Modern states and genocides: the fate of Turkish Armenians and European Jews This thesis primarily explores the relationship between modernity, modern thinking and modern state on one hand and the Holocaust, Armenian genocide or other genocides, on the other. The purpose of my thesis is to answer the question whether a modern state can be considered a perpetrator of both these tragedies. Furthermore, in my thesis I investigate the causes of these genocides and mainly the influence of nationalism, bureaucracy and racism. The first part of the thesis is devoted to genocide and implementation this concept in international criminal law. I deal with the emergence of this concept and its subsequent development as an independent crime under international law. In the second part I deal with the classification of genocides. First, I deal with the typology of genocides by individual authors. I also examine the differences between traditional massacres and modern genocide, name the pivotal features of modern genocide and try to answer the question of whether it makes sense to use the term "traditional genocide" at all. In the next chapter I focus on the Armenian genocide. This part begins with a short introduction of the Armenians, a quick overview of their history and a description of the Armenian situation in the...

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"Disenchanted" Democracy at the Crossroads of Late Modernity (Two German Concepts) Abstract The Thesis introduces two descriptions of democracy which represent recent contribution of German social science to the international academic discourse on the crisis of democratic governance in changing conditions of contemporary modernity. Specifically, these are the concepts of "simulative democracy" by Ingolfur Blühdorn and "decentered democracy" by Helmut Willke. Within the German academia, both social theorists are respected personalities; meanwhile in the Czech environment, their conceptualizations reaching beyond the normative borders of liberal democracy have not yet been reflected. The question whether liberal democracy is an adequate form of political self-organization of a society at its current stage of development is approached by each of the authors from a different analytical perspective: Blühdorn critically analyzes traditional intentions of the post-enlightenment democratization and its ambition towards the formation of emancipated and responsible citizen. He considers the evaluation of modern emancipatory processes as a necessary step before assessing prospects for an authentic and environmentally sustainable democratic order. The starting point for Willke's reflections on democratic forms of...

This thesis Ostalgie in Czech art summarizes recent history of art aimed to fifties and sixties of the twentieth century and also the fundamental notion of Czech cultural time - socialist realism. In opposition to the term 'socialist realism', there is a term 'ostalgie', which is focused on a nostalgic memories during normalization. In the theoretical part of this thesis author presents and explains the two main terms and focuses on the cultural aspects which were brought or denied to the nation by to the socialistic system in those times. In the practical part the author follows the theoretical part, especially in creating posters, which is influenced by nostalgic spirit.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to explore the influence that smartphones have on personal (romantic) relationships. The thesis examines the influence of smartphones on private lives of partners. The first part of the thesis focuses on literature review presenting key studies that pursued similar topics as the research project. The research as such is described in the following chapters. The methodological basis of the project are in-depth interviews accompanied by questionnaire. The main part of the thesis is description of the research questions, the research sample, the process of analysis, and the interpretation of results of in-depth interviews and questionnaire. The achieved results were interpreted in the context of selected theoretical concepts. Mainly the concepts of Liquid modernity / Liquid love by Zygmunt Bauman and iDisorder by Larry Rosen were used. The aim of the thesis was to find out what kind of influence smartphones have on meeting a potential partner, on a consequent relationship, and also on a possible separation.

Merciless Parallel Lines: Railways in European Literature 1830-1914 (Mgr. Michal Špína) Abstract The doctoral thesis addresses the so far underexplored subject of early literary depictions of railway, investigating the cultural impact of the new, mechanized means of transport, as reflected in fiction. The introduction explains the reasons to focus geographically on Europe (as opposed to the different social context of American and colonial railways), to limit the time span to the 1830-1914 period (after which railway gradually loses its leading role in transport) and the topic to the "look from the outside" (i.e. not the act of travelling itself or the interiors of railway stations and trains). Following up to Wolfgang Schivelbusch and Wojciech Tomasik, railway is seen as the paramount agent of industrialization and modernization. Further, spatial relations and the phenomenon of infrastructure are accentuated. The following four chapters each study two interconnected issues: the construction of railway lines and their linearity; the images of the ruining of the idyll in connection to railway noises; the signal box topos in connection to fatefulness; and the fully developed railway system, acquiring the function of a peculiar environment in the short story collection Mugby Junction by Charles Dickens and...

