This thesis analyzes the development of Czechoslovak-Cuban relations in the eighties of the 20th century. In the first part the author is shortly showing development of mutual relations after the Cuban revolution in 1959 and the role of Czechoslovakia in the process of consolidation of the regime of Fidel Castro. Later the author is concentrating on the core of the paper, which is divided into four chapters. These chapters are analyzing in detail particular areas of mutual relations - political, economic, scientific and technical cooperation and cultural. In the political area author is investigating the changes in international relations in connection with advent of Ronald W. Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev and its influences on the relations between Czechoslovakia and Cuba. In the eighties the core of relations had been shifted into the economic sphere and trade, loans and investment units which were often discussed and also were sources of disputes. Scientific and technical cooperation and culture were traditional forms of mutual relations and also during the eighties the cooperation was intense. In the end the author states that the relations in the reporting period are best described by the word "stability" because in the comparison with the years after the Cuban revolution lost it is own dynamic.

Der Augsburger Soziologe Hans-Jürgen Frieß analysiert sowohl aus politologischer als auch soziologischer Sicht das politische Regime Kubas. Im Fokus steht die Frage der politischen Stabilität. Der Autor diskutiert die politischen, historischen und wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen der Macht Fidel Castros. Der zeitliche Schwerpunkt der Analyse liegt in den Jahren von 1990 bis 2006, wobei auch vorherige Entwicklungen beleuchtet werden. Das Buch basiert auf einer Dissertation, die 2008 an der Universität Augsburg erfolgreich verteidigt wurde.

The aim of the study is to investigate individual policy entrepreneurs who work to act upon their foreign policy proposals within the US political system.The study is focusing on how the following policy contractors which have acted against Cuba, and how they have succeeded in changing the US foreign policy position towards the country. The aim of the study is to analyse how policy contractors in Congress work and their impact on foreign policy decisions concerning Cuba.The underlying methodology of the study is a case study design with a limited focus on Foreign Policy Analysis, where the underlying material includes several different sources that mixes Congress own documents with news articles. Theories applied to the study are Actor-Specific Theory and Policy Entrepreneurship to explain the actors' roles, methods and motives.The results of the study show that the congressional actors work in a highly unorthodox manner. The actors seek support and financial resources from independent interest groups that have similar agendas concerning Cuba. The actors also form internal interest groups in Congress in order to increase support for each other's policy proposals. There is also a great deal of importance in a policy entrepreneurship that can make an adequate problem formulation to fill the experienced political vacuum. Policy entrepreneurs have a pronounced media profile and do not choose everything to rarely search for the American people by turning to media.

The United States imposed the longest lasting sanction regime on Cuba in 1960 as a result of strained relations in recent years. Each US administration modified form of the sanctions regime, depending on the attitude toward the Cuban issue. General Assembly, the highest authority of the UN, adopts not legally binding but politically significant resolutions. Resolution condemning US sanctions regime has been adopted annually since 1992. Discussion on changes of the sanction regime in the General Assembly is a sign of reflection on current events and unrigid process of resolutions adoption. The main purpose is to determine whether the changes of the sanction regime were mentioned in the discussions on the adoption of the resolutions. The result of the analysis shows the reflection of the events in the speeches of ambassadors. The amount of mentioned events in speeches depends whether they were positive or negative step toward easing the embargo, and also how important the event was.

The central topic of the thesis is the Cuban pro-democracy opposition movement and its activities towards an official regime of Raul Castro. This is to try and achieve improvements in civil and political rights in Cuba. The opposition tools and strategies are analysed in the context of specific conditions of the current repressive Cuban regime. Special attention is dedicated to framing processes towards the local audience, communication strategies oriented to an international society, and an ability to involve external players to participate in effective pressure from outside; the so called boomerang effect. The movement's progress is displayed on a base of particular achievements as well as challenges faced in a long term pursuit to a democratic transition of the country.

