La présente recherche se propose d'analyser et de comparer les articulations juridiques et politiques réalisées entre le système du gouvernement responsable et la fonction de chef de l'état dans deux républiques européennes très peu étudiées en France, la Grèce et l’Irlande. Il s'agit de tenter d'apporter une contribution à la théorie générale et à la pratique des régimes politiques de l’Europe contemporaine, en plaçant l'attention sur une problématique constitutionnelle majeure dans les républiques parlementaires mais relativement négligée. Malgré la primauté incontestable du gouvernement majoritaire, il n'en reste pas moins qu'il laisse subsister, dans les régimes républicains, des virtualités dualistes longtemps en sommeil, mais que des évolutions récentes paraissent vouloir réveiller ou au moins remettre en question dans certains pays. En d'autres termes, la fonction présidentielle, qui semblait condamnée à une inéluctable neutralisation dans les systèmes dominés par le premier ministre, tend à (re)trouver une vocation sinon gouvernementale, du moins centrale. Par-delà leurs différences structurelles, culturelles et politiques initiales, les constitutions grecque de 1975 (révisée de façon significative en 1986) et irlandaise de 1937 offrent deux exemples permettant de tester l'hypothèse retenue. / The present thesis proposes an analysis on comparative basis of the legal and political articulations that take place between the system of the responsible government and the presidential function in these two parliamentary democracies, not thoroughly studied in France. The aim of this research is a contribution to the general theory and practice of the political systems in modern Europe, stressing out aspects of an important constitutional topic for parliamentary republics which is still relatively neglected. Although the supremacy of the majoritarian government is not put into question, it can be still claimed that within the republican political systems, certain dualist implications, that remained for long inactive, tend to be reactivated again in some countries by recent events. In other words, the presidential function that seemed to be condemned to an inescapable neutralisation within the systems dominated by the political figure of the Prime minister tends to find once again a reason of being, if not governmental, at least central. Beyond their initial structural, cultural and political differences, the Greek Constitution of 1975 (revised significantly in 1986) and the Irish Constitution of 1937 offer two fruitful examples of the constitutional dynamics that could test the above-mentioned assumption.

The increasing complexity and high stakes of foreign policy decisions, especially of major powers such as the United States, have generated specialized studies of decision making. One approach, called "multiple advocacy," maps a strategy of role tasks and process norms to guide the decision-makers towards an optimal decision-making process. This process allows the President to make an informed policy choice as a result of having heard a variety of options debated freely and openly among his advisors in his presence. A crucial actor in this process is the National Security Advisor. As process manager or "custodian," he must ensure that the key provisions of the strategy are met while abstaining from personal involvement in the substance of policy advice and execution. This thesis examines the internal coherence and usefulness of the strategy. The first two years of the Carter administration provide a close approximation of the strategy. Four important policy issues during this period form the empirical basis of this test: the "Deep Cuts" proposals in SALT II, the war in the Horn of Africa, Sino-American Normalization, and the fall of the Shah of Iran. While the basic principles of the strategy are found useful and sound, several of its provisions are challenged. First, in spite of its claim, the strategy does not produce multiple options when the advisors have no wide divergence of opinion. Second, contrary to the strategy's prescriptions, the custodian can improve the process in such situations by joining the policy debate. Third, custodial engagement in activities such as diplomacy and public speaking need not be prohibited too strictly. Last, the demise of the strategy can be more narrowly defined as the result of custodial disregard for a free flow of information and open participation among the advisors. Though further studies are needed to widen the empirical base, several tentative suggestions are offered to improve the strategy. The president must insist on a reasonable range of opinions when appointing advisors. While the National Security Advisor may join the policy debate to widen the range of options, his policy advice should not become the rule. At all times the President must insist that all policy debates among his advisors be brought to his attention, and that all policy options receive a fair hearing. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