The aim of this thesis is to explore the theme of alienation in selected fiction by Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor, taking into consideration the geographic as well as ideological positions from which the two authors write, contextualizing their work in its portrayal as well as critique of the South. Firstly, the insular nature of the South is examined vis-à-vis ethnic and racial othering. The exclusionary social politics of Southern communities are satirized and subverted, as the two authors pit the xenophobic and racist tendencies of their provincial characters against a cultural landscape that fails to accommodate their narrow- minded world view. The gap between the Southern ideology and its contemporaneous reality can be partially accounted for due to the rise of consumer culture, which is discussed in its impact on race relations and social mobility as well as religion. The following chapter, entitled "Commodity Culture and the Americanization of the South," explores the conflation of religious and consumerist ideologies, negotiating the proclaimed adherence to Protestantism in the South with the rise of consumer behaviour as supplanting spirituality. The impact of a ritualistic adherence to capitalist structures is analyzed as promoting a culture of hyper-individualism, narcissism and alienation,...

Cílem této práce je prozkoumat Baudelairův vztah k jeho době. Prozkoumat, jaké soudobé fenomény nejvíce ovlivnily jeho dílo, a jak. Abychom tohoto cíle dosáhli, budeme postupně zkoumat čtyři obasti - politickou situaci, tvářnost města, novinový provoz a umění ve Francii devatenáctého století. Budeme se snažit v těchto oblastech umístit Baudelairovu osobu a zrekonstruovat vliv, který na Baudelaira a jeho dílo tyto oblasti měly. Sledovat budeme zejména dvě baudelairovské studie - esej Paříž druhého císařství u Baudelaira Waltera Benjmaina a knihu Baudelaire. L' irreductible Antoina Compagnona. Oba interpreti zdůrazňují, že pro náležité uchopení Baudelairova díla je nezbytné právě projasnění Baudelairova postoje k výše uvedeným oblastem. Problematickým, ale ústředním pojmem této práce je pojem modernité. Jelikož je tento pojem vztažen jak k Baudelairově době, tak k jeho postoji k této době, není možné jej jednoduše definovat a není to ani cílem této práce. Cílem je spíše v rozmanitých fenoménech devatenáctého století, stejně jako v Baudelairově postojích a dílu, rozpoznat to, co je s pojmem modernité slučitelné, alespoň v určitém z jejích významů. Uvidíme, že jak básníkova doba tak jeho dílo v sobě nese mnoho rozporů, nebudeme se však snažit tyto rozpory překlenout, ale naopak se je pokusíme...

This diploma thesis deals with the concept of modernization. Through the analyzing the works of T. Parsons, S. N. Eisenstadt and A. Martinelli, the thesis is focusing on the change of perception regarding the concept of modernity and modernization in the sense of "westernization". The special emphasis is put on the realm of political modernization and the way, how has been during the time different theories of political modernization reevaluated.

of doctoral thesis This thesis deals with the problem of community conceived as an important ideal in modern societies. Its departing point in understanding modernity is the concept of social imaginaries as developed by Charles Taylor. The interpretation of this concept shows, that community is always only an alternative model of social relations. Despite this situation, it is an always recurrent ideal. The question is, why it is so and in which forms it manifests itself. The first question is answered with the help of the theory of recognition of Axel Honneth, which analyzes moral development of the subject in connection with communal relations. Identity is always anchored in the experience of recognition, and this experience needs to be confirmed in human relationships. Community, then, is the place of such confirmation. The thesis then proceeds to the reconstruction of various shapes of the ideal of community. In the reconstruction of these two most important forms of community, the thesis relies on the work of communitarian theorists and of Benedict Anderson. The first one shows small, mainly local communities growing out of free will of their members. Such communities are formed for various purposes. The second important form are imagined communities, especially nations. The thesis is...