This diploma thesis will study the mental attitude of Viktor Dyk (poet, prose writer, and politician) to fascism. The aim of this thesis is to understand the development of his thinking, identify the key historic moments that shaped him, and in doing so, reconstruct his political opinion. Those historic moments are most importantly the events of December 1987, the first world war, the fall of the Habsburg monarchy and the creation of the Czechoslovakian republic (1914-1918). The year 1922 (in which the first fascist groups in Czechoslovakia were created) was crucial for the shaping of his relationship to fascism. The goal of this work is to evaluate, whether Viktor Dyk leaned towards fascism or not. To allow us to study Dyk's relationship to fascism, the first part is dedicated to defining fascism. Afterwards we define the basic principles on which fascism stands. A short chapter is dedicated to Dyk's life, which is important to understand his worldview. The objective of the second part is to analyse Dyk's position on the fascist principles, which were defined in the first part. For this analysis, Dyk's poems, political speeches, journal articles and his prosaic works were used. In the framework of the three principles of fascism (leader, state, and nationalism) are also analysed the motives, which...

Diploma thesis "The Transition Towards Democracy and its Problematic Aspects in Geo-Politic Perspective " deals with the theory of democracy, the transition towards democracy and the political development in specific regions. The aim of this thesis is to summarize both general thoeretical concepts about the topic and current studies about illiberal democracies in the 21st century. My thesis starts with the analysis of the meaning of the term liberal democracy as well as the term modern nation state, whereas the emphasis is given on the conditions to be found beyond both. This is followed by the introduction to main transition concepts. Within the logic of my topic it is stressed especially the nature of removed political regime which could be crucial for the outcome of the transition. My diploma thesis deals also with an institutional engineering which is often overlooked but of high importance. The question of hybrid regimes is closely linked to previous topic because it can help us to undestand all problematic aspects of transition. Last chapter is dedicated to specific African regimes which are usually hidden in a shadow of interest of politican science. I will argue that the very analysis of their nature can prove the importance of functional political institutions as a base for succesfull...

Bibliographic note KLIMEŠOVÁ, Tereza. The Implications of the Intervention in Iraq for the United States' Policy of Democracy Promotion. Master thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies, Supervisor Ph.Dr. Jan Hornát, Ph.D. Abstract Democracy promotion has been an integral part of US foreign policy for more than a century. Particularly at the end of the 20th century, democracy flourished worldwide as autocratic regimes collapsed at large and scholars talked about the "End of History." Nevertheless, the current situation is very different, and substantial democratic backsliding is observable. Many scholars are tracing the origins of this decline to the Bush's Freedom Agenda, particularly the intervention in Iraq in 2003, arguing that it was the initial turning point for US democracy promotion. However, this thesis argues that the invasion and the subsequent war were pivotal only in part. The most visible implications were within the public perception of democracy promotion. Due to the US engagement in Iraq, domestic support deteriorated substantially. Moreover, the international community's perception of the US as a benign democracy exporter crumbled as well. Another change was observable within the rhetoric of President Obama after taking office in 2009. In...

Thesis PhDr. Radek Buben Deconsolidation of Venezuelan Democracy: Erosion of the Party System, Neo-Populism, and Repoliticization of the Armed Forces The thesis Deconsolidation of Venezuelan Democracy: Erosion of the Party System, Neo- Populism, and Repoliticization of the Armed Forces addresses the process of deconsolidation of democracy in Venezuela between 1973 and 1993. The analysis is based on both theoretical and comparative approach embedded notably in institutional comparative political science (analysis of systemic and institutional conditions of the analyzed process), historical sociology and political theory (phenomena of populism and neo-populism) and approaches of traditional historical analysis of political process in a particular period of time. The theoretical part of the text is focused on the issue of democracy in Latin America in general. More concretely, it concerns with typologies of political regimes, institutionalization of party systems, civil-military relations and the so-called resources curse theory. The great deal of the text covers analysis of populism, its definition and the existing research of the phenomenon. The starting point of the empirical part presents the establishment of the petrostate and bipartism in 1973. The analysis ends with the decomposition of the...

