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The paper describes the modern history of international relations based on the liberalism-constructivism approach. The main goal is to decrease the importance of the state in international relations and to point out the importance of a number of other actors that influence communication in international relations (multinational companies, non-state actors, new social movements, media, etc.). Such expansion is also of importance for the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, official diplomatic relations did not exist, therefore the communication transpired via these non-state actors. Scientific workplaces focusing on the area of international relations played a key role in this process, namely the Czechoslovak Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii and the West German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik. However even these scientific institutions were influenced by the ideological and institutional settings of each respective country. The Ústav pro mezinárodní politiku a ekonomii in many aspects simply repeated propaganda statements of the Communist government towards West Germany. Due to its own activities aimed at the Czechoslovak and West German relations in the 1960s and the effort to gain a more independent position, it was disbanded in early 1970s. A new workplace was created instead, which was once again fully subordinate to the Communist party. On the other hand, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik represents a modern think-tank created in the Anglo-Saxon world. In many propositions, the analysis formed their own, independent stances that often contradicted the official views of the West German government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sons-in-law and their role in Přemyslid Bohemia (A contribution to the foreign policy of Czech monarchs from the end of the 10th to the beginning of the 14th century.) The study shows the importance of marriages of the daughters of Czech rulers of Přemyslide period to the political goals of their fathers. An analysis of the known facts about the marriages of the Přemyslids and their partners shows that the choice of partners of the ruler's descendants was subordinated to their political interests and goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italian aggression against Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 placed Czechoslovak diplomacy in a predicament. On the one hand, as a member state of the League of Nations, the First Czechoslovak Republic was obliged to preserve the integrity and independence of other League members, including Abyssinia, and to apply at least economic sanctions against any aggressor. On the other hand, as a product of the First World War, Czechoslovakia was highly interested in maintaining the post-war order in Central Europe against growing German revisionism. Here, apart from France and Great Britain, Czechoslovak diplomats put their hopes in Italy as well and were particularly anxious to gain Mussolini for the defence of Austria. In light of this dilemma, the article examines the attitude and behaviour of foreign minister Edvard Beneš, who was not only Czechoslovakia's leading diplomat but also the country's principal actor in the League of Nations, where the Abyssinian crisis had been on the agenda since the beginning of 1935. As far as Beneš' role in the League is concerned, the study focuses on the sixteenth Assembly in autumn 1935, of which Beneš was elected president. While previous works on Czechoslovakia's Abyssinian policy are mainly based on documents from the Archives of the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry, this article also uses sources from the League of Nations Archives in Geneva and the Archives of the Masaryk-Institute in Prague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]