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This thesis aims to set a basic framework for "memories of communism" which come along with attempts on political construction of the past during post-1989 regime. Based on the example of public debate about "The Act on the Lawlessness of the Communist Regime and on Resistance Against It", we will attempt to reveal main resources of anti-communist rhetoric and symbols, and to clarify the role they played in forging political identities in the first half of the 1990s. While the introductory chapter explores concepts which allow us to conceptualize memory in the analysis of the political, other chapters are devoted to various interpretations of the past in the context of discussions of de- communization measures that belong to the category of "coming to terms with the past" (Lustration Act, The Act on the Lawlessness of the Communist Regime). Does Czech anti-communism result from those measures adopted between 1991 and 1993, or does their adoption seek to reduce the plurality of politics of memory? Are attempts to label the previous regime as criminal the exclusive form of anti-communism, or does anti-communism amount to a combination of moral, legal and political arguments that seek to criminalize the previous social and legal order? By analysing different types of utterances we will attempt to...

The aim of the bachelor thesis is mainly to make an analysis of political speeches and oficial documents of two South African political parties, National Party and Economic Freedom Fighters, with a discoursive analysis as a methodology. The focus of the thesis is on the discourse of justification which concentrates on justification of own existence and claim on representation. This claim on representation is then analysed with regards to a declared group which the party claims to represent and to which, at least, these politics are supposed to serve. The part of the analysis is also a matter of consistence of the rhetoric.

"Dissintegration and Search for Order" Two basic variables in Shia Islam political philosophy abstract The aim of the thesis is to classify the form of political leadership and domination in Shia islam's political ideology, their development and ability to succeed in political reality. I especially focus on the Shia understanding of political power and its connection to infallible Imam as secular and religious leader of the Shia community. For analysis of the concepts I use the description of early Islam, including the Shia reasons for the dissolution of Muslim ummah, as well as the reasons that led to the multiple division of Shiism. I analyse specific examples of ideological break up of the Shia community (Ithnasharia, Isma'ila, Hashashins, Alawi, Duryz and modern Islamic Republic of Iran) and finally cardinal reformulation of understanding of political leadership and domination by Ayatollah Khomeini. His concept Wilāyat al-faqīh (Guardianship of the jurist) started the era of radical transformation of the Shia political ideology, although he wanted only to modernize it and not to establish a brand new set up. My aspiration is therefore to analyze whether era of multiple dissolutions of political order will still continue or whether concept of Wilāyat al-faqīh can represent final step to end "period of...

Islamophobia and New Populism in Contemporary Western Europe: France and the Netherlands Bc. Martina Kočařová The Master thesis Islamophobia and New Populism in Contemporary Western Europe: France and the Netherlands explores current transformations of populism in contemporary Western Europe. The main objectives of the thesis are following: First, to verify a hypothesis implying that islamophobia has become a new feature of the contemporary populism, which has been consequently changing in terms of its content. Thus, it can hardly be classified as another form of the 'far right' politics. In this context, one may observe its shift towards the centre of the political party system. Second, based on the above outlined assumption, we aim to study whether the populist parties can be considered 'populist' in spite of the new features they have recently adopted. The theoretical framework of our research refers to Paul Taggart's conceptualisation of populism applying it on the cases of the French National Front under the lead of Marine Le Pen and the Dutch Party for Freedom and his leader Geert Wilders.

(in English) The author tries to describe the transformation of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in relation to itself and the surrounding environment, especially in the period from 17th November to 21st December 1989. He will use primarily the articles from Rudé právo and a stenographic record of the unscheduled session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia on 24th and 26th November 1989 which was published under the name Poslední hurá. He considers it appropriate to put into context the events of November and December 1989, with political development in Czechoslovakia in January, at the turn of June and July, and in October 1989. This analysis attempt will be based on the principles of general linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The combination of hegemonic analysis and deconstruction will be used as a method of workflow. When analyzing the transformation of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the author attempts to rely primarily on three principles deriving from discourse theory. The identity is not a fixed essence but it is created in the political struggles of the content of specific concepts. There have been attempts to fully fixate the identity of individuals, groups, society. But the identity is...

