The diploma thesis analyzes the issues of voluntary consolidation of municipal structures in the European countries. The period between the 1990 and 2013 was chosen as the time frame for the thesis because of the possibility to incorporate the countries of the former Soviet bloc to comparison. The text is divided into two main parts, where different perspectives are used. The first part is mainly theoretical using the top-down, state-focused perspective. The European countries are distributed into different categories according to the type and degree of voluntariness in the consolidation process. The cases of the countries are individually analyzed to illustrate the tools and factors that influenced success or failure of the municipal merger processes. The second part of the text, using the bottom-up perspective, is focused on the individual cases of the municipal amalgamation in the Czech Republic. It describes every case alone and analyzes assumptions and factors affecting decisions of small municipalities to merge. The combination of the two perspectives allows creating a basic set of strategies and instructions which, under certain circumstances, may convince small municipalities to merge.

After 2010, substances that have similar effects as opiate drugs and stimulant drugs started to appear in the Czech Republic as well as in other European countries and around the world, however they are not controlled by any legislation because of their "newness". The aim of this study is to evaluate whether under the current circumstances this is a problem that should be solved politically, including the assessment of its extent. The current solutions to this problem focused on its regulation shall be assessed on the basis of the results of this analysis. The thesis also aims to identify different perspectives of the drugs issue experts and to understand their involvement in the process of making the drug policy of the Czech Republic concerning these substances. The first part describes the current situation in the field of new psychoactive substances in the Czech Republic using a qualitative method of the documentary content analysis, and introduces the legislative approaches currently used at both national and international level. The research part employs the qualitative research methods (semi- structured interviews with experts in the field of drugs problems). The carried out research has found that the experts perceive new psychoactive substances as a problem whose extent however is not as intensive...

The diploma thesis Czech media and public euroscepticism examines frames of public euroscepticism in Czech media agenda and public agenda. The thesis is framed in agenda- setting and framing theory which explains processes of shifting themes between public agenda, media agenda and political agenda. Plethora of studies set in agenda-setting and framing theory has proved correlations between media agenda and public agenda. The goal of this diploma thesis is to examine what is the correlation between Czech media agenda and public agenda in terms of public euroscepticism, which eurosceptic frames are brought in public agenda by media agenda and how pervasive those frames are. For the comparison of agendas is used the typology of public euroscepticism by Catharine Sørensen which consists of economic euroscepticism, euroscepticism based on sovereignty, democratic euroscepticism and social euroscepticism. Author postulates positive correlation between media agenda and public agenda and presence of pervasive frames in media agenda. The first part describes the theoretical frame of the thesis, the agenda-setting and framing theory. The second chapter presents existing research about euroscepticism on EU and Czech level. The third part describes the Czech public agenda based on the public opinion research,...

The purpose of this thesis is to highlight the multi-component conception of the power in the international relations. The military and material power is not a sufficient element in order to apply the influence in the contemporary international political environment. It will point out the reality that in the international relations there are situated the political approaches that lead to the opportunity to be perceived in a positive way by other actors within the international relations. The final impact of these activities is to reach the convenient political environment in order to apply the own political interests and preferences of the state. This opportunity is fulfilled by the wielding of "soft power" and by, for these objectives defined, instruments. The aim of this thesis is to take hold of the one of the most complex instrument that is used for the intentions that were mentioned above. It is the public and cultural diplomacy. "Soft power" and its instrument in the form of public and cultural diplomacy is researched in an objective way in the case of the Czech Republic.

The master thesis "Development of the Czech party system between 2010-2013" focuses on an analysis of the state of the Czech party system with an emphasis on political developments over the past few years as well as the last two Czech Parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2013. The results of the elections deviate from the long term developments in the country since the 1990s and the fall of the communist regime. The goal of this work is to define phases which capture the essential developments of the Czech party system and what trends it currently demonstrates using quantitative methods which will help us to calculate things such as the index of the effective number of parties in the party system. The main question that this work will try to answer is whether or not we can consider the Czech party system to be consolidated.