Diploma thesis "Perspectives of the Cuban Transition to Democracy" tries to analyze the current situation in Cuba and answer a question if the transition to democracy is possible and if so, in which period of time. It also tries to confirm or disprove two hypotheses set ahead: 'the transition to democracy is possible but only in a long period of time' and 'there will not be any changes during Fidel Castro's life'. This paper also tries to depict some theoretical models of the transition to democracy, brief history of Cuba which is indispensable for understanding of the current situation in Cuba and the perspectives of the future transition as well. The thesis also comprehensively deals with characterization of the current Cuban regime and its main representatives, analysis of the civil society and the inner opposition in Cuba and also with the international situation and its main actors which are able to to influence the current situation in Cuba and its future transition as well. There are also depicted some scenarios and factors of the future transition and briefly described some essential subsequent reforms though the application of some theoretical approaches on the analysis of the particular situation in Cuba.

This thesis deals with the development of tourism on the island of Cuba from the beginning of the 20th century till the present time based on the travel books written by travellers who come mainly from the United States of America. Next, it analyzes tourism during the 20th century. It monitors Cuban tourism from the historic point of view, where it records the period of communist government, racism and similar problems till the present time. It mentions another, however not so representative part of tourism, sex tourism. It is trying to stress the positive aspects of places that represent the tourism in Cuba.

In diesem Beitrag wird über osteologische Untersuchungen an rezenten Knochenfunden aus der kubanischen Strandsiedlung Caletones berichtet. Außer den Haustierarten Rind, Schaf/Ziege, Schwein und Huhn wurden Knochen von mindestens zwei Meeresschildkrötenarten und von zwei bislang unbestimmten Fischarten gefunden. Marine Tiere spielen in der Ernährung der Küstenbewohner eine wichtige Rolle. Spuren krankhafter Veränderungen wurden ausschließlich an den Schweineschädeln festgestellt und betreffen hauptsächlich Kiefer und Zähne. / This paper describes the recent bone finds from the Cuban coastal village Caletones. Bones of domestic animals (cattle, sheep/goat, pig, chicken) as well as sea turtles were present. Furthermore, bones of two, not yet determined, fish species were found. Marine animals provide an important part of animal protein for the coastal population in Cuba. Pathological changes were only found in the skulls of pigs and are mainly related to the teeth and jaws.

The aim of this thesis is to present the development and current state of information policy and public libraries in Cuba. The first part of thesis outlines historical and political development in Cuba since the beginning of the revolution in 1959 to the present and introduces the development of selected areas of information policy on the island. The second part analyzes the expansion of information and communication technologies, including Internet and its censorship. The last part of thesis summarizes historical development and current state of public libraries and partially librarianship.

