This diploma thesis deals with the development of tobacco control legislation with the main focus on the Act on protection of health against harmful effects of addictive substances with accent on smoking regulation in restaurants. The main line of this thesis is to determine the competing rhetorical frameworks and the main actors representing the individual frameworks which they present on the level of arguments and then to compare the development of narrative over time. At this level, the thesis focuses on the analysis of the presented rhetorical frameworks with the aim of discussing possible specific attributes that facilitated the process of reframing opposition actors, namely using the rhetorical strategy of narrative attributes of storytelling, technical terms, imagery or comparison. These goals were achieved by using a qualitative analysis of media outcomes and by using public policy documents, legal standards and other relevant documents. Theoretical support for answering the set forth questions was a frame analysis, which was conceptualized on the field of public policy by Rein and Schön along with the theory of social construction of target population conceptualized by Schneider and Ingram. In this thesis, written under the auspices of the case study, four main competing frames were...

The topic of the diploma thesis is the issue of state social support benefits. The aim is to find out the current state of abuse of state social support benefits and identify their shortcomings. The topic is examined from the perspective of the theory of social construction of target populations and the theory of street-level bureaucrats. The work examines the construction of recipients of SSS benefits in both media and political discourse. Qualitative research was used to achieve the goal of the work, in the form of semi-structured interviews with street-level bureaucrats and document analysis. In order to obtain information on the construction of recipients of SSS benefits, articles in online and print media and stenographic records from the meetings of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic were analysed. I consider the finding that the recipients of SSS benefits are not perceived as a homogeneous group and are constructed according to the individual benefits they receive to be the main results of the work. Furthermore, forms of abuse of SSS benefits were identified, which are distinguished into fraudulent practices of clients and the maximum possible use of the law. The main findings of abuse were presented in the case study. Along with the misuse of...

The main theme of the work is finding an answer to the question why in the past years Czech Parliament has failed to enforce measures improving the quality of life of lone-parent families, and what could be done for these measures to be adopted. Theoretical support for answering both questions is provided by a) frame analysis (Schőn and Rein), which works with the idea of conflicting frames and bridging conflicts through reframing, and b) the theory of social construction of target groups (Schneider and Ingram). Based on an analysis of stenographic minutes from proceedings dealing with the issue of non-payment of child support (in particular with proposals for the state to pay child support first and then to receive it from the obligor) and the arrangements connected to child custody (in particular the proposal to strengthen alternating custody), conflicting frames are reconstructed (in the case of non-payment, there are three conflicting frames, in the case of child custody two). These conflicting frames, or rather the fact that they are insufficiently addressed, may be the cause of the incapacity of Czech political representation to address the above agenda. An "efficient penalizing of the debtor" is described as a possible reframing of the problem in the field of non-payment of child support....

This paper analyses social constructions of people with disabilities in Czech employment policy with a help of Anne Schneider's and Helen Ingram's theoretical framework: Social constructions of target populations. Methodologically this paper is a case study, the analysis is based on a secondary analysis of statistical data and a study of public policy documents, primarily analysis of legislation development and relevant strategic documents. The paper is attempting to define general construction of people with disabilities by public reprepresentative surveys. Power of the group is defined by characteristics resulting from the theoretical framework. The key part of the paper examines, what policies assume about participation of people with disabilities on the labour market. At the end the paper describes employment rates of this group. In conclusion the paper describes how hidden asumptions in design of policy probably hinders participation of people with disabilities on the labour market.

The master thesis deals with public policies in the area of Roma minority inclusion in the modern history of the Czech Republic after 1989. The main objective of the thesis is to identify, by applying the theory of social construction of target populations, the form of state intervention in solviing the exclusion of the Roma minority from society. And then to find out what influence the social construction of the Roma and their political possibilities play here. The research consists in analysing and identifying the different elements of the theory in the following order: 1. Analysis of public policies for Roma integration; 2. Analysis of the social construction of the Roma; 3. Analysis of the political power of Roma. The first step towards achieving the aim of the thesis is to reveal the nature of the policy design of Roma integration. In this step, I will analyse a convolute of public policy documents, which includes international legal conventions, domestic minority laws and strategic documents. In the next step, I will focus on the social image of the Roma, the form of which, according to the social construction theory of target populations, plays an undeniable role in the formulation of public policies and the behaviour of elected officials. The last main effort to fulfil the aim of the thesis...