The work of Antonin Tenzer involves his activities in the period of six decades in the turbulent era of development of Czechoslovak history of architecture. The architect is known as one of the representatives of the avant-garde and High functionalism, author of Faculty Hospital in Prague-Motol and other medical buildings or the Jalta hotel, a building associated with socialist realism. In my dissertation, I tried to map the main typological fields that Antonín Tenzer used in his work. My goal was to widen the portfolio of famous buildings, and on the basis I defined the architect's major themes and current issues, which were responded in his effort. I based primarily on historic materials - published projects, plan documentation and writings of public and private archives, as well as personal heritage, made available to me by the architect's family. In particular thematic areas I focused on Tenzer's vital and successful implementation of competition projects, which he later followed and extended. In addition to impulses from his collaborators, debates and majors works of those days I was looking for elements and methods of Tenzer that influenced the architecture environment. I observed the influence of historical events and the socio-political situation in his work, for example, housing issues in...

Russian Federation has reconsidered its foreign policy on the European Union and is now focusing more on Eurasian integration. This step aroused various reactions in the world, especially after the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union in January 2015. This work deals with the intention of the Union, examines the steps which preceded this event and the possible influence of the eurasianism on Eurasian integration. At the same time, based on the statements of both parties -- European and Eurasian -- the work analyzes potential point of possible cooperation between the European Union and the newly formed regional integration Eurasian Economic Union.

There is a constant trend in the European Union for heightened pride, desire of extended autonomy and even national independence of regions. The master thesis intends to investigate the relations of selected regions in the EU member states with the European policy level. The general research question to answer is "Which regions are more successful in representing their interests vis-à-vis the European policy level?" The investigation is undertaken in a form of a comparative case study combining qualitative and quantitative research; the examined regions are - following the research hypotheses and intention to provide a multi-perspective analysis of the problem - Scotland (United Kingdom), Hessen (Germany), Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (Italy) and Středočeský kraj (Czech Republic). Based on the comparative analysis the thesis concludes that "regions with wide scope of powers on the national level (usually coming from federal or regionalized member states) with strong economic background are generally more successful in representing their interests vis-à-vis the European policy level."

Strategic narrative is a communicative tool for political elites to construct a shared meaning to the international politics, to articulate state's interests, to change the discursive environment, and to shape the behaviour of other actors. It has three different dynamics, which proceed simultaneously and reinforce each other: formation of the narrative within the given state, its projection in the international arena, and its reception in other states. Theory of strategic narratives fits well into the framework of new regionalism, which tries to analyse relations between the processes of globalization, globalism, regionalization, and regionalism. Until recently, such analyses were conducted from state-level and positivist perspective. As a result, the dimension of reception remained understudied. The presented thesis is an attempt to fill this gap. It analyses global political economy from the interpretivist constructivist perspective: it uses the leading local newspaper as a data sources and analyses media (news) discourse as one form of a broad societal discourse. Such an analysis can help us to analyse how local society assesses and reacts to strategic narratives and their internalization or rejection by local elites. In my thesis, I focus on narratives of the three superpowers (the US, the EU,...

This diploma thesis examines the Norwegian policy of cooperation in Education and Research as a soft-power tool for Norway's foreign policy. Within a European context, three levels of Norway's participation in Education and Research programmes will be analyzed. The first level is Norway's cooperation policy toward the EU, though as a weaker actor. The second is Norway's value of cooperation as an equal partner, which is typical in the Nordic region. And the third is cooperation via EEA Grants and Norway Grants, in which Norway is a dominant player. This thesis combines a theory of international cooperation and Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye's theory of soft-power, complex interdependence and asymmetry of relations between the participants. In the research, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods are used. This thesis reveals that Norway decreases the financial spending to the areas where it has more influence and can utilize more of its soft power, while it also invests into areas where it plays the role of substandard actor. An explanation is found in the theory of international cooperation and the game of Chicken, where the longstanding and successful corporation strives to achieve a compromise rather than a win, i.e. to moderate any power fluctuation and strive for an equilibrium state.

