Asymmetric Conflicts from 1989 - 2001 in quantitative analysis Abstract Following paper discuses two significant concepts in the area of asymmetric warfare. Both are dealing with the phenomenon of weak actors winning in armed conflicts. Ivan Arreguín-Toft is discussing the role of strategic asymmetry and concludes that the strategy actors choose is directly influencing the result of the conflict. Andrew Mack is dealing with the interest asymmetry, saying that strong actors tend to lose because their interest to win is usually weaker than that of their small opponents. In the same time strong actors are politically more vulnerable based on the level of democracy. Both theories are tested by quantitative analysis of all asymmetric conflicts that took place between 1989 and 2000. Values related to strategies, results, strength of the actors, interest and level of democracy are assigned to all conflicts based on information provided in conflict and other databases.

The main topic of this master thesis are the representation of space of northern Bohemia in the era of czechoslovakian state socialism. The aim of thesis is to approximate historical agents understanding of space. There is a Michel de Certeau's concept of space in the methodological background. De Certeau understands space like a set of places, which is designed by dynamic by social agents. For analysis I have chosen some social realms, where is strong connection to space (tourism, cultural heritage managment, school education, visual representation and sending postcards). The sources were designed by these social realms and the thesis is grounded on the case studies. At the end of thesis I have tried to apply Aleida Assmann's theory of paradigmatic change in the social concept of time. This change we can observate in the 80s and it occures also in space, because direct in space is made sense of time. Keywords: space, northern Bohemia, socialism, representation, historical agent

This diploma thesis deals with the analysis of the social and economic development of the South Bohemian town Jindřichův Hradec. Thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part is focused on the development of regions, regional policy, settlement theory and municipality development. In empirical part of thesis the town Jindřichův Hradec is characterised, and then the analysis of following social and economic indicators is made: population, economy, transport and technical infrastructure, social facilities and environment. Results of this analysis are used as basis for SWOT analysis, which shows strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the town. Based on this analysis the thesis evaluates whether town provides favourable conditions for the life of citizens and then future areas of development are suggested.

This thesis wants to make clear the theoretical concept in the form of a testable hypothesis on the relationship between the political control of the territory by a Violent Non-State Actor (VNSA) and the effectiveness of realization of its political objective (policies). Since in the literature there is no explicit theory or theorization that would reflect the varying degree of effectiveness with regard to the varying degree of territorial penetration, and there are no explicit parametric indicators and values that may be necessary for effective achievement of the political objective in relation to the territory, the purpose of the research will be to answer the question whether, how and to what extent the intensity of the physical penetration of the territory is related to the ability to more easily and efficiently achieve the goals for which the VNSA has been established and has strived. A general definition of threshold values of the penetration can also provide partial piece of knowledge for practical policies and approaches to territorial VNSA on the part of states (counterinsurgency actors). Although there is no explicit use of any of the theories of international relations in the research, the used theoretical framework is inspired by a) approaches to political geography and outlines of...

This diploma thesis examines the public political process for the implementation of local bilingual names while focusing on the enforcement of this law for citizens with Polish nationality in the Těšin Region. The main objective is to explain why this policy was or was not changed, what the reasons were for the non-conformity of the policy objectives with the results and to discover the actual failures in the implementation process, where as a consequence, in some villages the right of the minority to use local bilingual names was not fulfilled or was beset with problems in some villages. The subject of the investigation of both the legal and the institutional aspect of the problem focuses on the participating subjects, where one of the main roles of the committee for national minorities on the board of the municipal representatives was the requirement to implement local bilingual names. The guidelines for understanding the tools, procedures and relations used were the initial theoretical points related to the institutions and their changes, the implementation process (top-down and bottom-up approaches), initial theoretical points explaining the responsibilities of the participating subjects and not the intended consequences of their actions and those of others. The research design is a case study.

