This Master's thesis deals with the individual's motivations for participation in the Communist insurgency during the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949. More specifically, the thesis aims to analyse the motivations of those who joined the Communist guerrillas and at the same time originated from the population which came as Greek Christian refugees in 1920s to Macedonia, Northern Greece. The Master's thesis introduces several theoretical concepts which try to explain individual's motivations for mobilization in insurgency generally, including the "grievance versus greed" theory, the social networks and collective identity approach as well as coercion approach. The theories are then applied to the empirical case of Greek-speaking Pontic refugees from Anatolia and their participation in the Greek Civil War. The thesis introduces the background and experiences of the researched ethnic group throughout the interwar period up until the Greek Civil War. The analysis of the particular incentives which were behind the Greek refugee's participation is supported by the qualitative research in the form of interviews with 21 witnesses, who fall into the researched group of families who originate from the Pontos region in Anatolia and have family experience of mobilization in Communist Insurgency of 1946 to 1949. The thesis...

Euroscepticism has recently started to enjoy a renaissance, boasting many different works in different formats whether it be a comparative study of two European countries or, investigating Euroscepticism in different national contexts to account for possible variations of Euroscepticism. This work aims to show the contrary. Using country case studies of the Czech Republic and the UK, this paper shows that regardless of temporal differences and differences in national contexts, Euroscepticism is intrinsically linked to some lines of argument concerning economy and democracy.

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of motivation to volunteer in developing countries. The aim of the diploma thesis was to analyze the concept of volunteering in developing countries, with regard to the motivation of people who choose to volunteer in a developing country. The theoretical part characterizes the main concepts and topics such as volunteering, including its legislative definition, developing countries, motivation to volunteer. The practical part describes the research, which aimed to analyze the motivation of volunteers working in developing countries. The research sample consisted of 75 volunteers who were given a questionnaire of Author's own design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two other volunteers. Volunteers were found to be motivated to help, as well as motivation associated with personal gain. The motivation of volunteers was formed due to the experience with the effectiveness of aid in volunteering. Weaknesses were identified, in particular regarding the preparation of volunteers before leaving for a developing country. Part of the work is a recommendation for sending organizations, as well as for the volunteers themselves. Key words: Civil society, developing country, education, motivation, sending organization, voluntarism, volunteering.

The diploma thesis is focused on Visegrad Group citizens' trust in nonprofit organizations. Public trust in nonprofit organization is crucial for functioning of nonprofit organizations in society and for their societal status. The diploma thesis discusses trust in postcommunist countries which is generally considered weak due to their past. The purpose of the diploma thesis is to find out if diffences in trust in nonprofit organization of V4 countries citizens exist with regard to educatiion and age of citizens. The first and also thereotical part of the thesis consists of theoretical concepts of civil society, nonprofit organization and relevant types of trust. Empirical part of the thesis consists of methodology, analytical steps, intepretation, results and conclusion. In order to test the two hypotheses based on expected relation between trust in nonprofit organization, age and education the ordinal regression was used as a research method which led to a discovery of statistically significant relation between variables. Key words: civil society, nonprofit organization, trust in nonprofit organization, Visegrad Group

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 accession process of Albania into the European Union is defined by the gradual fulfilling of the Copenhagen criteria. With the aim of promoting democratization reforms in candidate countries and improvement in the Copenhagen political criteria, the European Union has exerted pressure into domestic political structures in Albania through a series of Europeanization Mechanisms. This dissertation uses qualitative analysis to examine the impact of the Europeanization Mechanisms in the democratization process of Albania after the signing of the Stabilization and Association agreement. The theoretical domain of the research falls within Europeanization and Quality Democracy theory. The data gathered in the form of document analysis and interviews serve to test the hypothesis of the direct relationship of Europeanization an input in democratization in the case of Albania. The results suggest that both the conception and practical application of the Europeanization mechanisms with regards to the democratization process are faced with a series of challenges. Democratization is a process that combines structures, policies, and norms. In their current formulation, Europeanization mechanisms are able to affect only the first two. In terms of practical application, extreme polarization of Albania's...

The diploma thesis "Football Supporters as a Part of Civil Society" deals with the phenomenon of football supporterism from the perspective of the relationship between fan groupings and civil society. After the introduction and the aims of the thesis, where the main aim is the basic description and classification of various forms of grouping of football fans, follows the theoretical part focusing on three main topics: civil society, social movements and subcultures and the world of football supporters. In the empirical part the author presents the results of her qualitative research using particularly methods of participant as well as non- participant observation, informal interviews and the study of documents. The author introduces her own typology of fan groups and organizations and describes their activities within the civil society. In the final part she summarizes the answers to the research questions. The thesis is supplied with a summary, a list of sources, an index, a glossary and three appendices.

This thesis deals with the status of civil society in the Sudetenland. The issue of living in the borderlands is examined in the context of historical events and is related with political, cultural and social transformations. Theoretical work is focused both on defining the problem of the Sudetenland and the traditions of thought to grasp the concept of civil society on the basis of which is derived the current definition of civil society and its other prerequisites. The first part of the theoretical work maps the development of civil sector and the importance of community life in the context of Czech historical events, the second discusses the development of Czech-German coexistence with emphasis on the interwar and postwar events and developement. The practical part, which carries a crucial part of field research, is based on interviews with local natives, new immigrants and cottagers. The work involves presentation of NGO's, which is operating in the lokality as an important indicator of the state of civil society. Conclusion of the work presents the results of the analysis of interviews that have interpretive value of the current state of civil society in the Sudetenland. Key words Civil society, the Sudetenland, settlement, borderland, Czech-German coexistence, community activities

Diploma thesis "The support of Czech nonprofit sector by Dutch foundations and organizations" deals with a help and support of transforming society in 1989. It describes the civil sector in 1989, forms of financing non-profit organizations and deals with the role of foreign aid. Theoretical part contains a chapter about the Netherlands, the history of relations with this country as well as a focus on Dutch development assistance and its evaluation. The list of Dutch foundations and organizations that supported Czech civil sector is included. The research focuses on the MATRA/KAP program. The aim of research was to find out, which organizations were supported and what criteria have been established for obtaining support. I was also interested about experiences of donor and supported organizations.

The thesis 'Social environment and specifics of Turkish civil society' focuses on the possibilities of the environment in which is civil society in Turkey embedded. The thesis summarizes the main theoretical factors, present social phenomena and historical conditions, since these influence the foundations from which civil society arises and in which civil activities are conducted. Different approaches contemplating usage of the civil society concept in countries without stable democracy are thus compared. The thesis further considers social and political factors influencing possibilities of civil activity since the time Turkey was established. Additionally, the actual legal situation and civil society classification is described. The acting and motivation of civil society organizations is further considered with the help of their internet presentations. The appearing and repeating data in the organizations' own explanations are sorted out using content and discourse analysis. This way, their own definitions, descriptions of activity and the way of informing about their activities is assessed. The way of self-presenting and the previously defined theoretical motivation for acting is compared.