Two populist movements - ANO and Úsvit přímé demokracie - were successful in the by-election for the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. Using several tools of the discourse analysis, this paper analyze the nature of their populism. We are trying to answer, how these populist movements construct their idea of the elite, people and how they understand themselves. This paper also summarize theoretical approaches to populism in the Czech context. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The theoretical part of the thesis will define the concept of Islamophobia on the basis of foreign and Czech literature. Starting point will be, inter alia, Pavel Barša's concept of the "new xenophobia" as well as a comparison between the historical anti-Semitism and contemporary Islamophobia by Matti Bunzl at the same time reflecting the arguments of critics of the concept, as they were presented by Robin Richardson. Following will be a discursive analysis of two Czech media resources: webportal Eurabia, which was the main representative of the Czech Islamophobic rhetoric in the period (2006) and a leading newspaper Mladá Fronta Dnes. The analysis will monitor the ways in which the Mohamed cartoons controversy was thematized, applied characteristics and means of expression. At the same time the thesis will confront the analysis to more general issues stemming from the dialogue with theoretical conceptualizations of Islamophobia: Can we define the analyzed sources' language as Islamophobic? Does Islamophobia actually falls into the definition of "new xenophobia", or is it only a successor of "old" xenophobia? Finally it will attempt to define whether and why the cartoons affairs is symptomatic for the Czech Islamophobia. Keywords islamophobia; new xenophobia; Muhammad cartoon crisis; discourse analysis

In the theoretical part of the thesis student will define the concept of Islamophobia on the basis of foreign and Czech literature. His starting point will be, inter alia, Pavel Barša's concept of the "new xenophobia" as well as a comparison between the historical anti-Semitism and contemporary Islamophobia by Matti Bunzl at the same time reflecting the arguments of critics of the concept, as they were presented by Robin Richardson. Following will be a discursive analysis of two Czech media resources: webportal Eurabia, which is the main representative of the Czech Islamophobic rhetoric and a leading newspaper Mladá Fronta Dnes. The analysis will monitor the ways in which the Mohamed cartoons controversy was thematized, applied characteristics and means of expression. At the same time the author will confront his analysis to more general issues stemming from the dialogue with theoretical conceptualizations of Islamophobia: Can we define the analyzed sources' language as Islamophobic? Does Islamophobia actually falls into the definition of "new xenophobia", or is it only a successor of "old" xenophobia?

The thesis deals with media representation of protests in the Czech media. They are anti-communist protests, student, "anti - austerity", anti-Roma and anti-racist or antifascist. The author has used critical discourse analysis on a sample of media texts from 1/2008 to 7/2014 period. It focused on analyzing the labeling of protesters, representing the relationship between the protests and democracy and the protesters and society or "ordinary people". The author concludes that labeling the protesters as well as representation of the relationship between protest and democracy in the reference sample strongly reflects the overall concept of the Czech post-communist identity as the one that emphasizes moderation, but also individualism or rather minimalist definition of politics as limited to the party or parliamentary politics. As congruent are usually presented anticommunist protests and student protests, on the other hand suspicious or problamatic are framed union protests or "radical" or "extrem" protests.

(in English): The diploma thesis compares (mal)functioning of the state during contemporary political development in Czech Republic and Greece. Firstly it explaines the theoretical understanding of the notion of state and varieties of its mulfunctioning such as clientelism, patronage and exploitation. Secondly it analyzes path-dependent historical changes of state and its mulfunctioning, since Ottoman supremacy in case of Greece and since democratic Czechoslovakia in case of Czech Republic. Subsequently the thesis deals with the impact that the economic crisis of 2008 had on political development and quality of democracy in these countries in the context of their mulfunctioning states.

