The submitted diploma thesis deals with Christian Democratic political parties in the political systems of Scandinavian and Baltic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. These parties form a unique "Nordic" branch of European political Protestantism; and structurally and functionally distinctive, but to a great degree homogenous, subgroup of Christian democracy. A major theoretical tradition to be applied is the Rokkanian party system analysis. Contrary to its counterparts on the continent, the Nordic branch grew not from a church-based defence stance against a secular state, but from both territorial and religious dissent on the periphery. The "cultural periphery" analysis relies heavily on history and geography of religion of the Nordic countries. However, other theoretical perspectives are taken as well in order to compare different aspects of the parties' affiliations and policies, such as their cabinet policies, ideology or EC/EU attitudes. In another chapter, possibilities and limits of Christian democracy in the Lutheran environment of Latvia and Estonia are examined. Is Scandinavian experience portable? Or are there other ways of Christian political mobilization used in the public spheres of the two Baltic countries? A similar theoretical framework is applied,...

Diploma thesis 'Weakening of neo-corporatism in Sweden after 1990' covers historical preconditions for emergence of swedish neo-corporatism, its development in the 20th century and its weakening after 1990. Neo-corporatism's heyday is dated back to the 1950s and the 1960s and is characterized by deep institutionalized participation of organised interests in the public policy-making and a tripartite interaction of the three main parties - the state, the Swedish employers' federation SAF and the Swedish union confederation LO. Changes that have occured since 1970s and their implications on swedish policy-making after 1990 are analyzed further on. A lot of attention is paid to particular ways of organized interests' institutionalized participation in the public policy-making. Wider socio-political context of the thesis covers the transition of Swedish model since 1970s and its implications on swedish democracy. The core hypothesis of this paper is that neo-corporatism in Sweden has not disappeared, according to some authors, but weakened considerably and changed.

The thesis deals with media representation of protests in the Czech media. They are anti-communist protests, student, "anti - austerity", anti-Roma and anti-racist or antifascist. The author has used critical discourse analysis on a sample of media texts from 1/2008 to 7/2014 period. It focused on analyzing the labeling of protesters, representing the relationship between the protests and democracy and the protesters and society or "ordinary people". The author concludes that labeling the protesters as well as representation of the relationship between protest and democracy in the reference sample strongly reflects the overall concept of the Czech post-communist identity as the one that emphasizes moderation, but also individualism or rather minimalist definition of politics as limited to the party or parliamentary politics. As congruent are usually presented anticommunist protests and student protests, on the other hand suspicious or problamatic are framed union protests or "radical" or "extrem" protests.

Narrative identity in biographical narratives of extremist scene leaders in Central Europe Mgr. Adéla Zelenda Kupcová Abstract: Dissertation Narrative identity in biographical narratives of extremist scene leaders in Central Europe deals with analysis of biographical narratives of the extremist scene's prominent leaders in select Central European countries (the former German Democratic Republic, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary). It is based on the theory of social constructivism, and its aim is to analyze how and under what experience the leading representatives of the extremist scene construct their narrative identities, what life events have influenced their attitudes and worldviews, how they present themselves and how they understand themselves and their roles in life. It is focused mainly on the narrators' personal myths and life themes that they indicate as essential. Key words: political extremism, narrative, identity, personal myth, value, cultural pessimism

The thesis "Proposals to amend the electoral and political system in contemporary Czech public debate" examines proposals presented by different types of entities who are trying to rectify the Czech policy. The current political scene is struggling with problems such as corruption, bribery and government instability. Such a situation leads to dissatisfaction with politicians and it may ultimately lead to their alienation. The starting point is to reform the policy and restore the confidence of citizens and their interest in public affairs. The aim of this paper is to describe what proposals dominate the current debate on the amendment of the Czech electoral system and in many cases can lead to a change of the political system. The thesis is divided into four thematic sections. The first, theoretical part briefly introduces the concept of democracy, individual elements of direct democracy and the typology of political systems. In addition, there are information about the Czech constitutional order and the development of the electoral system in the Czech Republic. Other three chapters deal with those proposals, which are divided according to the type of the entity that proposed them. This is a set of proposals by entities established by power and relevant political parties; smaller political...