This thesis is focused on how much are the adolescent people who belong to Vietnamese minority integrated in region Ústí. I have chosen this region because I wanted to define one place to be more exact, and also because this region is interesting for its high number of unemployed people and the people belonging to the Roma minority. That was the reason which made my task more interesting because I wanted to see how these factors affected the integration of another minority. In the practical part the thesis focuses on the approach of the Vietnamese people living in the Czech Republic in the past and nowadays. It also maps the coexistence of these specific minorities in the states of Central Europe with people living in these states. The thesis also acquaints the information about the organization and network which can be used for help and which are focused on the Vietnamese people. Practical part presents the opinions of adolescent people. I was asking them how they feel like a minority in interview. I chose ten respondents. This number was relevant for this task. Practical part is also based on observation on the high school where these respondents study. The main question is to where the youth born in one country with the different origin belong. How important it is what other people think of them.

CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Sociological Studies Department of Sociology Valeriia Galushkevych 'Czech people' coming from Ukraine, their understanding of national identity Thesis abstract Key words: Czech Republic, integration, migration, national identity, perception, push and pull factors, resettlement, Ukrainian migrants. In this thesis, I analyze various aspects of migration from Ukraine to the Czech Republic under the resettlement program of ethnic Czechs introduced by the Czech government in 2015. This program was initiated upon the request of the Czech society in Ukraine in response to steady economic decline and worsening living conditions in Ukraine. The population of my study is ethnic Czechs living in Ukraine and who moved to the Czech Republic within the resettlement program. I study the determinants of their move, speed of integration in the Czech Republic, progress on the Czech labor market, migrants' satisfaction with life in the destination country, discrimination and their plans for the future. I collect qualitative data from individual interviews mostly conducted in hotel rooms where the migrants temporarily reside. A significant distinguishing feature of this study is that I analyze migrants with Czech roots who moved to the Czech Republic under...

Diploma thesis deals with the state of organic farming in the Vysočina Region, with focus on Třebíč district. The theoretical part includes principles of organic farming, current legislation, the problem of organic food and control system. It also describes the state of organic farming in the Czech Republic and in the Vysočina Region. Natural conditions and agricultural production are also mentioned. Another part is focused on comparison of organic agriculture in individual districts, which constitute Vysočina Region. The practical part deals with comparison of typical activities in the Třebíč district with other districts and describes important subjects. The last part is a questionnaire survey focused on two companies, organic farm DoRa and Tata Global Beverages Czech Republic. The conclusion constists of a summary of detected realities.

In this thesis I will analyze and discuss the work of renowned director Jan Švankmajer. Specifically, I will examine how director Jan Švankmajer’s representation of the body creates a metaphorical language. In addition, I will address what meaning can be gathered from, or made apparent through the commentary of the body’s language and discuss the significance of the socio-political implications. Prior to my discussion of Švankmajer’s work I will give a concise socio-political history of the Czech Republic from 1968-1994; this discussion will provide a framework for the subsequent analyses. In order to provide support for my argument, I will discuss the relationship between Švankmajer’s work and Michael Foucault’s theory of the “body politic”, Patrick Fuery’s theory of the “cinematized body” and Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the image of the grotesque body. After discussing the implication of these theories I will discuss three of Švankmajer’s films in order to specifically address the ability of the grotesque body to subvert discourses of power and how the socio-cultural environment has an impact on Švankmajer’s choice of body representation. The films I discuss include Dimensions of Dialogue (1982), Food (1992) and Faust (1994)

The Trust in law within the case law of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic Abstract The main topic of the diploma thesis is an attitude of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic towards the principle of trust in law presented in its case law. The thesis is stratified into three major sections. The first part is focused on the Constitutional Court as one of the fundamental constitutional institutions - in the beginning of the thesis highlights its substance and explains why it's case law is worth studying in detail. Considering the main topic, some aspects described in this first part are analyzed through the optics of trust or credibility. Firstly, the significance of constitutionality protection and the history of constitutional judiciary are studied shortly. Further, this part inspects the position of the Constitutional Court within our constitutional system. Also, the relationship between the Constitutional Court and general courts is studied and separate chapter is dedicated to the legislation of the Constitutional Court's executive mechanisms. Moreover, the problematics of case law as a theoretical concept and controversial questions which are regarding the case law analysed in the literature are mentioned. The first part is concluded by investigating the criticized aspects of...