This Master's thesis is concerned with the decision of American president George W. Bush to intervene in Iraq in 2003 and the differing attitudes towards this conflict- which emerged within NATO, especially between the USA and Great Britain on the one hand and France and Germany on the other before the Second Iraq War. Several chosen realistic concepts, for example changing the balance of power or security dilemma, were used to analyse these topics. This Master's thesis examines the relation of the USA to the Iraqi crisis in 2003 from the wider perspective of the new security context, which has appeared after the terrorist attacks on the September 11th, 2001. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická fakulta Ústav politologie Bakalářská práce Markéta Kocmanová Možnosti psychologického zkoumání v mezinárodních vztazích On Psychological Methods in International Relations Abstract The thesis provides an introduction to the employment of theoretical models of general and primarily social psychology while exploring global politics against the background of a holistically conceived dynamic model of the system of international relations. Central focus is directed at the phenomena undermining security stability at the sub-system level, i.e. the genesis of aggression and dynamics of conflict through the concept of perception as well as the dichotomy of collectivistic and individualistic cultures. The practical part performs an in-depth analysis of political radicalization while depicting the mechanisms of the pyramid model of radicalization. The overall theoretical framework is accompanied by a number of illustrative examples of both historical event and current international politics which are presented in relation to the specific actors within the system.

The diploma thesis focuses on great power politics at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The studied phenomenon is viewed through the lens of defensive, offensive a neoclassical realist perspective. The key goal of the thesis is to determine, whether contemporary streams of the realist international relations tradition can provide plausible explanation of great powers relations. The research is also embedded in the fourth great debate, which entered the international relations discipline during the course of 80's, and as such it tries to reflect current ontological and epistemological debate. Research results then show that realism is still a valid scientific discourse. On the other hand, neoclassical realism's research agenda, as is shown, takes over other theoretical perspectives features.

This bachelor thesis is focused on the role of international organizations in the new wars. Through the two conflicts of the nineties of 20th century it is focused on the question how the international community approached to the ethnic conflicts, on the disparity in approach and reasons for this change, the dependence on previous activity and "learning" out of it. First it is introduced the concept of new wars following the work of Mary Kaldor. In reflection of professional discussion the work focuses on the question whether ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia can be productively analyzed by using this concept. Subsequently, the case study is drawn up. It is focused on how the UN and NATO approached to the conflict situations in both cases and also on the relation between these two organizations, especially attitude of NATO towards legitimizing options of the UN.

The thesis is focused on the DIY principle that can be a catalyst for collectives and individuals aiming to emancipate (consciously or unconsciously) from individualization and commodification that is symptomatic for today's society. This principle is adopted by various subcultures, but I am focused particularly on the hardcore-punk subculture (or precisely said - counterculture), which ideology is based on the idea of non-consumer society emancipated from values, norms and rules, that are being introduced to us by the mainstream society and its power structures. The analytical part of the thesis is focused on particular individuals and collectives, their activities, motivation, as well as the internal functioning of collectives. A combination of methods of qualitative research, especially participant observation and semi- structured interviews, were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using open coding. The collectives show better ability to resist commodification based on long-term practices commonly used in hc-punk to resist to the process of individualization. Their ability to create communities and collective activities is limited. Key words individualization, commodification, hardcore-punk subculture, diy principle, colectives, anarchism

This bachelor thesis deals with the separatist state Transnistria which was created in 1992 with assistance of Russian Federation in terrritory of Moldova. The research deals with analysis of extent of Transinistria autonomy in relation to its patron Russian Federation. This thesis discusses historical development of relations among Moldova, Transnistria and Soviet Union/Russia, and the function of internal and external sovereignity of Transnistria. Together with these issues the thesis deals with the topic of transnistrian identity and how it is influenced by the relations between Transnistria and Russian Federation. This thesis will be discussed as a unique case study with concept application of weak statehood on quasi-state Transnistria. The thesis evaluates to what extent Transnistria acts autonomous according to Russian Federation and according to international community and whether could be Transnistria considered independent participant of international relations.

