This thesis concentrates on urban regeneration as a strategy of urban transformation in general and in the context of post-communist countries in particular. The spatial transformations in cities resulted by the urban renewal and regeneration processes are currently under discussion in Albania. The present research is based on three pillars: a review of the urban transformation, renewal and regeneration in the West and in post-socialist cities in particular / exploring the historical formation and transformation of the Tirana city centre / and finally the regeneration of the city centre through a series of international competitions as a completely new model introduced by the municipality. The thesis focuses particularly on the international competition organized to obtain the master plan for the regeneration of the Tirana city centre / it compares the main concepts, ideas and features of the three shortlisted entries: Those of Architecture Studio, Mecanoo Arkitekten and Boles and Wilson. The winning master plan is evaluated with regard to the objectives of the regeneration, its integration with the existing built environment and open spaces, as well as the process of implementation. Within this framework, the thesis aims to study and evaluate this process to direct the urban development through a master plan competition completed by a series of urban design and architectural competitions. The process of regeneration of the centre of Tirana illustrates that despite the increased capacity of the citizens in Albania in participating in the decision making of the government, the public participation in the planning process was a difficult task despite the efforts of the Municipality. Yet, the enthusiasm that the new vision of Tirana brings is considerable.

This study examined the differences in reporting in Radio-Television of Serbia's (RTS) main newscast, Dnevnik 2, between the period of Slobodan Milosevic’s rule (1989-2000) and the period after the establishment of democracy in Serbia (2001-2009). The data were gathered by the content analysis of 63 RTS newscasts in the period 1989-2009. The research included quantitative analysis as well as additional observations of RTS newscasts noted at the time of coding. The major findings suggest that in the democratic period (2001-2009) RTS newscasts become shorter, more consistent in duration, less dedicated to coverage of state and ruling party officials’ activities, and more inclined to reporting about social issues and other political events. The number of voices in RTS newscasts became significantly higher. The overall reporting became more balanced and more diverse. At the same time RTS kept the old priority in news reporting which put Official Stories in leading positions and remained occasionally inclined to increase the number of Official Stories in times of important political events. Based on these results this study derived the following hypotheses for state/public service television stations in countries in transition: 1) consistency of duration of newscasts increases as the regime in the country becomes less controlling 2) the dominance of Official Stories decreases as the regime in the country becomes less controlling 3) the number of sound bites in newscasts increases as the regime becomes less controlling (the number of voices in newscasts increases as the democracy progresses), and 4) the coverage of Official Stories increases in times of important domestic political events, possibly those that have endangered national security, even if the regime becomes less controlling.

Analyser les processus par lesquels les militants roumains s’engagent dans des luttes pour la justice sociale et économique à la lumière des facteurs individuels, internationaux et contextuels a été l’objectif central de notre recherche. Notre travail part d’un triple postulat théorique. D’une part, par l’étude de cas des trajectoires des militants altermondialistes et de gauche de la Roumanie postcommuniste, la présente thèse visera à offrir une analyse approfondie de la politisation des militants de l’Europe centrale et orientale, tout en se proposant de dépasser les postulats sur l’absence/la faiblesse des mouvements sociaux en Europe centrale et orientale, longuement présentés dans la littérature. Par l’approche généalogique et par le cadre théorique pluraliste choisi, qui combine le néo-institutionnalisme historique, la sociologie de l’engagement et la sociologie des mouvements sociaux, l’objectif est de changer l’accent d’une perspective déterministe sur la mobilisation des acteurs avec l’une processuelle. Deuxièmement, si les transformations postcommunistes ont été prioritairement présentées du point de vue des élites politiques, notre recherche se centre sur des acteurs qui sont en marge de la politique roumaine et sur des engagements « à gauche » dans un contexte qui n’est pas favorable à ces « challengers ». Enfin, la thèse aborde l’impact de la crise économique de 2008 sur la mobilisation politique des acteurs en Roumanie et les opportunités ouvertes par la crise pour l’émergence d’une critique des effets sociaux de la transition et du néolibéralisme. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The diploma thesis "Systemic corruption in Liberec" focuses on the problematics of systematic corruption and clientelism in post-communist society. It is launched as a case study (Yin 1994, 2003, Flyfbjerg 2006, 2001) whose frame remarkably exceeds ordinary corruption models (public office, market centered theory, public interest) and is based on systematic corruption model theories (Caiden, and Caiden 1977, Caiden 2003, Johnston 1998, Wallis 2006, Stefes 2004, 2007, Jowitt 1992 etc.), and eventually their effect emerged in the areas of the government system, civil freedom, social cohesion and public economy. Empiric part consequently covers both phenomena showing the case of the Liberec city hall, the research itself is bounded by the years 1998-2010, when the connection between the city government and construction lobby reveals in an intense political and medial point of view. The research is made to identify and prove the figures of systematic corruption and clientelism based on the individual affairs of political representatives, office workers and various economic entities. Metodically the diploma thesis is built up on elaborate interviews (politicians, officers, prosecuting authorities etc.), document analysis (reports and materials of the city council and municipal government, contracts,...

