Diploma thesis "Interest Groups, lobbying and it's regulation in the Czech Republic" deals with the phenomenon of lobbying and it's role in democratic political processes. First part of this thesis is aimed at political theories of interest groups, various definitions of lobbying and methods of regulating lobbyists. The second part containes a comparison of lobbying regulations in various western states. The third part containes an analysis of the present state of lobbying regulation in the Czech Republic. In the final fourth part, certain methods of lobbying regulation are proposed to take place in the Czech Republic and scrutinized for compliance with the oppinion of Czech political elites and professional lobbyists.

The master's thesis focuses on the influence of interest groups during the creation of the 2012 Proposal for a Directive on collective rights management. In particular, the thesis deals with the pre-legislative phase of the legislative process, which began in April 2004. The theoretical framework includes conceptualization of interest groups, lobbying and influence. The mechanisms of influence are analysed using two theories - rational choice theory and rational choice institutionalism. The thesis utilizes process tracing - theory testing as a main methodological approach. Empirical evidence is investigated by analysing primary sources. The main subjects of the analysis are the most relevant documents from the European Commission concerning the pre-legislative phase. Four semi-structured interviews with selected relevant actors were also conducted. The thesis concludes by confirming/ disproving of the main hypothesis: Specific interest groups succeeded in influencing the text of the proposal for a directive on the collective management of copyright.

The regulation of lobbying is a current topic both at the level of international organizations as well as in many European and overseas countries. This work deals with the comparison of the rules on lobbying in selected English-speaking countries. Descriptive, doctrinal and comparative methods are used to analyze the main trends in the lobbying regulation of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as Australia. The text is structured into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the definition of lobbying and its differences from corrupt dealings; it also covers the types of lobbying activities and the various kinds of lobbyists. The second chapter attempts to contextualize lobbying into the theories of the decision-making process. A comparison of the similarities and differences of the lobbying rules is made and analyzed in the third and fourth chapters. Both the third and the fourth chapter have a similar structure -- first, the general rules and approaches to regulation are introduced, and then a comparison of selected English-speaking countries is made. The third chapter deals with the most common rules for lobbyists; the fourth chapter focuses on the relatively neglected side of lobbying contacts, i.e. the rules for the targets of lobbying (public office holders). In the end, some measures and recommendations for the Czech Republic are also outlined.

This diploma thesis analyses the current state of corruption in the Czech Republic. Primarily I focus on public administration and public sector, however I seek a comprehensive view on the issue in my thesis. The first part presents the theoretical approaches to corruption, bureaucracy and public administration, lobbying, interest groups etc. The practical part deals with methods of measuring corruption, the position of the Czech Republic against other states, legal specification of corruption and the impact of corruption in the states economy. Furthermore, I present causes of origin and spread of corruption and analyse current and planned instruments of government anticorruption fight in combination with the activities of organizations dealing with corruption. The aim of my thesis is to determine whether the current anti-corruption steps are properly set and whether those steps are actually implemented.

The paper examines attempts to professionalize and institutionalize lobbying in Poland and the Czech Republic from the beginning of the 1990s to 2016, from the point of view of the sociology of professions, the sociology of public policy-making and interpretative policy analysis. First, on the basis of an analysis of the professional paths of 80 Polish and Czech commercial lobbyists, it presents their common typology for both countries and shows how efforts to gain recognition and enhance their professional status, i.e. efforts to professionalize lobbying, are linked to their pursuit of political legitimacy. Then it shows lobbying as a specific way of constructing the political activity of private actors as a policy problem. It illustrates the conditions under which lobbying in both countries was constructed as a problem and set on the agenda. In doing so, the dissertation pays particular attention to the role of transnational actors in this process. Finally, lobbying regulation processes are analysed as arenas where the symbolic boundary between the public and private spheres is negotiated and redefined.

The topic and general objective of this work is to show how civic engagement functions in public policy, specifically in the social area. Then based on a descriptive case study, a specific objective is the analysis of a non-governmental organization Platform for Social Housing and the specifics of its advocatory function. These phenomena are observed in the context of the Czech Republic. The theoretical part of the work is divided into four chapters covering basic concepts and definitions of concepts. The first chapter specifies the theoretical framework of public policy on the state level, the second chapter does the same for civic society. The third chapter builds on previous chapters and focuses on the relationship between the state and non-governmental organizations, as well as the role of civic engagement in the public policies. The fourth, a more practically-oriented chapter, contains the theoretical framework of lobbying.

This diploma thesis called "Public Administration Reform and its influence on an agenda of the government care of historical monuments" studies possible reasons of reduced quality of arbitrating in the agenda of the government care of historical monuments after delimitation of this agenda to municipal offices by a municipality with expanded competency. To premise, I consider the public administration reform in my thesis only as an instrument to refer to its possible effects on the agenda of the government care of historical monuments. The diploma thesis points at frequent influence exertion of very powerful local elements by political representatives in ORP leadership who are supported by various lobby interest groups. Just the influence of the mentioned lobby pressure groups is possibly more powerful factor for arbitrating on the level of lower territorially municipality than the influence of the government (legal rules). This study also explores questions of a model functionality of an agenda of the present government care of historical monuments under various outer and inner impacts of the public policy (especially specific interests of its participants in a system of penetrating areas). The work also suggests a variety of potential solutions, which tries to present possible setting of the...