The bachelor's thesis deals with the topic that has not been examined in the Czech Republic yet. This thesis is focused on voting behavior of students at public universities, specifically the students of social sciences and humanities in Prague. With regard to the results of foreign studies, wherein these students generally tend to select left-wing parties and candidates, this research focuses on students who vote for right-wing parties and candidates. The aim of this thesis is to determine the reason why Czech students have the opposite preferences than their counterparts in Western democracies. Data are obtained from the interviews with students who cast their vote in the elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic between years 2010 and 2013, and at least in one round of the presidential elections in 2013. Interviews are structured into several thematic areas, such as family, friends, studies, etc., which correspond with the expected effects on voting behavior. Analysis of the interviews showed that the respondents' voting preferences are mostly influenced by the family, high school education and the media, including Facebook. Function of friends lies more in the mutual confirmation of own attitudes. The analysis also revealed that not only the respondents do not know...

V Praze, dne 25. července 2013 ………………………………… Abstract The main focus of this thesis is the phenomenon of private military companies and their deployment in situations of armed conflict conducted under the auspices of the so-called "War on Terrorism". The aim is to provide the reader with an introductory insight into this issue, describe specific activities of private military companies during operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to answer research questions about their positive or negative contribution to the overall results of these conflicts and the possible impact on civil-military relations. The main thesis of this work is that the performance of these companies can not be categorically evaluated because it is different from case to case. There are, however, some general trends which can be traced in regard to "War on Terrorism". They mainly relate to the lack of efficient state control of private military companies and their conduct. The work is divided into several parts. The first deals with the historical development of conducting military operations with the help of non-state financially motivated actors. This section is intended to create a framework for a better understanding of the issues examined. The second part is devoted to theoretical classification of private military companies and...

Thesis is focused on the analysis of public debate which occured in context of adoption of the Act on anti-communist resistance. In the first part, there is prepared background for the summary chapter about the current state of research in the field of anti-communist resistance and opposition between 1948 and 1989, as well as reminded leading terminological and normative discussions of this issue. The following part is focused on the analysis of the discourses of actors within the dispute over the third resistance. There are examined attitudes of political parties, as well as memory conflict between the 1950s' anti-communist resistance actors and the 1970s and 1980s dissidents. Keywords Czechoslovakia, opposition, resistance, communist regime, Act on anti-communist resistance

The aim of this PhDr. thesis is to verify the hypothesis that the Northern League does belong to the populist radical right party family. The work is based on present politologic theoretic approaches, where the criteria determined by Dutch researcher Cas Mudde as typical for this kind of political parties have been applied for verification of the hypothesis. In verifying the hypothesis I worked on the sources content analysis. It was mainly the matter of Northern League's electoral programmes, political documents, party leaders and members' opinions published in the party daily La Padania, registrations of public speaches and interviews by party leader Umberto Bossi and other representatives, manifestos, radio Padania libera broadcasts and laws proposed by Northern League ministres to the Italian Parliament. Northern League was studied in the context of political and party system development in Italy from the unification untill the present day. The results of the analysis have confirmed the presence of all the signs complying with Mudde's maximal and minimal definition ie. nativism, authoritarism and populism. This result classes the Northern League among populist radical right party family.

1 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to analyze the contemporary Turkish foreign policy and to determine whether it is becoming increasingly distant from the West. To answer this question, the thesis maps and analyzes the Turkish international relations with the three main geopolitical regions of the Turkish foreign policy direction: the European Union, central Asia and the Muslim world, especially the Middle East. The direction of the Turkish foreign policy is also illustrated by the empiric part of the thesis - a quantitative event data analysis of the second half of 2012. The analysis leads to the conclusions that negotiations for accession to the European Union gives the impression that Turkey is not being invited. In central Asia Turkey promotes itself in the economic and culture areas only. The contemporary Turkish foreign policy, when Turkey increasingly identifies itself with an Islamic identity, is becoming more independent and its main focus is on the Middle East region. Turkey's ambition is to represent the whole Muslim world. Despite this fact, it cannot be said that Turkey is completely breaking away from the West. On the contrary, Turkey is now closer to the West, facing the increasing influence of Iran.

