value: The study directly addresses whether transparency about strategiccommunication "matters". While OLS suggests no robust standalone effect, the cluster analysisindicates that SC transparency co-occurs with higher institutional quality and citizen attitudes. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3818 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3816 Personal experience with policy matters: using natural experiment to estimate mere exposure effect Veselý, Arnošt; Petrúšek, Ivan Can simply living through a policy shape how people think about the policy? While existingscholarship often treats personal experience as secondary or contingent, we argue that livedpolicy experience can exert a direct and independent causal effect on policy attitudes. Drawingon mere exposure theory, we conceptualize personal experience as a distinct mechanism ofattitude formation and leverage a natural experiment based on recurring changes in the lengthof basic schooling in the Czech Republic to identify its causal impact. Because assignment to8- versus 9-year basic school was determined by birth cohort and policy timing rather than individualchoice, we can isolate the effect of lived policy experience from confounding selectionprocesses. We find that individuals who experienced a 9-year basic school policy regime exhibitsubstantially higher opposition to its abolition than those who attended an 8-year basic school.This treatment effect persists robustly after accounting for political ideology, parental status,educational attainment, and other covariates. Contrary to expectations, the treatment effectdoes not diminish over time nor vary by political sophistication. These findings suggest that thelived experience with policy can have a robust and lasting impact on policy attitudes, independentof symbolic or ideological factors. We discuss implications for policy theory and callfor greater attention to personal experience in both empirical research and theory development. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3816 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z