The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare why Yemen’s democratization process failed while Tunisia’s succeed after the Arab spring. The main question of this paper is: Why did the democratization process in Yemen failed, but succeeded in Tunisia after the Arab Spring emergence in year 2011 based on Diamonds theory? The method that applied to this study is a comparative case study in form of “Most Similar System Design” known as “MSS-design”. After applied four of Larry Diamonds nine factors, the study finally reached the answer of the main question.     The results showed that the absence of historically solid national unity, internally fragmented civil society and the military intervention of Saudi-led coalition was the main factors that caused why Yemen’s democratization process failed. On the other side the strong civil society, diplomatic peaceful pressure and the historical separation of military from the Tunisian political system was the main factors that pushed Tunisia towards democracy.

The diploma thesis examines prospects of democracy in developing countries. The first part deals with the notion democracy, ways of its measuring and its conditions. The second part introduces democratization processes during the twentieth century. Next chapters outline contemporary situation in three developing continents -- Latin America, Africa and Asia. Final part summarizes prospects of democracy in today's world.

The thesis examines the process of recruiting new political elites, which is considered as an essential prerequisite for the restoration of a democratic society in the Czech Republic. The work examines the civic society and its involvement in the political life and activities on the municipal political level. The case study concerns the village of Dolní Břežany where the significant processes have taken place since the year 2002 in order to strengthen the transparency of politics. A questionnaire was distributed in Dolní Břežany where the questions dealt with the citizens´ life satisfaction in the village, their participation in public life and it investigated whether their involvement is or is not connected with an interest in politics or it is just connected with the existence of problems and their solution. Furthermore, the interviews with the executive representatives (between the years 2002 and 2014) gather their views on politics, the public and political participation in general. The aim was to find out what inspired the new political elites to enter the politics and stay politically active for such a long time. The work confirms a hypothesis that a goal of the new political representatives, who were elected in Dolní Břežany in 2002, was to improve their life conditions in the village. The elites remained politically active due to their clear conception of the future village development. The citizens´ confidence in political leaders and a high satisfaction with the community life increased also their interest in politics and public affairs.

The main objective of this thesis is the identification and understanding of the mechanisms of recruiting local political elites and their role in the process of democratization of local politics, and in the process of strengthening local civil society on concrete example selected municipality. The case study concerns with the municipality Semily, which was chosen to work as a community with exemplary transparent and open manner of governance. In 2006 there was a significant change in political representation when recruiting new political elites was a top down process led by a particular person according to predetermined priorities.

Este trabalho refere-se aos saques e quebra-quebras deflagrados na capital paulista nos dias 4, 5 e 6 de abril de 1983. A partir do exame de reportagens, notícias, artigos, editoriais, cartas de leitores, propagandas e comunicados pagos veiculados nos jornais O Estado de S.Paulo e Folha de S.Paulo, entre 5 e 10 de abril, procurou-se identificar e analisar as representações desses acontecimentos nas diferentes esferas do poder e da sociedade. Para tanto, considerou-se os protestos populares no contexto social, político e econômico em que estavam inseridos movimentos sociais organizados nas periferias de São Paulo ao longo da década de 1970, o processo de abertura política e a crise recessiva. Buscouse ainda compreender o significado das ações diretas como formas de luta reivindicatória e a potencialidade reveladora e transformadora das rebeldias sociais. / This paper is about the popular protest that took place, in the capital of São Paulo, on April 4th, 5th and 6th, 1983. From the investigation of news, news articles, editorials, letters from readers, publicities and paid announcements from the newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and Folha de S. Paulo between April 5th and April 10th , this study identifies and analyzes the representations of these events on the strata of society and power. Furthermore, it was taken into consideration the popular manifestations in the social, political and economical context in which they belonged organized social movement in the outskirts of São Paulo city during the 1970s decade, the gradual democratization process and the economical crisis. Besides that, this study tried to understand the meaning of direct actions as a way of fighting for peoples rights as well as the potential power of change and disclosure of the social rebellions.