The Diploma thesis focuses on youth structures that profess to the largest far-right and far-left parties representatives in the Czech Republic. In the far-right milieu it is the Worker's Party Youth, who are closely associated with the Worker's party of Social Justice. On the far-left side of the spektrum, there are formally two entities, that profess to the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia: the Communist Youth Union and the Union of Young Communists of Czechoslovakia. The aim of this thesis is to clarify the extent of real interdependence of these civic associations with a political party, and on the other side, to examine their political extremism level, both in theory and also in the terms of security forces. The thesis further explores to what extent, therefore, these entities are a real threat to the existing democratic system in the Czech Republic.

Student will focus on analyzing the formation and development of the construct of national identity in early modern Turkey, namely in the first two decades after the proclamation of the Republic in 1923 in his thesis. First he will observe the process of formulation of national identity in the late Ottoman Empire and the developmental turbulence leading to the Turkish Republic. Next, the student will focus on the period after the founding of the Republic, and in particular the ideology of reform elites around Mustafa Kemal. Author will analyze the relation between national identity and establishing a new state - especially the instrumental role of nationalism in order to create a strong government that would represent a clear break with the tradition of backward multinational Ottoman Empire. From the analysis of the context, the author will move on to a specific analysis of nationalist ideology, adopted after its formation by the newly established state and a new ruling Republican People's Party. Especially in the classic form of the "Six Arrows" (ALTI ok - republicanism, populism, secularism, revolucionismus, nationalism and statism) from 1931 and other key documents.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the phenomenon of female suicide terrorism in Chechnya, particularly with the focus on motivation of individual terrorists and organizations. Besides these two levels of analysis, it looks for facilitating and necessary conditions in the specific socio-political environment of Chechnya.

This rigorous thesis is a study on crisis of a shared world. Furthermore, it brings some strategies how to deal with it. In the first part the author introduces the shared world and analyses its existence conditions, which are physical public space, the public and media public space. At the end of the first part, the author characterises civic society as a result of an ideal combination of those three above mentioned conditions. In the second part, the author illustrates the crisis of the shared world on selected phenomena of physical and media public space, the public and civic society. The crux of his work is in presenting three main types of activist groups (social movements, non-profit organizations and individual artists and artist groups) and analysing chosen strategies focused on how to recapture the shared world through physical and media public space. Physical public space - direct action, reclaim the street, critical mass, guerilla gardening, flash mob, street art, culture jamming, etc. Media public space - alternative media, cyberactivism, hactivism, mass virtual active action, culture jamming, etc.

This master thesis deals with the mapping and analysis of Russian-Georgian relations in the period between 2004-2011. It focuses primarily on the development of relations after the onset of the new Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and after his transformation of Georgian Policy. The work is divided into chronological historical axis of events, from the history of Georgia and Georgian people, the author gets to the problems of August war in 2008. The main objective of this work is to find the causes of the war between Russia and Georgia, to map out its long-standing hostile relations and try to find its solutions. Starting point of this work is the assumption that Georgia and Russia have always been nations culturally very similar and therefore its friendly relations are essential for the regulation of conflicts on Georgia's borders. Russia as a powerful neighbor, has always had a superiority over Georgia. Therefore, in subsequent chapters is enhanced the need for intervention by international organizations such as NATO, OSCE, EU, etc. issues in Russian-Georgian conflict, in order to offset the forces of power on both sides. In the last chapters the thesis deals with the intervention of the international community, whether their pressure on Russia will be still intense and if in the future...

(English): The aim of the thesis is to analyse the discourse of exclusion of the Czech communism and the discoursive attempts to ban the communist party. It shall shed more light on its sources of thought as found in the Czech dissident movement, as well as on the conditions it has risen from after the Velvet revolution. We intend to point out that the two main concepts of the dissident thought are essential for the birth of the discourse - one is shaping it, while the other opposes. The influence of non-political discourses - such as legal or political discourse on the subject - are also given serious attention. Using the Critical Discourse Analysis toolbox of methods, we hope to enhance our knowledge about contradictory images of the Czech past that shape contradictory images of the communism as well.

