Kristián Léko: Foreign Influences in Constitutional Law Comparative method has become one of the main trends of contemporary law. Constitutional law is no exclusion. Foreign law is often used as an inspiration in drafting, amending and interpreting of modern constitutions in many states, as well as in the Czech Republic. This thesis illustrates this fact on practical examples and creates a theoretical basis in Czech, with stresses on history, taxonomy and methodology. The first two chapters analyse the history and importance of both general comparative law (Chapter 1) and comparative constitutional law (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 analyses some methodological aspects of comparative law and Chapter 4 shows several patterns, how, when and where can foreign law have influence on domestic legal systems. The last three chapters examine three situations of foreign influence - constitutional drafting (Chapter 5), constitutional amendments (Chapter 6) and constitutional interpretation (Chapter 7). In all these chapters, basic theoretical and comparative background is set and then Czech and Czechoslovak examples are being analysed. It is possible to sum up that Czech constitutional drafters, amenders and interpreters (constitutional judges) are all using foreign arguments in some degree. However, there is no common...

Lebanon has historically been at the center of Middle Eastern conflict. Religious diversity and weak institutions have resulted in the country’s continual exploitation by powerful foreign states. At first, a historical overview of Lebanon demonstrates how certain events over the past 200 years have shaped the country. Based on recurring political and economic misfortunes, sectarian tensions within Lebanon have flared since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. This thesis argues that in order to stabilize the country and prevent the meddling of foreign powers, a focus must be placed on establishing a national identity, strengthening the country’s political institutions, and creating an accountable economic system.

The objective of the master's thesis is to analyze the image of foreigners in Moscovian texts written during the Time of Troubles and soon after it in early 17th century. The thesis will also focus on the perception of foreign influence on political and cultural development of Russian state and society. Due to the fact that the perception of foreigners in Muscovite Russia can be regarded in many aspects as a result of traditional religious and historical thinking concepts which had been widespread in the country by the end of the 16th century, we will pay particular attention to the formation of medieval Moscovian thinking. By means of discourse and comparative analysis we will try to fulfil the following goals: 1) to study the religious and historical thinking formation process in medieval Russia up to the beginning of the 17th century; 2) to analyze various specific features of Moscovian texts from early 17th century in terms of foreigners' perception; 3) to put the issue of foreigners' perception into a wider cultural and historical context, especially with regard to appropriate literature and thinking tradition. This study is based on Moscovian texts of different nature, which reflect the Time of Troubles. We also use a wide range of appropriate secondary literature. Key Words: Time of...