Energy systems have significant importance for social development, not least in developing countries. A well-developed energy system can contribute to economic, ecological as well as social sustainability. At the same time, the ambitions to globally reduce dependence on fossil-based fuels and the climate impacting emissions that accompany them increase. To achieve this, energy efficiency improvements and an increased share of renewable energy sources are required. Today, there are both great challenges and opportunities in developing energy systems in developing countries and at the same time reducing the global climate impact. Thanks to the sugar industry in Cuba, there are great opportunities for the country to develop its electricity production from biofuels in the form of bagasse, a residual product which is provided during the process of the production of sugar. This report examines the possibility of developing the energy system in the sugar factory Carlos Baliño, located in Villa Clara in Cuba. The purpose is to enable the factory to minimize its use of bagasse and to maximize electricity production. This is to provide the opportunity for the factory to become more economical and ecologically sustainable. The current energy system in the sugar industry was examined and a model of the energy flows was created in excel. Based on the current energy system, four different scenarios were then examined with potential improvements. These four scenarios were as follows; (1) Preheating, (2) Bagasse drying, (3) Increase inlet boiler pressure and (4) New generator. For the various scenarios, the energy flow schemes were defined and technical components were selected. An economic and ecological analysis based on the best possible parameters of the scenarios was then performed. The result showed that the marginal electricity demand for the current system was 19 kWh per tonne of sugar cane and that the fixed electricity demand was 890 kW. The model defined the value of the bagasse as 8.2 USD per tonne, based on the current system. The current cut of costs by replacing oil were defined as 31 MUSD and the total amount of saved carbon dioxide was 96,000 tonnes, both for a period of 6 years. Out of the four scenarios that were investigated and compared with current systems, drying of bagasse was the option that could best be justified. This scenario resulted in a bagasse value of 5.0 USD per tonne, a cut of costs of 51 MUSD by replacing oil over a 6-year period and 150,000 tonnes of reduced carbon dioxide emissions over the same period. Preheating resulted in an increase in bagasse consumption, but also a higher electricity production. The result also showed that increasing the pressure in the boiler is not relevant, as the current pressure is almost the maximum for the current system. Due to a simplified model, Scenario 4, which included the investment of a new generator, could not be tested. / Energisystem är av stor betydelse för samhällsutveckling, inte minst i utvecklingsländer. Ett väl utvecklat energisystem kan bidra till ekonomisk, ekologisk så väl som social hållbarhet. Samtidigt ökar ambitionerna om att globalt minska beroendet av fossilbaserade bränslen samt de klimatpåverkande utsläppen som följer med dessa. För att uppnå detta krävs energieffektiviseringar och en ökad andel förnyelsebara energikällor. Idag finns både stora utmaningar och möjligheter i att utveckla energisystem i utvecklingsländer och samtidigt minska klimatpåverkan globalt. Tack vare sockerindustrin på Kuba finns stora möjligheter för landet att utveckla dess elproduktion från biobränsle i form av bagass, en restprodukt som tillhandahålls i framställningen av socker. I denna rapport undersöks möjligheten att utveckla energisystemet i sockerbruket Carlos Baliño, beläget i Villa Clara på Kuba. Syftet är att möjliggöra för verksamheten att minimera dess användning av bagass samt maximera elproduktionen. Detta för att ge möjlighet för sockerbruket att bli mer ekonomiskt och ekologiskt hållbart. Det nuvarande energisystemet i sockerbruket undersöktes och en modell av energiflödena skapades i Excel. Utifrån det nuvarande energisystemet undersöktes därefter fyra olika scenarier med potentiella förbättringar. Dessa fyra scenarier var följande; (1) Förvärmning, (2) Bagasstorkning, (3) Höjning av tryck i pannan samt (4) Investering av ny generator. För de olika scenarierna framtogs dess energiflödesscheman samt tekniska komponenter. En ekonomisk samt ekologisk analys utifrån scenariernas bästa möjliga parametrar utfördes sedan. Resultatet visade att det marginella elbehovet för det nuvarande systemet är 19 kWh per ton sockerrör samt att det fasta elbehovet är 890 kW. Med modellen definierades värdet på bagassen som 8,2 USD per ton, utifrån det nuvarande systemet. Den nuvarande besparingen av kostnader genom att ersätta olja definierades till 31 MUSD och den totala mängden besparade koldioxidutsläpp som 96 ton, båda under en period på 6 år. Av de fyra scenarier som utreddes och jämfördes med nuvarande system var torkning av bagass det alternativ som bäst kunde motiveras. Detta scenario resulterade i ett värde på bagassen av 5,0 USD per ton, en minskning av kostnader om 51 MUSD genom att ersätta olja under en 6 års period samt 150 000 ton besparade koldioxidutsläpp under samma period. Förvärmning resulterade i en ökning av bagassförbrukning, men även en högre elproduktion. Resultatet visade även att en höjning av trycket i pannan ej är relevant, då det nuvarande trycket är näst intill maximalt för det nuvarande systemet. På grund av en förenklad modell kunde Scenario 4, vilken innefattade investering av en ny generator, ej testas.