On the particular example of the US new motto of the foreign policy after 9/11 --War on Terror I am trying to refer to the work of the non-profit organization Amnesty International in the field of the international relations. I am pointing out its importance in the decision-making process of the political elites. My intention is to find the correlation between the persuasion of the American population in relation to its leadership or leaders based on the expressed promises in the election campaign. As the object of my work I have chosen the current US President - Barack Obama whose one of his five main promises declared in the campaign was to defeat the terrorism, detain and adequately punish the masterminds of attacks from the September 2001 for the committed crimes. This point comprises the significant change from the approach of his predecessor and so the closure of the Guantanamo military base as a symbol of modern torture and denial of human rights which serves as a detention camp for the suspects of terrorism for more than 14 years now. This was a daring commitment but he gained millions of supporters thanks to it. This option comprised the expectations of sophisticated solutions for tens of substantial issues, including meeting the objective of punishment of the terrorists and establishment of deterrent precedent for any other similar attempts. Obama failed to accomplish it.

Diploma thesis deals with the analysis of the de Gaulle's foreign policy, concretely the belief of François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac in a specific position of France in the world. This deep belief of both presidents in a leading role of France within the international scene is evident on the case of the two wars in the Persian Golf in 1990-91 and 2003 and explains very similar behaviour of two otherwise different presidents and very similar development of both conflicts. At the same time this thesis deals with the transformation of an independent foreign policy, which was established and supported, in connection with the belief in privilege position of France in the world, by the founder of the Fifth republic - general Charles de Gaulle. The tendency to conduct an independent French foreign policy shared both François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. However with coming of geopolitical earthquake in the years 1989-1991, when the bipolar world disappeared and the then international order has changed, suddenly France lost its space for conduct of its independent policy. This new situation was confirmed by the first war in Gulf during which François Mitterrand did not manage to enforce his own independent policy and finally France became a part of anti- iraqian coalition headed by the USA. The...

Cette thèse s’intéresse à l’utilisation par le 43ème président des États-Unis, George W. Bush, des déclarations de promulgation, ces documents écrits qui permettent au président américain de donner son opinion sur une loi qu’il vient de promulguer et dans lesquels il peut faire part de sa réticence à faire appliquer certaines des dispositions de la loi en question car il les juge potentiellement inconstitutionnelles, et ce quand bien même il a accepté de promulguer la loi en question. Une telle pratique peut sembler contraire à l’esprit même de la Constitution américaine, qui contraint le président à « veiller à la fidèle exécution des lois » qu’il promulgue sans lui laisser la possibilité de sélectionner au sein desdites lois les disposions qu’il souhaite ou ne souhaite pas voir appliquées.A travers un travail de comparaison des déclarations de promulgation de George W. Bush à celles de ses prédécesseurs à la Maison-Blanche et une analyse de la capacité théorique et pratique de cet outil présidentiel à influer sur le processus d’exécution des lois, on se proposera de démontrer que les déclarations de promulgation sont davantage l’outil rhétorique d’une affirmation des pouvoirs de la présidence visant à renforcer cette dernière sur le long terme qu’un levier d’action immédiate permettant à la présidence de mettre la main sur l’exécution des lois. / This thesis focuses on the use of presidential signing statements by the Bush 43 Administration. Presidential signing statements are written documents that allow the President to give his opinion of a bill he signed into law and to say that even though he willingly signed the law, he does not necessarily plan on executing all of its provisions as he believes some of them to be potentially unconstitutional. Such a behavior may seem problematic constitutionally speaking as the American Constitution forces the President to « faithfully execute the laws » without affording him the opportunity to pick and choose the provisions he wants to execute.Through a comparison with the signing statements of previous presidents as well as an analysis of both the theoretical and practical capacity of presidential signing statements to allow the President to control the execution of the laws, this thesis will describe signing statements as tools of the rhetorical presidency that allow the executive to assert and defend its constitutional prerogatives in order to strengthen them in the long run, rather than weapons of the administrative presidency with an immediate effect on the execution of the laws.