This thesis deals with the topic of the Muslim minority in the Czech Republic and its political participation. In comparison to countries in Western Europe, the Muslim community in the Czech Republic is relatively small. The number of Muslim inhabitants is estimated to 20 000 an according to this number is also corresponding its political participation. The Muslims can be found in the traditional Czech parties in ČSSD and in ODS. This thesis, therefore, deals in the first part with the history and institutionalization of the community which first appeared during the First Czechoslovak Republic, continued during the period of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and then the re-establishing of the community after 1989. The second part of the thesis deals with the political Islam itself and the politically active Muslims in the Czech Republic. Furthermore the main approaches to political Islam according to the main Islamic philosophers of the 20th century will be introduced and a short state of professor Šilhavý will be demonstrated. The conclusion is devoted to a brief media analysis of how the Czech media pictured the Muslims and how the main Czech political parties speak about Muslims and Islam as well.

Narrative identity in biographical narratives of extremist scene leaders in Central Europe Mgr. Adéla Zelenda Kupcová Abstract: Dissertation Narrative identity in biographical narratives of extremist scene leaders in Central Europe deals with analysis of biographical narratives of the extremist scene's prominent leaders in select Central European countries (the former German Democratic Republic, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary). It is based on the theory of social constructivism, and its aim is to analyze how and under what experience the leading representatives of the extremist scene construct their narrative identities, what life events have influenced their attitudes and worldviews, how they present themselves and how they understand themselves and their roles in life. It is focused mainly on the narrators' personal myths and life themes that they indicate as essential. Key words: political extremism, narrative, identity, personal myth, value, cultural pessimism

The thesis "Role of the U.S. Supreme Court in American system of government and the importance of Court's decisions for the political process in the United States of America" deals with the institutional role U.S. Supreme Court has in American system of government and puts emphasis on Court's decisions and their practical consequences on the politics in the United States. In history of the country the Court was an influential decision-making body on many occasions. Although shortly after the federation was established many intended to put the Court in position where weak powers given to it would not enable the institution to fully play its role of the guardian that keeps an eye on the constitutionality of adopted laws, at the beginning of the 19th century the Court found its place and became exactly what it was originally intended to be. Decision in Marbury v. Madison gained the Court the crucial power of judicial review. The power of judicial review completely changed the role of the institution that finally became the guardian of the Constitution. This thesis outlines the institutional position of the judicial branch and especially the position of the Supreme Court in American system of government. It also focuses on the political aspects of the nomination process of Supreme Court Justices and...

1 SUMMARY The present thesis deals with cultural and cultural-political journals published between May 1945 and February 1948, as well as polemics that went on during that period. The thesis consists of two interconnected parts - the journals' profiles and the literary-historical introduction that analyzes certain important issues and problems in regard to the journals and selected personalities, placing them in the contemporary social context.

Diploma thesis Transformation of Visual Image of American Presidential Election in Magazines Time and Newsweek concentrates on visual depiction of topics related to the American presidential campaigns in newsweeklies between the years of 1992 and 2012. The first part of the thesis describes the development of modern political communication, political marketing and political campaigns. The following chapter is devoted to characterization of analyzed periodicals and to the current status of newsweeklies on the media market. The state of newsweeklies in the digital era is described by an example of the Newsweek magazine's current history and present. The American election system is briefly described in the end of the theroretical part of the thesis. A detailed research of visual materials dedicated to the American presidential campaigns in the Time and Newsweek magazines is carried out by the means of qualitative alalysis in the practical part of the thesis. The conclusion of the thesis evaluates the evolution of these materials between the years of 1992 and 2012 in the context of the development of the political communication and the current state of the media landscape.