The study "Democrat Petr Zenkl (from teaching to the exile)" is a complex political monography of one of the most important Czechoslovak politicians, PhDr. Petr Zenkl. It focuses on his resistance to the rule of Austria-Hungary, his early activities and the beginnings of his political career, his municipal work in Prague, his participation in the governments of the First and Third Czechoslovak republic, his career in the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and his leading role among anti-comunist exiles in the USA during the Cold War.

This diploma thesis is devoted to Václav Majer (January 22, 1904 - January 25, 1972) and his public work, particularly in the period of the Third Republic of Czechoslovakia. Václav Majer was a social democratic politician and he was a leader of the right wing within the Czechoslovak Social Democracy. The main issue which was being discussed inside the Social Democratic Party at that time was the question of cooperation between Social Democrats and Communists. Majer was a main proponent of independent policy of the Social Democratic Party. Sometimes it is hard to analyze the meaning and the course of various political affairs without knowing their roots. In that case, it is necessary to study the background of these events which in many cases lies at the previous period. This is the reason why this very essay actually starts right after the Munich Agreement was negotiated and signed. This thesis informs about Majer's road to exile and his political activities during the World War II. The main interest of this thesis lies in the era of the Third Republic and informs about Majer and his policy during this very period.

The Fourth Republic fell sort of expectations of French nation. The institutional system based on predominance of political parties could guarantee neither inner stability nor the return of France to the world political power. Weaknesses of French governments and their inability to cope with the serious political and economic issues resulted in collapse of the Fourth Republic in spring 1958. Some months later a new political system was established. It enabled to give France back its grandeur and independence. The first decade of the Fifth Republic, closely connected with the personality of President Charles de Gaulle, was greatly affected by the Algerian War of Independence in consequence of which all social and political spheres of the country were impacted. The Evian Agreements of March 1962 established an independent Algeria and enabled Charles de Gaulle to carry out his own political conception, including greater openness to the Soviet Union and its satellites. Czechoslovak-French diplomatic and cultural relations in the years 1948-1968 correspond to large extent extent to the evolution of international policy with its alternation of easing and tightening of the geopolitical tension and they also reflect the changes in domectic political situation in both countries. Since 1948 the Czechoslovak...

The thesis deals with the U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba in the years 1958-1965. It analyses sources of U.S.-Cuban hostility at the beginning of the Fidel Castro era. It shows, how the U.S. foreign policy and the beginning of Cold war contributed to polarization as well as radicalization of politics in Cuba. Thus, it analyses the change of a local conflict into the "international civil war". The aim of the thesis is to argue that Cuba influenced the global balance of power between the Soviet Union and the United States at the beginning of 1960's. The introductory chapters summarize the causes of the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. policy toward friendly dictators, mainly toward Fulgencio Batista in Cuba. Next part deals with the guerilla warfare against Batista and the extent of U.S. influence on this insurrection. The thesis uses a multi-archival research of the U.S. as well as Czech and British sources. The comparison of sources shows the extent of independent Cuban actions and helps to comprehend the logic of the Eastern-European foreign policy. The thesis further analyses the U.S. reaction on Cuban Revolution as well as causes and consequences of the Cuban Missile crisis. Moreover, it deals with the possibilities of improvement in the U.S.-Cuban relations. Last but not least it also analyses the...

A Landscape with Furniture. Designs, plans, and buildings of Jan E. Koula (1896-1975) and his notion of a "people's dwelling". Marcela Suchomelová Abstract (EN) The thesis focuses on the professional and personal course of life of a Prague architect, designer, painter, documentarian, teacher, theoretician and editor of specialized magazines on architecture and housing culture in the interwar and the onset war era and in line with the avant-garde thinking. Nowadays, the theoretical and artistic legacy of Jan E. Koula (1896-1975) is seen in his remarkable ability to popularize ethics and aesthetic in the contemporary housing culture, and in his capability of pragmatic characterization, evaluation and promotion of modern style of living. He was very consistent and unceasing in doing so, while having the model of Le Corbusier's functionalist purism in mind. An analysis of the then publications, archival documents and Koula's autobiography allowed us to compare his singular interventions in architecture and design as well as the interior housing or exhibition concepts, not to mention the circumstances of their origin and ideological contribution in the plurality of activities, interests, and the social and cultural background of the period between 1920' and 1940'. Jan E. Koula dealt with the issue of housing...

