This paper examines the relationship between Big Five personality dimensions and membership in political parties in the Czech Republic. A total of 194 members from eight major Czech political parties filled out the NEO Five-Factor Inventory to assess the Big Five personality dimensions. The mean scores of the respondents from each party were compared to the scores of a sample of the general Czech population. The members of three right-wing parties scored lower in agreeableness and the members of one left-wing party were higher in agreeableness than the general population, which is consistent with results from other countries. The Greens scored higher in openness than the general population, which is consistent with results from Germany. Members of former governing parties, which had long been out of power, scored lower in neuroticism than the general population. and V článku se zabýváme vztahem mezi osobností a členstvím v českých politických stranách. Sto devadesát čtyři členů osmi hlavních českých politických stran vyplnilo NEO – pětifaktorový osobnostní inventář. Průměrné skóry členů každé strany byly porovnány se skóry vzorku české populace. Členové tří pravicových stran skórovali níže než populace v přívětivosti, členové jedné levicové strany naopak v přívětivosti skórovali výše. To je v souladu se vztahem mezi levicovostí a přívětivostí zjištěným v jiných zemích (např. Itálie). Zelení skórovali výše než populace v otevřenosti, což souhlasí s podobným zjištěním v Německu. Členové dřívějších vládních stran, jejichž vládní angažmá skončilo před dlouhou dobou, skórovali níže v neuroticismu než česká populace.
The article describes the Czech party system and its development over time using data from the annual financial reports of political parties and seeks to contribute to the domestic debate on the transformation of Czech political parties since 1989. The article distinguishes three factors that caused political party budgets to change – the economy, regulation, and strategy – and proposes a simple theoretical model with which to interpret and understand data obtained from the accounting books of political parties. It also presents a new three-dimensional typology of political parties based on the size of a party budget and the structure of party revenue and expenditures. The article concludes by arguing that understanding how all three of the aforementioned factors intersect could be useful for predicting the future development of party competition in the Czech Republic and facilitate the application of the ideas proposed herein to party systems abroad.