"Representation of the environment in Russian and Czech press" This diploma thesis deals with the representation of the environment in the Russian and Czech press. For my research I chose two news weekly papers: Respekt and Argumenty a fakta issued between the years 2007-2011. Quantitative content analysis and qualitative frame analysis were used for data processing. The theoretical part describes the development of the media, their influence on society, mechanism of news construction (agenda setting, news values, objectivity, bias, access to news, work with sources), the development and state of the Czech and Russian media, concepts of nature and the development of environmental reporting. In the practical part I found out how the environment and nature are viewed and interpreted by these printed media in the content of their messages. Key words: environment; nature; media; representation; agenda-setting; content analysis; frame analysis; framing; weekly magazíne; Respekt; Argumenty a fakta

The thesis analyses and compares conception of Euroscepticism in the agendas of two Czech extra-parliamentary political parties: Free Citizens Party and Sovereignty - Bloc of Jana Bobošíková. The aim of this thesis is to characterize sources, roots and manifestations of Euroscepticism in political agendas of both political parties. At first, the thesis defines the origin and roots of contemporary Euroscepticism; afterwards it characterizes the term of the party-based Euroscepticism and presents its main contemporary theoretical approaches dealing with the party Euroscepticism research. For example: the typology by Aleks Szczerbiak and Paul Taggart (authors of the terms Soft and Hard Euroscepticism), enlargement of them by Petr Kopecký and Cas Mudde (enlargement by a positive approach of the parties to EU), standpoint of Italian Nicoló Conti and others. In quest of deepening the analytical part of this thesis discursive analysis methods are used as well. The thesis is also aimed at development and characterization of Euroscepticism in the Czech Republic, and subsequently at the conception of Euroscepticism of the Free Citizens Party and Sovereignty - Bloc of Jana Bobošíková.

The thesis is focused on influence of media image on folowing-up activities of the social movement. Thesis analyses the interaction of created media image and subsequent reaction or change of argumentation of the social movement. The analysis deals with the interaction between the media and activists - members of one of the largest civic initiatives of post-revolutionary period - the No Bases Initiative, and the analysis is time-bounded from the foundation of this initiative to the end of 2007. The main part of this thesis is the analysis of several key events organized by the initiative and the media response of these actions. It is outlined how the media analysis were performed - by the testimony of former members. In accordance, the research questions - how was the activity of initiative influenced by interpretations of media outputs and he extent to which the initiative was successful in asserting their arguments and frameworks in the media? The methods of research are participant observation, document analysis, discourse analysis of media coverage and interviews with key players in the initiative. Selection of the analyzed events was based on the fact whether the action was organized in order to attract media attention, search has been consulted with key research respondents.

The diploma thesis "Village elections in China - a step towards democracy?" focuses on the development of local institutions of village self-government that has taken place in China since mid-1980s. Author tries to explain the phenomena in broader context of development of entire Chinese countryside. Another goal of the thesis is to answer, whether the implementation of direct elections to Chinese countryside can help to promote democratization in China or whether it plays some other, different role.

Mass media has always played the key role in democratic process. They are not only the indicator of its right functioning, but also the iniciator. From historical point of view is obvious, that technological progress and changes in the way of informing people were related to the political area. But with the increasing role of media, they changed their position from pure mediators of informations to the main actors of social and political life. The ‚old' media, such as newspapers, radio and television, are therefore partly responsible for commercialization of the public sphere and also for its depolitization. With contribution of the globalization effect on today's world, which causes besides other things the weakening of the nation state, there are only a little of the key democratic aspects left. Some find the solution in the ‚new' media represented by the Internet and social media, which are more interactive so they could get the citizens back to the game. And right in the increase of civic engagement see the theorists the potencial for creating a new democratic order based on high-level participation. KEY WORDS Mass media, Democracy, Public Sphere, Civic Engagement, Internet, Social media, Participative Democracy, Deliberative Democracy