Este trabalho refere-se aos saques e quebra-quebras deflagrados na capital paulista nos dias 4, 5 e 6 de abril de 1983. A partir do exame de reportagens, notícias, artigos, editoriais, cartas de leitores, propagandas e comunicados pagos veiculados nos jornais O Estado de S.Paulo e Folha de S.Paulo, entre 5 e 10 de abril, procurou-se identificar e analisar as representações desses acontecimentos nas diferentes esferas do poder e da sociedade. Para tanto, considerou-se os protestos populares no contexto social, político e econômico em que estavam inseridos movimentos sociais organizados nas periferias de São Paulo ao longo da década de 1970, o processo de abertura política e a crise recessiva. Buscouse ainda compreender o significado das ações diretas como formas de luta reivindicatória e a potencialidade reveladora e transformadora das rebeldias sociais. / This paper is about the popular protest that took place, in the capital of São Paulo, on April 4th, 5th and 6th, 1983. From the investigation of news, news articles, editorials, letters from readers, publicities and paid announcements from the newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and Folha de S. Paulo between April 5th and April 10th , this study identifies and analyzes the representations of these events on the strata of society and power. Furthermore, it was taken into consideration the popular manifestations in the social, political and economical context in which they belonged organized social movement in the outskirts of São Paulo city during the 1970s decade, the gradual democratization process and the economical crisis. Besides that, this study tried to understand the meaning of direct actions as a way of fighting for peoples rights as well as the potential power of change and disclosure of the social rebellions.

No abstract / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

The main objective of this thesis is to examine both external and internal dynamics in terms of their preparation for the ways to democratization in Turkey between 1945 and 1950. It was asserted in many academic and nonacademic works that the main influences for democratization of Turkey in this period came from outside as external dynamics. But in this study, it will be argued that while the external dynamics may stimulate different actors for democratization, survival and consolidation of this democratization process requires internal dynamics more than the external ones. In order to check the validity of this argument, the thesis focuses on Turkish democratization period between 1945 and 1950. This historical interval is important / because, although there were some efforts for transition to democratic regime by that time, all those efforts failed due to the unpreparedness of the Turkish rulers, the Turkish people, and also insufficient social, economic and political conditions in the country. Within the five year period between 1945 and 1950, both the internal and the external dynamics which would contribute democratization in Turkey had changed. The new conditions emerging from the WW II and the post war period transformed economic, political, and social structures of the society that changed expectations in the country. All these dynamics playing important roles in the democratization of Turkey will be mentioned in the thesis. The period in the thesis will start with the termination of the WW II and it will end with the general elections held on May 14, 1950.

No abstract available / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the democratization process in the Middle East after 9/11. After 9/11 the US made a drastic change in their foreign policy towards the Middle East aiming on a “Freedom Agenda and fighting the “war on Terrorism” to ensure their national security.  Therefore, the main effort of the policy was made on democracy promotion in the Middle East in order for the Bush Administration to achieve their goals. Democracy is a widely used concept in the West describing a ruling system that secures peace and stability since it ensures the citizens all their freedoms and human rights. A definition of democracy and its arenas will be given according to the definition of Linz and Stephan with a main focus on Civil and Political Society. Lebanon will be brought up as an example of a somehow democratic Middle Easter Country. The Lebanese political system is based on confessionalism thus it is important to show how democracy is preserved within Lebanon presenting both the civil and political society within the country. The study in question shows how the US approached the region and which efforts were made in the democratization process in the Arab Middle East and it will also deal with the outcome 9/11 had on the Lebanese-US relation. The conclusion of the thesis showed that the Bush Administrations new foreign Policy faced many backlashes. Even though the US managed to overthrow the Taliban’s and remove Saddam’s Regime, the policy’s main goal of achieving democracy in the Middle East was not successful. In the case of Lebanon the research concludes that to achieve a successful democratic policy the Lebanese strong confessional structures must be combined with the fundamentals of democracy. It further showed that there has not been a drastic change in the Lebanese-US relation due to 9/11.