Geographical (Re)presentations in Czech Parliamentary Speeches

Geographical inequalities constitute a core research topic in social geography with far-reaching implications for issues in political science as well. While economic and social forms of such inequalities are widely discussed, spatial inequalities in political representation remain underexplored. This contribution examines the representation of geographical places in parliamentary speeches of the Czech Chamber of Deputies between 2013 and 2023. It utilizes named entity recognition and geocoding tools, drawing on data from the ParlaMint corpus. This methodological framework enables assessment of the frequency and spatial distribution of Czech placename mentions in parliamentary speeches in contrast to classical spatial patterns observed in other forms of territorial differentiation in Czechia, such as the core–periphery distinction. Additionally, the paper explores authorship, with particular focus on partisan affiliations of speakers, before turning to inequalities in representation within electoral districts. Using a zero-inflated negative binomial model, it asks which places inside their own district MPs represent, and whether attention follows their electoral strongholds and their place of residence, or the size and deprivation of a place. The study offers not only novel empirical findings but also a methodological contribution to a small but growing literature on geographical inequalities in political representation. Unlike most previous studies, which compare whole electoral districts, it looks inside them, at the level of individual places. In doing so, the paper bridges geography, computational linguistics, and political science, contributing to the broader "GeoAI" turn in geographical science.