The doctoral thesis Czechoslovakia and the Southern Cone 1945-1989 analyses political, economic and cultural relations between an important country of the Eastern Bloc and three countries of the southernmost area of South America - Argentina, Chile and Uruguay - during the Cold War. The main objective of the thesis is to interpret unpublished Czech and foreign archives. The first chapter outlines Czechoslovak policy towards Latin America in the period under consideration. The following sections describe the relations between Czechoslovakia and the individual countries of the Southern Cone. These chapters are divided according to the nature of relations into political, economic and cultural contacts. Each of these three parts is further divided into subsections which correspond to important milestones of mutual relations. The thesis ends with an interview with Stanislav Svoboda, a senior diplomat of communist Czechoslovakia. His observations shed new light on the archive documents. Without abandoning the effort of presenting foreign researchers with the value of Czech archives, whose importance is further increased by the limited accessibility of Russian archives, the paper attempts to analyse the issue in the broader context of international politics. In a bipolar world, each of these countries had...

The following essay addresses Alexandr Volko's adaption and appropriation of L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz". Exceedingly popular throughthout the Easern bloc, Volkov's novels have endeared a magical setting and cast of characters to readers who rarely knew of their American origins. I discuss the Wizard's 'travels' throught the Iron Curtain as an incidence of cultural exchange at once motivated by and subverting Cold War cultural politics. I suggest that it is not so much the changes to which Baum's narrative universe has been subjected on its way from West to East that makes this case study remarkable but the ways in wich the two Wizards have been interpreted to fit contestable notions of 'American' and 'Soviet' culture.

In this article, I read Charles Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition (1901) against the background of realism to unravel the novel’s distinct critique of racial discourse. I argue that realism’s characteristic technique of appealing to the visible to establish the reality and realness of its fictions enables the novel to trace a similar operation in the discourse of race. My focus rests on the novel’s treatment of two pairs of characters that challenge the visual confidence of both realism and race, pairs that exemplify what Samira Kawash has called 'interracial twins:' sets of characters whose parties 'actually,' ostensibly belong to different 'races,' yet whom the text presents as strikingly similar in their appearance. In its characterization of and narratives surrounding these 'twins,' the novel exposes the techniques by which racial discourse naturalizes itself and unmasks race as a textual construct, generated by stories and documents that dangerously sustain a reality of their own. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

New Historicist scholarship has left a major impact on the study of mid-19th century notions of gender and nationhood. It has effectively challenged an all but consensual reliance on the paradigm of separate spheres as appropriate interpretive framework for this pivotal period in US history—a period in which the geographical as well as discursive boundaries of the nation were subject to intense debate and conflict. ...

The thesis deals with the causes of emergence of the most important Latin American integration groups in a period since the end of the World War II till the present days. The set of groups consists of ALADI, CAN, SELA, OTCA, MERCOSUR, ACS-AEC, ALBA, UNASUR, CELAC, and the Pacific Alliance. The main goal of the thesis is to discover how did the power predominance of the United States contribute to the emergence of Latin American integration groups. The tested hypothesis is based on the concept of soft balancing, and assumes that the primary cause of emergence of Latin American integration groups was the fear of the power predominance of the United States. The causes of emergence are always examined from the perspective of the historical context and the founding treaty. If needed, other relevant documents are examined as well. Moreover, the thesis deals with the direct predecessors of the selected groups, too. Pursuant to 4 basic criteria, the selected integration groups were divided into 3 categories according to their relevance to represent the region of Latin America as a whole. Thanks to that, the qualitative evaluation of the causes of emergence of the groups could have been done. Apart from an overview of development of the Latin American integration process, the thesis also provides an answer...