This research examines the multi-vectored nature of Belarusian foreign policy since 1996 when Alexander Lukashenka solidified his regime in Belarus until today. The trends in Belarusian foreign policy are analyzed through the scope of interdependency and its intricate interplay with Belarusian national identity, or in other words, how President Lukashenka understands and interprets the Belarusian people. Since the early 2000s, it appeared that Belarus changed its foreign policy in an attempt to become less dependent on Russia and more open to working with new partners. Officially, Lukashenka has consistently maintained a multi-vector approach to Belarusian foreign policy and also in practice, despite intermittent speculation that Belarus might drastically change the dynamics of its foreign policy. Decreasing dependence is not motivation enough to completely alter perceived stability and a reluctance for change among the Belarusian people. Lukashenka uses the flexibility of his foreign policy to try to extract some benefits from global partners; however, the status quo of Lukashenka's foreign policies continues to remain intact. Keywords Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenka, Multi-vector, multipolar, foreign policy, interdependence, national identity, dependence

1. Abstract The fateful moments put the duty of decision-making process to the players. They can not make no decision. Even an escape from the decision is an act. The player does not decide only on himself but his decision has a general impact. Historical experience can demonstrate the fact that history subsequently evaluates the actorś decision as if the actor had virtually preserved all the theoretical possibilities of decision-making process. The future judgement is influenced by external circumstances which can not be fully reflected in the time of the decision itself. The crucial theme of the thesis is to demonstrate an ethical dilemma on a particular example. It was Hacha's signature in Berlin, March 1939 that put the fate of our country into the hands of The Empire. The work will scrutinize on the basis of social and political ethics aspects president Hacha's possibilities of other solutions choice. A part of the work will be a general moral evaluation of Hácha's political activity and post- war responses to his acting.

In March 2019 the 5th direct presidential elections were held in Slovakia. In the first round there were 13 candidates running for the office. The winner after the second round held on March 30th was Zuzana Čaputová. With 58,4 percent of all valid votes she became the first female president of The Slovak republic on June 15. This thesis goes into the comparison of Zuzana Čaputová's media image since being elected on the most visited news web sites in The Czech republic and Slovakia. The goal of the thesis is to compare the quantity and content of information published in both countries and to track possible changes in the media narrative and what has caused them. Using the quantitative method of content analysis and qualitative method of frame analysis of relevant articles published on news websites Novinky.cz and Aktuality.sk I want to monitor the decline, stagnation or rise of media interest in the persona of Zuzana Čaputová in the selected time period. This will help to describe the media image of the president on the Czech and Slovak media scene. The source articles are attached to the thesis.

This study explores how presidential candidates during the 2020 American election were tied to external others, taking the shape of China and Russia. The study argues that an identity perspective becomes fruitful for addressing the research problem, as it becomes a matter of who "we" as a nation are. In general, identity studies tend to focus on the external other, while this study aims to contribute with an understanding of how the internal and external other can be interconnected.  American exceptionalism - the notion that the US has a unique role to play on the world stage - is a prominent part of American political identity. Nonetheless, the concept of exceptionalism also implies that being an American is an act of choice and not exclusively a birthright, thus individuals and values can be labeled as "un-American". Drawing on and combining the theoretical insights from Michel Foucault, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and Ty Solomon, politics in itself becomes a narrative war to fill nodal points with a hegemonic substance based on a wish for identity-fulfillment. The study finds that the other candidate is separated from the idea of what constitutes the US by reference to foreign and threatening powers. The other candidate is framed as unfit to be president, and since he does not correspond with the identity of the nation itself, he can not lead and personify the US. Thus, the other candidate is narratively constructed as unable to grant the wish for national identity fulfillment. The substance of the nodal points also does not exhibit a value in themselves but has to be contrasted against something or someone - in this case, an Other.

The aim of this thesis is to look for paralels in reactions and attitudes of Czech and American media towards offensive statements of presidents of the Czech Republic and USA with the focus on mainstream media. In a theoretical part of the thesis the role and function of media in liberal democracies are defined. Following part describes an actual media landscapes of USA and the Czech Republic. The main part - research, is based on the description of the media landscapes in both countries and analyzes the media reactions and attitudes towards one specific presidential statement (one by US president Donald Trump, one by Czech president Milos Zeman). Each statement had to be at most critical, attacking the media and had to raise high media response. Media reactions were afterwards analyzed using qualitative content analysis according to the principles of grounded theory. In the conclusion the categories given by the analysis are being compared and analyzed.