Regional political parties and the European Union: Case study of Spain Abstract The diploma thesis "Regional political parties and the European Union: Case study of Spain" focuses on the area of the regional parties on the stage of the European Parliament, a subject which has not been analysed thoroughly in the past. Special emphasis is placed on the analysis of this phenomenon on the case of the Spanish historical regions (Catalonia, Basque Country, Galicia) which are a recognizable proof of the remarkable institutional strengthening in the framework of a regionalized unitary state. The methodology of triangulation was used for the analysis of this issue as the data of the diverse type (i.e. electoral results, party's material etc.) have been put together through different methods (as a qualitative and quantitative content analysis, deductive and comparative approaches) with the aim to reveal the complete character of the issue and to reach the objective results as possible. The study focuses on the analysis of the regional parties on the European level through their cooperation in the European federations of the political parties as well as the framework of the political groups in the European Parliament. The emphasis is also placed on the analysis of the own work of the members of the European Parliament...

European Union faced several external challenges in the beginning of the 21st century. Its enlargement to 24 member states led to a state of dissimilar and not well interconnected economies in need of a new model of external competitiveness. Finding the model and, more importantly, delivering it on community level, was a new task of the European Commission, especially after re-launch of the Lisbon strategy in 2005. Yet, there was another challenge for EU that was not so easy to address by the Commission: the relative weakening of EU's external economic action comparing to new increasingly assertive policies of other international players, especially BRICs. Was it possible for the Commission focus only on supporting EU competitiveness without any external action, as was expected by articles of the Treaty of Nice? As the thesis argues, indeed there was an external action of the Commission before the Lisbon treaty, through its public support of SME internationalization within the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). A neoinstitutional analysis of the issues on two levels is carried out: Firstly on the level of European institutions (motives, relevant contexts and institutional rules), secondly, on the level of secondary actors (SMEs, NGOs, CIP executive agency EACI), where the...

This thesis deals with the phenomenon of Carpathian Ruthenia, or Zakarpattia, which is one of the most discussed issues in Czech literature. It expands the traditional view of the issue with a chronological survey of works by Czech authors who were inspired by Carpathian Ruthenia, and maps their writings created from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. It focuses on their interpretation, with particular reference to the topology. The first chapter presents the terminological problems associated with the territory of the Transcarpathian region and briefly summarizes its history. The next chapter submits an account of the exceptional nature of this area (its contrasts, periphery, regionalism, myths, exoticism, idylls and adventures), and attempts to characterize its uniqueness (backwardness, belief in superstitions, Jews, alcoholism, poachers, enchanting countryside and outlaws). Carpathian Ruthenia appears to be a place of secrecy, where hypothetical characters grow. The topology of the mountain is also an important element. The following chapter, the longest, presents most of the works by the Czech authors who were inspired by this region. The first of these authors came to Carpathian Ruthenia during the 1920s as government workers or tourists. Their works are arranged...

The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the circumstances and transition of the socio-economic system of the Russian Federation. It is also focused on the regional economy of Sverdlovsk region as a socio-economic subsystem. Uralmash plant is presented here as an example of an economic player in a process of transition. The thesis is based on several specific theories: socio-economic system and its transition, evolution of the economic systems by J. Schumpeter, social choice between chaos and dictatorship based on the new comparative economics, regionalist theory and corporate finance. It is chosen comparative-historical and empirical-statistical methodology. The main finding of the thesis is the inability of the socio-economic system of the USSR to continue in development as a result of dictatorship. However, the new Russian economy fell into a structural shift. The contribution of the thesis is a comprehensive view on transition process in Russia both at national and at regional and local level. Both theoretical and practical sites of transition are reflected. Not only macroeconomic but also microeconomic point of view is taken into account.

Presented thesis Programs of the European Union of supporting regional interparliamentary cooperation in the region of Western Balkans as an instrument of regionalisation is focusing on regional parliamentary cooperation in the region of Western Balkans and programs of the European Union which are programmed to support this particular cooperation. The study is framed in the theory of new regionalism and the approach of socialization in international relations, which both offer in the case of European integration explanation of why regionalization takes place. The aim of the thesis is to answer the question whether the European Union is successful in its support of regionalization via regional parliamentary cooperation. Meaning if the mechanism of socialization chosen by the Union is effective and if institutional capacities of the national parliament in the region to conclude this cooperation are being built either via direct engagement with the Union, or via indirect way by engaging with regional initiatives active in regional parliamentary cooperation such as Regional Cooperation Council, COSAP and Cetinje Parliamentary Forum. By analyzing the mechanism of socialization and the environment in which the socialization takes place the thesis identifies if, and how much is the European Union able to...