Doktorská práce si klade za širší úkol prozkoumat jednu z rovin kulturního střetu mezi tradiční africkou kulturou a západní kulturou a jejími globalizač­ními vlivy, které se v subsaharské Africe začaly projevovat s nástupem koloni­alismu, a jejichž intenzita dále akcelerovala v postkoloniálním období. Pozornost je věnována kulturnímu subsystému, který představuje regulační funkce společnosti, konkrétně politice, která je však úzce, a místy neodděli­telně, spojena s ekonomikou. Toto velmi široké téma je dále zúženo tím, že předmětem zájmu, a současně hlavním cílem je zkoumání možností demo­kratického řešení konfliktů plynoucích ze současných sociopolitických roz­porů v subsaharské Africe, tedy především, zda jsou myšlenky demokracie v Africe uskutečnitelné, a pokud ano, tak za jakých podmínek.

Diploma thesis "Comparision of roles of Juan Carlos and Simeon II. in democratic transition and question of monarchy and monarchism in Spain and Bulgaria" deals with democratic transition and question of monarchy in two concrete countries that I chose: in Spain and in Bulgaria.I confront king of Spain Juan Carlos and former tsar Simeon II. in the process of democratic transition and way they solve problems with acceptance or exclusion of monarchy. Both countries are similar in one issue: duration of monarchy was interrupted for a very long time by undemocratic regime. In the text is described, how a big role can enact one key person within political system, how its positive and concrete outcomes or committed errors could bring acceptance or exclusion of monarchy. The text is divided into historical part and present.

The thesis presents an analysis of the discourse of Transylvanian regional identity in Romanian newspaper from 1989 to 2014, opposing the hegemonic political and societal discourse promoting nationalism. In doing so, it emphasized inter-ethnic tolerance as a key principle that distinguished regional discourse from its centralist counterpart. The fact that the most important historical peoples of Transylvania were understood by the regional discourse as carriers of regional identity in the spheres of daily and political life not only confirmed the trans-ethnic inclusiveness of this construct, but also became its diversification factor. In addition to tolerance and acceptance of multiethnicity, regional discourse in the examined media relied predominantly on ideas of the region's essential democratic character, its cultural, social or economic specificities, as well as considerations of possible autonomy. These narratives, whether abstract or more pragmatic, represented the content of a discoursively constructed regional identity, conveyed its sharing by different ethnic groups, and defined Transylvania in the context of an era within Romania as a whole. The internal thematic composition of Transylvanian regional identity discourse was not entirely constant during the period under review, its shape...

KOCIÁN, Jiří. Transylvanian regional identity and its political reflection after 1989. The thesis deals with the question of reviving Transylvanian regional identity and its political use in Romania after 1989. It demonstrates that regional identity has gradually grown in political importance, and represents the content, actors and typology of models of its reflection. The Romanian Communist regime under Nicolae Ceaușescu followed longer-term centralizing tendencies that did not favor maintaining regional specificities. But regional identity, like other collective identities, is the result of a continuous process of daily interactions between its bearers and external actors, all of whom are involved in its construction. Because of that, it survived a period of suppression in its vernacular form. Contributing to its survival was the fact that the multi-ethnic region of Transylvania and its specificities, which represent the core of regional identity, have a thousand-year history. The thesis points, by applying a discourse analysis of the content of newspaper articles, to the fact that regional identity took the form of political discourse after 1989. This discourse rivaled the previous discursive hegemony of the country's centralist concept of state and nation in Romanian public sphere. At the same...

Diploma thesis Single-Party Regimes in Comparison: China, Malaysia and Singapore is devoted to non-democratic regimes in which one party dominates and which legitimize by the concept of Asian values. The first part deals with the most important typologies and to approaches to explore single-party regimes. The second part introduced changes and the very concept of Asian values according to which democracy is unsuitable for Asian countries because of cultural differences. Other parts are devoted to describe the regimes in China, Malaysia and Singapore, which are classified into different typologies. The aim of the work is to show that Asian values don't explain the genesis of these regimes or their forms of non- democratic governance.

The apartheid regime represented the official state ideology in South Africa in the time period from 1948 to 1994. The diploma thesis deals with the issue of South Africa's transition to democracy, in particular, it focuses on the role which was played by the United Nations in this process. Its activities can be sorted out into three main phases. The first phase dated between the years 1948 -- 1966 can be distinguished mainly by the key role played by the General Assembly. The second phase which took place in the period 1967 -- 1989 was primarily focused on the international campaign against apartheid and on the adoption of economic sanctions. The final and the most recent phase occurred in the early 90s (1990 -- 1994) and could be characterized by the role of the UN as a mediator of peace negotiations.

The diploma thesis investigates somewhat overlooked development of the West European societies and attitudes of citizens and political parties towards direct democracy. In the Western Europe (and not only there), we observe substantial questioning of the delegation of power principle, thereupon large part of citizenry is asking for more decision-making powers, most often direct democracy instruments. The support for direct democracy could be coming from the educated and politically active (cognitive mobilization hypothesis) as well as the alienated and politically disaffected (political disaffection hypothesis) citizens. The diploma thesis presupposes that this popular demand is reflected mostly by the novel parties which try to weaken the standings of the traditional parties - i. e. the novel parties support and offer the implementation of the direct democracy mechanisms more than the traditional ones. The breakthrough of the direct democracy techniques would empower the voters - the judges in the Schumpeterian/Popperian conception of democracy - in the face of the political subjects, while this empowerement would carry along far- reaching consequences for the central research areas of the political science, namely the study of the organizational development of political parties. In this thesis,...

The problematic of Romanian transition to democracy after the year 1989 was by its major part determined by the form of previous regime. Because of the extreme pressure and control exercised on the opposition and personal dictatorship of the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, no major dissent groups or centers existed, bearing the potential to take part in the overthrow of the regime. In the swift and still unclear events of December 1989, National Salvation Front rose to hold the power, being directed by Ion Iliescu. As a formerly top positioned communist apparatchik, who had been swept out from status and power after several conflicts with Ceausescu, he transferred almost complete communist structure to the newly formed regime, including Securitate, the secret service. Deconstruction of the former regime was actually performed by the execution of the former president and his wife and by trials of several Securitate generals. Iliescu concentrated most of the power around NSF and in contradiction with the original proclamation postponed transition to democracy. The new regime, which was led by Ion Iliescu demonstrated in its ideological presentation and exercise of power apparent similarities with the era of communist rule, nevertheless, it worked under formal democratic framework. Because of this fact,...

The master thesis "Latvia's transition to democracy and the challenges of democratic consolidation in Latvia" deals with the analysis of Latvian transition to democracy and the processes of democratic consolidation after regaining the independence in Latvia. The thesis focuses on the development of transformation processes in the late nineteen eighties and at the beginning of the nineteen nineties in this Baltic republic as well as it analyses the most significant problematic aspects of the development of Latvian democracy after regaining the independence till now.

The master thesis "The Fall of Ferdinand Marcos and the Transition to Democracy in the Philippines" deals with the analysis of politico-historical development of the Philippines and the aim is describe the fall of nondemocratic regime and the subseguent transition do democracy. The attention is paid to the role and tactics of opposition groups among which leadership stakes took place during democratic consolidation. To be place into the context the master thesis deals as well with historical development of political system and its practise.