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of the current extreme right parties and the anti- immigration movements. The thesis is diveded into two parts. The first one desribes important theoretical terms dealing with the fundamental pillars of the extreme right and anti-Islamist policy, which accompanies the monothematic anti-immigration movements. The second one is devoted to specific subjects of extreme right and anti-immigration scene in Czech Republic. Namely the Narodni demokracie, Delnicka strana socialni spravedlnosti, Czech Defence League, Islam v CR nechceme with all its successors and Usvit narodni koalice. The comparison of individual case studies based on the theoretical knowledge helps to answer the question wether or not the anti-immigration movements with its programs and activities belongs to extreme right. Additional information is provided through an analysis of mutual withdrawals and a list of possible reasons for non-co-operation. Keywords Anti-immigration movement, extreme right, Martin Konvicka, Tomio Okamura, Národní demokracie, Islám v ČR nechceme, Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti, Úsvit národní koalice

This diploma thesis focuses on comparison of ANO 2011 and Fidesz based on their origin, development, organizational structure, program and ideology, and role of the party leader. Beside the introduction of various organizational party types and concept of "genetical code" by Angelo Panebianco, the parties are examined also by concept of populism defined on the basis of the book by Cas Mudde and C.R. Kaltwasser. Based on two case studies of ANO 2011 and Fidesz the goal of this paper was to find out similar and different features and explore their impact on democratic system. As long as these two parties have different organizational structure, one of the important features is dominant role of their founder not only in the foundation of the party but also in the following development towards centralized organization and personalization. The other common feature is populism which appears to be an important variable affecting the party's influence on the democratic system. However, the character of populism is different in these cases. Particular political system and electoral system also play important role in the potential decline of democracy.

Master's thesis deals with the status of Israeli Arabs within the political system of the State of Israel. For analysis of this topic two approaches were selected. First, attention is concentrated on the historical development of status of Israeli Arabs from the establishment of Israel to the present day. Subsequently, selected problematic areas in the relationship between Israeli Arabs and Israel are analyzed. These areas include: obtaining Israeli citizenship, ownership of land, compulsory military service in Israeli army, participation in political and judicial institutions, official languages, and national symbols. As it turns out, Israel disadvantages status of Israeli Arabs in many areas. However, the whole issue is not entirely unequivocal because in some cases, Israeli Arabs cause their disadvantaged status by their attitude.

Democracy assistance aims to encourage democratization process or solidify already existing democratic system in a foreign country. The strategy that should accomplish such goal differs according to donor country. Similarly, there are differences between Czech and American democracy assistance approaches. Diploma thesis Czech and American democracy assistance: the case study of Myanmar examines contrasts between Czech and American democracy promotion in Myanmar within the period of major political changes. The Asian country underwent transformation starting in 2011 when military junta passed several reforms, opened up a dialog with political opposition and arranged partly free parliamentary elections in 2015. The thesis focuses on Czech and American assistance and its evolution from the prerevolution period starting in 2007, through the peak of reform changes, up to NLD winning the majority of parliamentary seats and their governance in 2018. Czech democracy assistance appears to be characterized by their focus on civil society activization and bottom-up approach. On the contrary, the United States stress more than Czech assistance projects marked with political approach, thus securing free and fair election processes and other functioning democratic institutions. The case study of Myanmar and...

Representative democracy at the European level This thesis deals with representative democracy, as one of the fundamental principles underpinning the organisation of states or, as the case may be, interstate-type entities. At the European level, this principle is embodied by the European Parliament and the national parliaments of the Member States whose functions and competences complement each other. In the context of the role of the European Parliament the fundamental question concerns direct elections as an instrument of political legitimacy. This thesis offers a comparison of the findings of the Czech and the German Constitutional Courts, which took different views on the case of the electoral treshold in elections to the European Parliament. Arguments of these courts enable the reader to see European Union, position of the European Parliament in its institutional structure and its democratic legitimacy in wider context.

of the Diploma Paper ,, Transitions to Democracy " Transition of a particular country from an undemocratic political regime to mostly that of democratic is a head subject regarded by many experts and general public. It may seem that democratic regime is a matter of course nowadays; however, the truth is unlike. The democratic regime dominates scarcely in the half of all countries in the world. Regarding to the situation in northern Africa and other Arabic countries, it has recently been more and more proved that changes of political regimes, especially from the undemocratic to the democratic ones, are taken as a current subject matter not only today, but also in the following days, weeks, months and years. This is why I am focusing on the theme of Transitions to Democracy in my diploma thesis. The thesis is divided into four chapters. First chapter, named Democracy, deals with the conception of democracy. One cannot define the word "democracy" by just one feature, therefore, criteria of volition and division of democracy into the constitutional liberalism and illiberal democracy by Fareed Zakaria is fundamental in my work. Second chapter is focused on the undemocratic regimes. Definitions of these regimes are important mainly for understanding why they had been transferred or why they are to be...