The thesis is dealing with the work of Carl von Clausewitz "Of War". Aim of the thesis is to examine the relevance of Clausewitz's work in modern war. Author of this thesis is analyzing the book "Of War" with regard to context of Clausewitz's life, characteristics of war in Clausewitz's time, nature of conflict in post cold war era, system of international relations after the fall of the eastern bloc and concept of the "New revolution in military affairs". According to the analysis of the book "Of War" is author picking eight propositions, which are characteristic for Clausewitz's thought. These propositions are then empirically applied on three post cold war conflicts - War in Persian Gulf, War in Afghanistan and War in Iraq. From the result of the application is derived the conclusion about the relevance of Clausewitz's work in the post cold war era conflicts. Results of this analysis are set in the context of literature that is dealing with Carl von Clausewitz, his influence on contemporary military affairs and modern war. Key words Clausewitz, war, modern war, New revolution in military affairs, war theory, art of war

Title: The Contemporary International System: Beyond Westphalia? Author: Andrea Kovářová Department: Department of Political Science Supervisor: PhDr. Jan Jireš Abstract: The thesis analyses the contemporary international European system and its chief characteristics. Its main goal is to compare the existing European international system with the ideal model of the modern Westphalian order as defined in the classical works of realist authors in international relations, such as Hans Morgenthau, Kenneth Waltz and Hedley Bull. The thesis will also reflect upon the contemporary debates on the nature of the existing international system, building on texts by Robert Cooper. The thesis will first define the concept (ideal model) of Westphalian system and subsequently will apply it to the contemporary European international relations with the aim to assess whether the contemporary world can still be labelled as "Westphalian" or whether it has moved away from it. Keywords: International Relations, Westphalian System, Postwestphalian System, Sovereignty, Anarchic Structure, Balance of power

Annotation: The presented Diploma thesis deals with the ways in witch is today, more than twenty years after the "Velvet Revolution", communist period presented to foreing tourists in Prague and in the sector of mass tourism.. It is based on my field research that took place in the Museum of Communism, during the especially on communism oriented guided tours and but rather commplementary, in the Propaganda pub and also on the semi-structured formal and informal interviews with guides. The thesis focuses on the differences in the presentation of communism in different generations of guides, it monitors how their personal, or, conversely, indirect or mediated experience affects their references. My work is observes communism not only as marketing tourism product, but using the concepts of social memory I try to point to range of different individual memories based on everyday experiences. These small personal histories of everyday life complement established, or rather the one that is still being instituted. The thesis also monitors and reflets some possible adjustments and transformations of social memory and outline what could be the motivation for these changes. Keywords: Mass tourism; communism; social memory; identity; places of memory - "les lieux de mémoire".

The aim of the thesis is to classify the form of political leadership and domination in Shia islam's political ideology, their development and ability to succeed in political reality. I especially focus on the Shia understanding of political power and its connection to infallible Imam as secular and religious leader of the Shia community. For analysis of the concepts I use the description of early Islam, including the Shia reasons for the dissolution of Muslim ummah, as well as the reasons that led to the multiple division of Shiism. I analyse specific examples of ideological break up of the Shia community (Ithnasharia, Isma'ila, Hashashins, Alawi, Duryz and modern Islamic Republic of Iran) and finally cardinal reformulation of understanding of political leadership and domination by Ayatollah Khomeini. His concept Wilājat al-faqīh (Guardianship of the jurist) started the era of radical transformation of the Shia political ideology, although he wanted only to modernize it and not to establish a brand new set up. My aspiration is therefore to analyze whether Wilājat al-faqīh can still be seen as the return to the roots of traditional Shiism or if it has a new quality without connection to previous Shia history.

The thesis deals with the dialogue between Marxists and Christians, which took place mainly in the 60's years and was associated with ideological liberalization of that period. The examination focuses on personage of Milan Machovec, who was the crucial figure of this dialogue and in attempting to review marxism he started new thematization of religious question. The aim of this thesis is to reveal the changes of the basic marxist concepts in dialogue and how the topic of religion enriched the czech marxism. The hypothesis is that the new specific current was formed by using contacts between Marxists and Christians.

This final thesis attempts to provide a closer ovierview of specific features of the Italian political arena, which is a mutual penetration of one sphere of organized crime - mafia and politics. The first part of this thesis defines the theoretical structure of the mafia phenomenon and essays to contextualize it within organized crime. The second part begins with an excoursion into the history of the mafia in Sicily from its beginings in the 19th century until the 1970s. The deeper analysis is then devoted to the crucial period of the 1980s and 1990s. The final part of the thesis examines the period of bomb attacks (1992-1993) through the aspect of new investigations. Key words: mafia, Cosa Nostra, politics, Italy, Palermo, organized crime.

