This dissertation attempts to uncover systematic patterns regarding elite management in dictatorships. To do so, it describes how dictators manage their elites and what factors determine the outcomes of their decision. Although considerable literature has examined the various structural features of dictatorships and has identified different elite management strategies to explain the persistence of dictatorships, few, if any, have empirically tested any of the theoretical propositions generated by this increasingly large body of literature. This dissertation is the first empirical attempt to explore the elite management strategies of various dictatorships, ranging from the individual case of the most extreme dictatorship (North Korea) as well as different kinds of military dictatorships (South Korea), and global patterns of autocratic regimes. To address the main research question, "what determines the choice of the dictator's elite management strategies?" this dissertation identifies three key factors - dictator, elites, and structure. The relationship between dictators and elites is basically hostile. Conflicts between actors over power acquisition often emerge in violent ways. Nevertheless, dictators do not always treat elites with repression. They sometimes make efforts to embrace and cooperate with the other elites. The variation of their strategies toward elites is determined by various conditions. The results of this dissertation indicate that three factors of dictators, elites, and the environments surrounding them significantly affect the elite management strategies under dictatorships. The main theoretical arguments of this dissertation are supported by the evidence in the three empirical chapters of this dissertation.

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This thesis addresses the influence that social media sites have on the behavior of online customers (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.). The thesis combines information from three different approaches that study how social media sites are used by online stores to help increase their sales: 1) Google Analytics; 2) Crazy Egg; and 3) an online Survey. Firstly, Google Analytics was used to collect data from three online sources. The data was used to determine the path that customers took to arrive at the online stores. Using data only from those customers who completed a transaction. The researcher found that revenue generated from search engines was approximately four times higher than from typed URLs, online ads, as well as Twitter and Facebook. The researcher also found that revenue generated from Twitter traffic was increasing. Secondly, Crazy Egg was used to collect information on event actions (e.g., button presses) that generated more webpage specific details. In particular, we were interested in knowing how often customers clicked on an online store’s social media buttons (e.g., on Facebook and Twitter). The Crazy Egg data indicated that customers only used the online store’s social media buttons (i.e., Facebook and Twitter) about 1% of the time. Finally, an online survey was conducted in order to capture the opinions and attitudes of customers who used social media, including their tendencies to follow stores online, and the frequency of their visits to the store’s social media sites. We found that all participants used at least one social media site. Approximately 69% of the participants followed stores online using social media (Facebook and Twitter being the most common) and they used these sites to look for offers, find product information, and read reviews from other customers and the online stores’ owners. The survey also showed that 47% of participants reported that they had used social media buttons while visiting an online store, which was much higher than the results generated by Crazy Egg.

abstract: Power relations among cultural, socio-economic, and political groups have been dynamic forces shaping American history. Within that changing world, relations between indigenous and non-indigenous groups have been complicated by a fundamental difference often ascribed to Western philosophy versus Native American spiritual traditions. In 1990, Congress codified that difference when it passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) stipulating that Indian tribes and Native Hawaiians are unique among United States cultural groups. At the same time, NAGPRA began breaking down the Western vs. indigenous paradigm. The legislative process of NAGPRA strongly encouraged cooperation among indigenous peoples and the non-indigenous peoples who had collected their bones and belongings under earlier policies. NAGPRA required museums and other agencies accepting federal monies to inventory any collections of Native American items with the intent of giving control to tribes over the disposition of culturally affiliated human remains and certain classes of objects. In the rearranging power relations NAGPRA instigated, people maneuvered for power over the "truth," over whose memory, meaning, and spiritual worldview held authenticity. This dissertation considers cases that pushed or broke the limits of cooperation fostered by NAGPRA. Ignoring the bones and related funerary objects, Tangled Truths analyzes repatriation disputes over cultural artifacts to illuminate changing power relations among cultural groups in the United States. The repatriation negotiations in which people would not compromise were cases in which there existed strong differences in spiritual worldviews, cultural memories, or material interests. Congress could encourage cooperation, but it could not legislate acceptance of others' spiritual worldviews, nor could it persuade people to relinquish engrained cultural memories. And without solid enforcement, the NAGPRA process could be outmaneuvered by those intent on pursuing their own material interests. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. History 2011

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of crazy comedy of the contemporary creator of the author type of productions, Antonín Procházka. The inclusion of the author amongst creators of the author-type productions defines Procházka as the author who writes, directs and plays in his theatre plays. The aim of the diploma thesis is to analyze the comedies of the author from the point of view of the construction of the crazy comedy and in terms of how to build comic situations and work with humor. I try to find out if there are features and procedures that are typical of his plays and how his plays respect and use the rules of the genre of crazy comedy. Diploma thesis also includes work with specialist literature and an analysis of available professional reviews and period reviews. In the beginning, I present aims and structure this diploma thesis. In the first part of the thesis I briefly describe the life of the author, and in more detail, I deal with the inspiration and the facts that influenced the author's work. Treatise on the crazy comedy complements this thesis because of a comprehensive view of the issue. The diploma thesis is complemented by the theoretical grounding of the crazy comedy, its characters, level and construction of humor, for a comprehensive view of the issue. In the main part...

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This diploma thesis summarises the life and work of Ondřej Suchý with an emphasis on his journalistic activities in the press, radio and television. One of Suchý's projects in the Czechoslovakian TV was being a TV presenter in Kavárnička dříve narozených (1985-1995). He worked intermittently in the Czech radio from 1962 to 2018, presenting programmes such as Padesátník (1992-2008) or Nostalgické muzeum zábavy (1997-2008). As for the printed media, his name is mainly connected with a children's magazine Sedmička (1968-1971) and with an insert of Svobodné Slovo, Kvítko. This thesis also marginally covers Suchý's artistic work: he used to make a living as a caricaturist (he was known for his cartoon jokes about mice) or as a music lyric writer (he co-operated with Karel Černoch, Hana Hegerová or Dagmar Patrasová). He has also published over 50 books, mainly nonfiction; he focuses on biographies of famous actors, actresses, comedians and singers from the 1930s to 1960s. Further chapters cover his personal and professional relationship with his older brother Jiří, a critical assessment of his work by means of periodic reviews and an analysis of Suchý's journalistic methods. There is also an attachement which includes a thematic photo gallery.

Mgr. Klára Soukupová Autobiography in the Context of the Positioning Theory Abstract This doctoral thesis is a theoretical and an interpretative study that deals with the genre of autobiography, its position in the contemporary literary theory and problems related to an interpretation of autobiographical texts. Autobiography as a genre of non-fictional literature refers to real characters and events, but at the same time it is a literary work of art, a verbal construct in which the representation of reality is subject to the intentions of the author and to the rules of construction, that are close to the compositional techniques of fictional texts. The first part of the thesis concentrates on the theory of autobiography and its interdisciplinary context. It summarizes the development of theory of autobiography from the late 19th century to the present. Also, the concepts of the memory studies (especially the concept of collective memory) and the problem of distinguishing fiction and non-fiction (discussed in philosophy of history in 1970s and 1980s, fictional worlds theory, pragmatics of fiction, etc.) are taken into account. The theoretical chapter critically reflects P. Lejeune's definition of autobiography, based on the concept of the autobiographical pact. In relation with the problem of how to define...