Political manipulation is marked with negative connotation, which presents a starting point of this thesis. We will understand it as management, programming, and redirection of the masses – the public, which can also include psychological influences in order to achieve the goal of a manipulator. The key substance of manipulation is covertness. Political manipulation can be used by anyone in a political space that has the ability to carry it out. This poses a barrier at identification of a political phenomenon in a case study. Therefore, we sought theoretical sequences for recognition of political manipulation in Machiavelli's work: The Prince, Riker's Heresthetics and theories of plural democracy. We realised, that one must differentiate between moral and politics for identification of a political manipulation. Politics needs to be seen realistically. As such, we see the political field of action in an elite–pluralistic model of democracy, which is based on the plurality of interests, conflicts of interest, and the dispersal of power. True power is still in the hands of the elites, although many interest groups exist and democracy is all about strengthening the power of the people. The logic of zero-sum, which represents a conflict, is also important for identification of a political manipulation. At the same time, we have designed a »Machiavellian« game of power, which we applied to a concrete case. This allowed us to analyse political manipulation: from its key elements to political goals. The crucial was researching the role of a political manipulation in elite-pluralist democracy.
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