The diploma thesis discusses the issue of innovation in education. Although society and the requirements of a competetive person are changing Czech schools use only few innovative elements. The main objective is to identify and explain the current situation and find out when and why innovations are or are not implemented. Conditions are described as external (legislative, financing, staffing), but also the internal (teacher's personality, motivation, innovative potential). The research design is a case study, Hejny method at the chosen school. By means of semi-structured interviews with the main persons involved (teachers, school headmaster) identifies the events, changes, but also the participating actors and conditions and uncovers their role in the process, development in time. The author uses the 4-level public political cycle model, Multiple-streams theory, force field analysis and Model of change. The author reveals the key role players (the policy entrepreneurs and opponent of change). Many forming conditions is discovered. That is systemic, personal, organizational and social conditions. The work provides recommendations for the chosen school to successfully conclude the change. General recommendations for implementing innovation are also included.

The thesis is devoted to a special actor of international relations - the Holy See, Roman Catholic Church representation. It analyzes its behaviour mainly in the issue of recognition of the new state with the majority use of an official discourse of its diplomatic delegates. Specifically, Holy See's position towards criteria for recognition of the new state, which are recommended for state actors, is observed through its rhetoric. Similarities and differences with the state actor are also scrutinized through comparison with a typical behaviour of small states in foreign policy. Case study of the analysis focuses on the question of Palestine and its worldwide recognition as a state, as this topic has possessed a significant role in foreign policy for long time.

This thesis deals with the topic of value and value orientations in the society. The first part of the thesis is the introduction to the issue of values from sociological perspective, and to issue of empirical measurement of values as well. Subsequently the thesis core is own empirical analysis of the data from Aktér surveys, which were carried out in the Czech Republic in 2005, 2007 and 2012. The research intention was to create typology of respondents on the basis of their various value orientations. For this purpose, a battery of questions was used, which was repeatedly asked in the questionnaires in the Aktér surveys. This set of items measured values and life strategies of respondents on the five-point scales. Multidimensional statistical techniques, such as explorative factor analysis and cluster analysis, were employed to the typology-making process. The outcome of this thesis is the presentation of created respondent types (clusters), their identification on the basis of sociodemographic variables and the indication of the typology transformation in the process of time.

This diploma thesis deals with the relationship between the vocational training of young people and the requirements of the labour market. The thesis is focused on secondary vocational education. The problem, that has been examined, is the lack of readiness of school graduates, to move to the free labour market. In order to improve this, it is necessary to try to reconcile the content and outputs of vocational training with the needs of the labour market. If graduates are poorly prepared for employers' needs, these graduates may become unemployed. The problem is getting worse with the longer duration of unemployment. The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out and describe who participates in vocational training and how their mutual cooperation is implemented. In the thesis the author will try to find out the strengths and weaknesses of this cooperation. He will also try to find out in what kind of way the training of young people to the needs of the labour market is adapted. The thesis is a case study focused on the South Bohemian Region, which is briefly presented by selected indicators characteristic of the selected region. To obtain the necessary data, there are used figures and statistics from the former researches, as well as information from selected participants involved in the solution...

Violent non-state actors have represented a significant challenge for both national and international security in recent decades. One of the many countries that have experienced extensive violence perpetrated by these entities is also Kenya. Particularly armed group called Mungiki managed to become influential security, political, criminal and religious actor. Considering frequent transformations of the group making it difficult to determine what type of violent non-state actor Mungiki is, the group still represents a challenging case for researchers to fully comprehend. To contribute to the understanding of this entity and extend contemporary knowledge of violent non-state actors, this study aims to conceptualize individual phases of Mungiki development and discover mechanisms behind its recurrent metamorphoses from one type of violent actor to another. Based on the review of existing literature focused on violent non-state actors, their conceptualization, emergence, and transformations, the thesis uses a case-centric process- tracing method aimed at explaining particular outcomes of individual transformations. The study consists of an in-depth analysis of Mungiki development in the context of Kenyan security and political environment. The results indicate that Mungiki represented different types...