Among the most notable trends of the last several decades in the United States have been the rise of corporate power, the entrenchment of neoliberalism, the rise in inequality, along with discussions regarding the ‘culture wars’ and the phenomenon of polarization. The onset of the neoliberal era has been accompanied and facilitated by a decades-long marketing campaign propagating the consistent narrative of individualism over the collective, that government is the problem rather than a solution to problems, while associating freedom exclusively with the market. This thesis project draws on critical theory, Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic power, discourse, narrative and communications theory, along with some insights from social psychology to examine the discursive shifting of the political spectrum that has occurred over the last four decades and has helped to entrench market fundamentalism as a hegemonic common sense. The thesis pays particular attention to the weaponization of the word ‘liberal’ and how this strategy has affected the understanding of the political spectrum and how the centre is currently framed. The research design I use to interrogate this entails a qualitative content analysis of various media sources noting how ‘common sense’ populist discourse, such as terms like ‘liberal’, are utilized by Republican operatives and conservative commentators, as well as by the mainstream media and the general public. Using a multi-disciplinary theoretical approach and a methodological framework provided by Stone and Parker, I deconstruct and analyze the narrative that has been built up around neoliberalism and how it can serve to reinforce neoliberalism as a little-questioned hegemonic paradigm, often by-passing cognition. Neoliberal logics reject the political in terms of participatory democracy, while still requiring a strong state to stabilize the economic order. The resulting erosion of democracy augurs the possibility of right-wing authoritarianism, exacerbates inequality, and promotes a growth model that is unsustainable ecologically / Graduate

Theory of Political Spectrum Proposed New Model of Political Spectrum in the Context of Political Changes Caused by Globalisation Major political changes are happening across Europe and the world during the second decade of the 21 century, represented by the collapse of traditional party systems or Brexit. Current models of political spectrum cannot convincingly explain these changes. In my thesis, I propose a new model of political spectrum which reflects contemporary political changes and contributes to their explanation. Main innovation of the model is the inclusion of political conflict based on globalisation. In the first part of the thesis, I describe historic and modern models of political spectrum including the well-known political compass. I analyse them, critically assess them and form general methodological requirements, which should be met by functional models of political spectrum. In the second part of the thesis, I integrate cleavage theory into the theory of political spectrum. Cleavage theory addresses the most salient political conflicts in political systems. Furthermore, I describe the decline of traditional cleavages and changes in party systems. I dedicate most of my attention to a new cleavage caused by globalisation, described as transnational cleavage. In the third part of the...

The diploma thesis Media and Politics - Political Parties in Selected Czech Newspapers in the Period Before the Elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of Czech Republic in 2013 compares the representation of selected Czech political parties in the content of Czech national serious daily newspapers through quantitative content analysis of news in dailies Hospodářské noviny, Mladá fronta Dnes, Lidové noviny a Právo. The thesis explores the space which was given to individual political parties in studied newspapers, how often they were mentioned in the news, whether the approach of the parties in the news were balanced, and if the parties were neutrally presented in each daily news. The main aim of this thesis is to determine whether the Czech press is showing signs of political parallelism and whether it is objektive to political parties. The theoretical framework of the thesis is the theory of political parallelism as percieved by Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini and objectivity of the media as percieved by Jörgen Westerståhl. The research draws on the foreign literature and also draws from research in this area that in the past took place abroad.

The topic of the diploma thesis is a comparison of the old and new left in the Czech Republic. The diploma thesis focuses on a comparison of the selected relevant left-wing political groups operating in the Czech Republic. The thesis examines differences and similarities between the KSČM, the socialist wing of ČSSD on one side and the Green Party and the left-liberal tendencies and offshoots of the ČSSD (such Idealists) on the other hand. The work is divided into three main parts. The first part of the thesis is theoretical. The theoretical part defines main terms such as a political party, political movement, left-right axis of the political spectrum, the old left, the new left etc. The explanation of the terms is very important for understanding the thesis. In the second part of this thesis, I analyze single significant and relevant political parties. I focus on the origin and development of political parties and their electoral program, their attitude to selected issues, electorate, potential cooperation between themselves and so on. The third part is comparative. The goal of this thesis is to find out whether the analyzed political parties fulfill leftist characteristic. Next goal of this thesis is to find out whether the classification on left-right axis of the political spectrum is still...