The history of international law, understood as an object of intersubjective reality, reflected various territorial structures of human society. States, as bearers of international law, were made in course of history by wars that they led with each other. On the basis of thought of Carl Schmitt we can distinguish two historical structures of territory: the universal medieval empire and the modern sovereign states. Both of these structures were connected with distinct systems of international law and with distinct concepts of war. Since the turn of 19th and 20th century we can observe signs of decline of the Westphalian system of sovereign states. This process, accompanied by changes in concept of war, began to be fully expressed at the beginning of the 21st century in connection with so called war on terror. On the juridical concepts of war on terror and humanitarian intervention I show decline of the Westphalian system of sovereign states and possible return to the international structure of the medieval empire.

This bachelor's degree work focuses on examination of the civic association Workers' Party Youth (Dělnická mládež), the only youth association affiliated with an far-right party in the Czech Republic. An analysis has been performed of its creation, its development, its local organizations and the composition of its membership base. Although Workers' Party Youth is legally a completely independent entity, it actually works in cooperation with the Workers' Party of Social Justice, which it supports. The extent of interconnection between these two entities is the main focus of the research on a domestic level. In relation to cooperation with groups abroad, the extent of inspiration from and real affiliation with the youth organization NPD Die Jungen Nationaldemokraten, which the Workers' Party Youth itself identifies as its model, is examined.

Thesis is based on the views of authors of sociology of knowledge (Berger, Luckman, Bourdieu) and authors of discourse analysis (Foucault, Fairclough). The central assumption is that knowledge is socially constructed and that this construction has its strong ideological and hierarchic aspects. Author is analyzing books and texts of Vaclav Klaus using the critical discourse analysis. Author is convinced that Vaclav Klaus has a substantive influence on public opinion in Czech Republic. Also author is convinced the struggle in the discussion over environmental topics is based in different basic assupmtions of discussion participant. Thus author decided to analyse the Vaclav Klaus's basic assumptions for the notions of nature and environment.

The author seeks to identify the key elements of the Lukashenka's first presidential term perception in Tyden magazine. This perception is compared with the Lukashenka regime selfpresentation. The autor uses Norman Fairclough's Analysing Discourse as a theoretical background. Firstly we are identifying the main themes and furthermore the way how they are elaborated during the image analysis.

The work deals with formation of the political system in the Philippines. The aim of the work is confirm the applicability of the theory of sultanistic regimes in the Philippines. At first, the work shortly considers the colonial period, the formation of the political system after gaining the independence, and the course of the non-democratic regime as well as its end.

Annotation: The Bachelor thesis deals with the civil war causes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this Bachelor thesis is to identify, summarize and systematize theories of the civil war causes and find out the main factors contributing to the war eruption in the area of the sub-Saharan Africa. The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first theoretic part the term "civil war" is defined and characterized in relation to other types of wars and forms of organized violence. This is followed by the description of the most important contemporary theories explaining the causes of civil wars. The second part of this thesis is dedicated to the testing of the hypothesis dealing with the representative civil war causes in the area of sub- Saharan Africa.

There is recently growing interest, and also the political and academic debate connected to it, in the so called failed states. The problem of state failure in some of the world regions was securitized, particularly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the failed states began being understood as a security threat by the international community. This change in perception of the failed states reflects the concerns that such states' areas could serve as a "safe havens" of various terrorist groups. This thesis focuses on the relation between state failure and political violence. There is no question that polical violence emerges in the failed states. Its most common form is the civil war which can be both the cause or the consequence of it. But this relation is not necessarily inevitable. The goal of this thesis is to clarify the contribution of the concept of failed state to the explanation of relation between state failure and political vilence and furthermore to inspect the concept's analytical value. This relation is illutrated on two case studies, Iraq and Somalia, and on their comparison.