The dissertation explores the history and activities of the Brno-located Town and Country Planning Department of The Research Institute for Building and Architecture (RIBA) since its foundation in 1954 until its abolishment in 1994. As a part of the department functioning, a description of its main research tasks and publications, which had played an essential part while formulating theory and methodology of urban planning after the 2nd World War in Czechoslovakia, are introduced. Special attention is paid to tasks and publications whose authors and research workers applied interdisciplinary approaches and – in spite of the prevailing totalitarian regime – managed to apply their experience acquired abroad to produce highly influential works such as The Principles and Rules of Spatial Planning. Another objective of the dissertation is the creation of a complex bibliography of texts that were produced by the department (books, reports on the outcomes of research tasks that had been explored at the Town and Country Planning Department and that were released internally as handbooks serving research workers of the institute and other institutions focusing on building and architecture). Depictions of the Brno department of RIBA from the perspective of two of its significant representatives who have outlived the institution they had witnessed to be founded and to the functioning of which they had significantly contributed, become a key part of the text: Ing. arch. Vladimír Matoušek, CSc., the second head of the Town and Country Planning Department of RIBA and Ing. arch. Dušan Riedl, CSc., a theoretician of architecture and urban planning and a top expert on Czech national herritage. As the topic has not yet been subjected to scholarly research, the main objective of the work is to create the very first complex text on the Brno department of RIBA and its activities. The circumstances surrounding the constitution of RIBA in the context of other similarly functioning research institutes are pursued with a special focus on the fields of building, architecture and urban planning as well as legislative embedding of its foundation and functioning, its organization structure, staff, definition of taskmasters and the way the tasks were approached, relations to other institutions in the field, publishing activities and transfer of theoretical research outcomes to practice. The text also deals with the state of present-day research of architecture and urban planning. Archive material and publications released by the institute represent a predominant source of information about RIBA activities. They are now stored at the archive of ABF Foundation in Prague (the foundation has been administering both the archive and library of the Prague department of RIBA since its abolishment), at the library of The Institute for Spatial Development in Brno (the institute administers the library of the former Brno department) and at the Moravian Land Archive in Brno. Both of the archives have been thoroughly researched by the author. Critical reflections upon the urban-planning department of RIBA occurring in contemporary publications and periodicals are another important source of information which help to specify the character of its activities (recent literature mentions RIBA scarcely, a complex evaluation is still missing). Oral history reported by former employees of RIBA, who had contributed to the first-rate quality of its research activities.

In the 1960s Czechoslovak Airlines (ČSA) set up offices in the countries to which they operated regular flights. ČSA branches abroad were to match high standards of other airlines premises. In those years travelling by air was still regarded a luxury. ČSA had to take these facts into consideration. The same group of architects, designers and artists who participated in the design of ČSA branch offices took also part in the outline of the new Prague Ruzyně international airport checking-in hall. This thesis aims to depict some former, now vanished, ČSA premises. In the 1990s ČSA closed down some offices abroad and the Prague Ruzyně international airport checking- in hall (now Terminal 1) was completely reconstructed. Press and other articles, archive documents, monographies as well as information provided directly by architects, designers and artists or their relatives were used in order to describe some previous ČSA publicly accessible premises and works of art that they included. On the basis of ascertained facts, it is obvious that in the 1960s ČSA offices abroad were not only to promote the good company reputation but further fulfilled a political role to create a positive picture of the Czechoslovak Republic. ČSA offices were designed by groups around Karel Filsak and Jan Šrámek. Their signatures can...

Bibliographic record: Michal MACHÁČEK: Gustáv Husák. A Political Biography with Special Emphasis on Czech-Slovak Relations in 20th Century, PhD. thesis, The Faculty of Arts at Charles University 2017, 476pp. [784 standard pages]. Abstract The dissertation thesis discusses public activities, thoughts and the political life of JUDr. Gustáv Husák, CSc. (1913-1991), who was involved in the Czech-Slovak public space for sixty years with a significant footprint even today. The text is based on a thorough research and is chronologically structured, intertwined with thematic areas, however an analytical approach prevails. The first chapter focuses on Husák's youth, the factors that led him to the communist movement, and his early activism. This is followed by a portrayal of the Husák's activities during the Second World War, his role in the resistance, participation in a propaganda trip to the Nazi conquered Ukraine, and his vision of Slovakia as a republic of the Soviet Union. His later involvement in the Slovak National Uprising provided the legitimacy of his later political career in the post-war era, when he successfully led the struggle for the communist monopoly of political power in Czechoslovakia and attempts to present the Communist Party of Slovakia as a national party. Next two chapters show the origins...