Geopolitical ideas of Czech public

Abstract

This article analyses geographical and geopolitical ideas of the Czech public. Geographical ideas have become one of the basic conceptual instruments of contemporary human geography for the research into the influence of “spatial discourse” on political decision-making processes. The analysis is based on public opinion surveys and original research. It is its objective to identify basic geopolitical ideas of the Czech public in the context of Czech membership in NATO, to find the links between the perception of various types of geopolitical threats and to try to explain them on the basis of socio-demographic and geographic characteristics of the respondents. A particular emphasis is placed on NATO as a key reference point and a mediator of geographical and geopolitical ideas. Statistically significant differences in the perception and localization of threats and the role of NATO were found in relation to gender, age, residence, education and political orientation.