Arevalo Salas, Amanda Valeria. THE TRIANGULAR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LATIN AMERICA - UNITED STATES - CHINA: WHAT STRATEGIC CHOICES DOES LATIN AMERICA FACE?. Master Thesis (Mgr.). Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies. Abstract In recent years, China has increased its influence in Latin America. This expansion can be considered as uncomfortable for the United States because China could displace its historical hegemonic position in the region. By analyzing the role of integration blocks and interest groups, the development of relations of Latin America with China and the United States, risks and uncertainties, this paper will provide possible scenarios for the development of relations between Latin America, China and the United States and it will describe strategies for Latin America to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise.

The character of Captain America is undoubtedly the most patriotic superhero in the comics world. Just the date of market launch in March 1941 sugests, that there was an intention to support the effort of U.S. Army during the World War II. He managed to highlight american national ideas and patriotismus, so it encouraged men to join the U.S. Army and for other people to buy war bonds to finance military operations. In the beginning of the new millennium the Marvel comics universe have been restored. The first Captain America movie was released in 2011, followed with another two sequels. The whole trilogy is quite in favor of the public. In the theoretical part of my theses, there is a description of different kinds of propaganda and its common use in public. I also ilustrate significance of pop culture and development of Marvel Studios to put it all in the wider perpective. After that follows depiction Captain America as an example of tradional hero displayed with a stereotypical charachteristics. As for the practical part of the theses, I am trying to demonstrate the american propaganda used in movies. In the next chapter I would like to determine if the viewers are able to percept it and respond to it. Part of the research was also to capture the diference in their perception due to their...

In 1993 William McRaven developed a theory about how special forces units could achieve relative superiority against a larger, well-defended force. To achieve relative superiority, the unit mustconsider the six principles that in one way or other effects the result and makes the difference between failure and success. But a lot have happened since 1993. September 11, 2001 marks as a turning point in the war against terror when al-Qaeda hijacked airliners and flew them straight into World Trade Center and Pentagon. President George Bush declared war against terror immediately, a war that still is beingfought today. Since then, the use of special operations forces has increased dramatically but studies about them remains far behind. The aim of this study is to analyze if McRavens theory remain relevant in modern conflictsagainst terror organizations. This was achieved by applying McRavens theory on two cases, Operation Neptune Spear and The Raid on Yakla. The result shows that the theory has explanatory power but when operating under highest secrecy, information remains restricted for scholars and researchers. Making it difficult to generalize a theory of units of this character.

This master's thesis focuses on Russian international trade of conventional weapons. Arms trade had played an important role during the Cold War as a tool to gain influence. Currently, Russia is using it to regain the influence it had lost after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in various regions around the world. At the same time, Russia is the second largest arms exporter after the United States. The thesis briefly addresses past Russian arms trade, but the main focus is on the decade between 2010 and 2020. It answers the question whether Russia currently uses its arms trade opportunistically to only maximalise its economic profit or whether it serves as a part of a larger strategy to balance the influence of the United States. The work focuses on Asia, the MENA region, and Latin America. It analyses circumstances surrounding arms deliveries from Russia into the countries in these regions. The thesis consists of several case studies, which illustrate the evolution of Russian approach towards arms trade. It reaches the conclusion that, for Russia, international arms trade is an important tool to help reach its foreign policy goals. Russia maintains strong and stable relations with the most important trade partners to support its defence industry. At the same time, other countries receive...

This thesis analyses the peace process between Ecuador and Peru and stimulates discussion in the field of conflict resolution. On Monday, October 26th, 1998, President of Peru Alberto Fujimori and Ecuador Jamil Mahuad Witt signed an international agreement that ended more than 150 years lasting territorial conflict. A series of hostile acts and armed conflicts have accompanied these neighbouring states for decades. Four states became the guarantor of the peace treaty: Brazil, the United States, Argentina and Chile. Complicated negotiations began in 1995 after a short war on the Cenepa River. The negotiating teams of the guaranteeing states used various mediation strategies, including the organization of negotiations, sanctions and financial incentives. The aim of this qualitative case study is an analysis of the causes of successful mediation performed by the guaranteeing states. The research follows the theoretical part, which describes the so-called contingency approach and ripeness theory.