Face à l’opacité interprétative et la faillite du langage auxquelles nous nous heurtons dans l’analyse des œuvres-chocs de Sarah Kane, quelle approche nous permettrait de commenter exhaustivement les formes et les moyens mis en œuvre par la dramaturge pour imprimer sa marque dans l’esprit du spectateur contemporain? Le théâtre postdramatique, paradigme élaboré par Hans-Thies Lehmann, présenterait a priori un dispositif pertinent pour faire lumière sur des problématiques contemporaines cruciales en jeu dans l’œuvre de Kane. Aucunement univoque, car soumis à l’interprétation et à l’engagement du spectateur, le caractère politique des pièces, pourtant spectral, s’avère ici essentiel. Ce spectre politique se laisse percevoir à travers le prisme de la violence et la nécessité du choc semble être son parti pris pour redéfinir le rôle du théâtre dans nos sociétés modernes caractérisées par la circulation massive des images à travers les nouveaux médias. Un lien de coresponsabilité de l’artiste et du spectateur se crée: l’œuvre nous interroge, spectateur/lecteur, sur la part mystérieuse de ce fond de cruauté humaine et sur notre complicité dans l’omniprésence de la violence à travers la consommation de ses produits. Mettant en relief les caractères transgressifs venant bousculer nos affects à travers des références à la « culture d’en bas » et un exercice des limites du spectaculaire centré sur l’obscène et le détournement des codes de la pornographie, cette lecture postdramatique de Cleansed et de Phaedra’s love entend restituer à l’œuvre de Kane son énergie pour un changement qui passe par un éveil des sens. / Faced with the interpretive opacity and failure of language in the analysis of Sarah Kane’s violent plays, what approach could allow us to review the forms and means used by the playwright in order to leave her mark in the mind of the contemporary viewer? The paradigm of the post-dramatic theater, proposed by Hans-Thies Lehmann, constitutes an appropriate device for highlighting the contemporary issues at stake in the work of Kane. Since it strongly depends on the interpretation and the engagement of the viewer, the meaning of the plays are not univocal. Their spectral political nature proves essential here. This political spectrum reveals itself through the prism of violence. The necessity of shock appears to be its bias to redefine the role of theater in modern societies characterized by the flow of images through mass media. A link of co-responsibility between artist and viewer is created. Indeed as viewers/readers, Kane’s plays lead us to question ourselves on the mysterious and intimate depths of human cruelty and our complicity with the omnipresence of violence through consumption of its products. By focusing on the transgressive characteristics of Kane’s dramatic art that shake viewers out of their affective complacency through the references to "culture from below" and through the use of an obscene language and imagery, and through the diversion of pornography’s codes, this postdramatic reading of Cleansed and Phaedra's love intends to restore the energy inherent in Kane’s work. It is an energy that aims for radical change by awakening our senses.

This thesis presents and analyzes the media image of political programs of parties Christian and Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party, Green Party, Party of Civic Rights - Zemanovci and Sovereignty after parliamentary elections in 2010 in programs of publice service media Czech Television and Czech Radio Political Spectrum and Twenty Minutes of Radiojournal. The theoretical part is introduced by description of the relationship between public service media and political sphere together with the different approaches to the study and exploration of public service media. There is a description of concepts of news coverage in the media public service generally as well specifically in the Czech Republic. This thesis also includes a description of management concepts of broadcasting public service media. Further more ale explained ideas of impartiality, objectivity and balance in public service media. The last area of theoretical part presented political programs of examined parties and surveyed programs. After the introduction of a methodology practical section contains a description of the results of the author's research. The final part of the thesis contains the interpretation of results and recommendations for further research.