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Although a lot of people are not familiar with the term non-political politics, it has its indisputable place in the Czech history. It has evolved from thoughts of Karel Havlíček Borovský as a solution to the nation which was facing lack of its independence and was based upon awareness of national culture and self-governance. This conception was later adopted by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who implemented the idea into its own political programme aimed at free and educated society. His non-political approach reflected intellectual and steady attitude with a manifest perspective which made him a leading person in establishing an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks. In 1970s, Václav Havel restored non-political idea and designed it for the purpose of the confrontation with the communist regime. Owing to his authority, non-political politics became again one of the main mechanisms leading to political pluralism. The topic of non-political politics, which is often perceived as the legacy of Václav Havel, is still present in the days of growing scepticism towards a democratic system with political parties. This thesis aims at description of non-political approach of K.H.B., T.G.M. and Václav Havel. It also attempts to ascertain if there is some similarity and continuity among the attitudes using the...

This thesis looks into the ways in which religion influenced the civil war in Lebanon. The basis for the analysis of religious influence is taken from several theoretical publications dealing with the general ways in which religion influences politics and international relations. Based on those theories, the thesis examines the influence of religion on the civil war in three parts. First, it examines the effect of religion on the identity of the participants in the war. Second, it shows to what extend religion was used as a source of legitimacy by those participants. Third, it ascertains whether religion encouraged the internationalization of the civil war. At the end, religion is compared with the other factors which explain the outbreak, the process and the nature of the civil war in Lebanon.

This diploma thesis analyzes the ideological basis of islamism and deals with the reasons, why this political ideology is becomimg more and more popular in the Middle East and the West. The thesis also analyzes the phenomenon of globalization, in other words the interconnection between islamists in today's world. The last chapter summarizes the facts about the civil war in Syria, where both - islamists from the Middle East, as well as islamists from the West, are involved. The main objective of this thesis was to prove that the civil war in Syria will have an influence on the spread of the political ideology of islamism.

This thesis is focused on the issue of citizenship and patriotism of Czech Republic Army members, ie soldiers. Since citizenship, patriotism and military service has been historically linked, I decided to focus on those links in today's world and especially in the Czech Republic context. The aim is to determine how Czech Republic Army soldiers understand their citizenship and patriotism, and how is their citizenship and patriotism manifested. Furthermore, I also try to determine, which motivations soldiers consider the most important for their performance of military service. To achieve the goals, I present the relevant literature and introduce my own mixed sociological research that was realised on one selected military unit. Whereas that topic is considerably neglected in the Czech context, this thesis represent a contribution to the debate on the current form of the army and also point out the connection between civil society and army. One of the most important conclusions of this work is the finding, that soldiers feel the necessity of greater cooperation between the military and citizens, which could take place through civil society organizations and could thus open the way for greater interconnection of military world and civil society, and strengthen the links between them. Key Words:...

The thesis deals with the impact of European Voluntary Service (EVS) programme on civic competences of its participants and their active participation within civil society, both Czech and European. The text is structured into three chapters. The first chapter deals with a definition of the concept of civil society and its historical development, historical development and present situation of Czech civil society and definition of European civil society. The second chapter first explains the phenomenon of volunteering in general and then continues with explaining of functioning and principles of EVS. The third chapter is a result of qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with six former participants of EVS. At first, the personal story of each participant is written. According to the stories, the cumulative analysis and conclusions of the thesis are formulated.

Eliška Bucvanová. Diplomová práce. Citizenship - Theoretical Bases and Teaching Practice ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH Weak civil society can be seen as a possible drawback of Czech democracy. One of the possible ways of building it is citizenship education provided within the compulsory school system. Citizenship is also the main subject of this work, which uses qualitative research methods to find out how the concept of "citizenship" is understood by teachers at a selected primary school, what information they provide to pupils on this subject and how. Since the scope of the paper would be insufficient, it does not intend to map the state of citizenship education in the Czech Republic: its aim is to find out how teachers approach the subject and whether their opinions coincide, and to compare their views with the information contained in literature. The results of the work show that the selected school is at a comparatively high level; however, the teachers' attitudes to citizenship education and its aims lack consistency and comprehensiveness and, also, the pupils' knowledge highly varies. This can be due to the fact that citizenship education has long been in need of an integrated approach and, very probably, also training opportunities for teachers that would help them develop their professional skills. In...

This master thesis deals with the availability of civic infrastructure in Prague agglomeration areas which were affected by residential suburbanization. Suburbanization process but also the demography of the population affected dynamically growing population which caused many municipalities lack the capacity of civic amenities. The aim of this master thesis is to describe and assess the impact of suburbanization on the scope and availability of civic amenities in the villages located near the capital city of Prague. This paper summarizes the situation in the suburbanized areas of the Czech Republic. However, important parts of the paper are also the theories that address the issue of suburbanization and their influence in other countries. Moreover, case studies that were conducted in two selected villages of the district of Prague-West, in Libčice nad Vltavou and in Horoměřice are included. The analysis show that the inadequate infrastructural facilities are being experienced in large part suburbanized municipalities. Data from available statistical databases and from personal interviews that were conducted with representatives from selected communities were used to compose this paper.

The aim of the thesis is to study personal identity development of the participants who move from active civic engagement within the civil society to active political participation within the political sphere at the reginal level. The thesis focuses on personal identity and the method of its construction through life stories. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with terms such as civic engagement, political participation and concepts based on narative identity. The second part contains a research methodology. Specifically is presented which presents the narrative approach with the use of narrative interview as a research method. The third part is based on deals with the research itself. The research works with a specific case based on political and socio-historical context of the city of Usti nad Labem. The data is obtained in the form of narrative interviews with local policiticians. The results of the research have shown that there are three different ways in which the actors are self- presenting their identity in relation to the environment. It was the identity of the politician, the identity of the activist / active citizen and the identity of the politician joined with the identity of the activist. Personal identity has completely changed in the case of one person, one person has changed...

Public power in democratic society emanates from the citizens and is, in its turn, responsible to them. The citizens are entitled to observe, scrutinize and influence it. The public consists of private individuals actively engaged in public affairs and coordinating this activity with others. The present essay is concerned with Jürgen Habermasʼ concepts of the public in his The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, The Theory of Communicative Action, and Between Facts and Norms. At first, these works are interpreted and critically evaluated here. Then, the issue of the public is developed with special emphasis on the concept as it is elaborated in Between Facts and Norms. This essay tries to characterize the civil public and pursues the question how it is positioned in the larger frame of the civil society. The public is studied from the point of view of its influence in society. Habermas ascribes a substantial role to the public, for, according to his idea of the deliberative democracy, the public takes a part in the democratic processes of lawmaking and that by means of a dialogue with the public power. In this perspective, the public is conceived of as communicative power. This dissertation concentrates on the origins and forming of the communicative power and the ensuing process of its...