Education systems are influenced by belief systems. Russia has throughout its history been guided by two rigid dogmatic belief systems: • the Russian Orthodox Church • the Communist ideology While other influences also prevailed, notably autocracy, humanism and nationalism, these were secondary to the dogma of the Church in the centuries preceding the Revolution in 1917. Autocracy could be regarded as an outflow of the dogma of the Church, which had established its links with the ruling elite early in its history, whereas the others originated from other sources and for other reasons. This study in the history and development of the Russian education system traces its origins back into the inchoate beginnings of the Russian nation and attempts to show how: • the Zeitgeist of a particular era led to the development of a particular dogmatic belief system • the Zeitgeist and the dogmatic beliefs influenced the figures who determined educational policies and reforms / Onderwysstelsels word be"invloed deur 'n bepaalde denksisteem. So byvoorbeeld is Rusland deur die geskiedenis deur rigiede dogmatiese denksisteme gelei. Gelyklopend daarmee was daar ook ander denksisteme wat 'n invloed op die Russiese denke uitgeoefen het. lnvloede soos outokrasie, humanisme en nasionalisme was egter sekonder tot die dogmatiese invloede van die Kerk in die eeue voor die Rewolusie van 1917. Outokrasie kan weliswaar as 'n uitvloeisel van die dogma van die Kerk , wat vroeg in die Russiese geskiedenis 'n verbintenis met die regerende elite gesmee het, beskou word. Die onderhawige studie oor die ontwikkeling en verloop van die Russiese opvoedstelsel vind sy oorsprong in die beginjare van die Russiese volk en poog om aan te toon hoe: • die Zeitgeist van 'n bepaalde era tot bepaalde dogmatiese denksisteme gelei het • die Zeitgeist en dogmatiese denksisteme 'n invloed op die opvoedingsdenke en onderwyshervormings van bepaalde historiese figure in die Russiese verlede uitgeoefen het. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

The thesis examines the expressions and origins of negative attitudes to gender equality in the Czech Republic, which have been noticeable especially in the process of implementation of the EU sex equality acquis. It asks whether and how they can be explained with reference to socio-legal developments that started during Czechoslovakia’s State Socialist past, but are still relevant today. In order to answer these research questions, the thesis examines how gender equality has been regulated through law and how it has been understood by law-makers, judges and legal scholars in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic during State Socialism (1948-1989) and Transition (1989-today). The thesis examines legal developments in gender-relevant areas, most importantly in antidiscrimination law. It also excavates the underlying, sometimes hidden, but crucial understandings of key concepts such as ‘women’, ‘gender’, ‘equality’, ‘discrimination’ and ‘rights’. The thesis argues that while formal legal guarantees for women have largely been satisfactory in the Czech Republic by international standards, the way these formal legal guarantees are understood, interpreted and applied has not been gender-progressive. It argues that the reasons for this are: (i) entrenched patriarchal ideas about women’s appropriate role both in private and public life; (ii) a failure to understand gender as a social construct and to recognize gender order as a pervasive social structure; (iii) an inadequate conceptualization of equality and a refusal to combat sex discrimination; and (iv) a limited understanding of the role of law and of rights in the shaping of social relations. It argues that these understandings have been considerably path-dependent on State Socialism, be it through a rejection of anything perceived as State Socialist (which has harmed redistributive policies), as well as through the mostly unconscious retention of ideas or their absence (which has led to a blindness to the cultural aspects of patriarchy).

This thesis focuses on answering the question which factors affect a size of a non governmental sector (NGOs) in post-communist countries and how do they influence NGOs. We compare three countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. They are regionally and culturally close but they differ in the political system or in the religion. A regression analysis shows us how values as a size of a state spending influence NGOs. Many authors researched similarities of these three states already but our target is to analyze the mutual influence of development of NGOs, the political system and the religion together.

This study examines different aspects of language variation in contemporary Czech television discourse. The modern Czech language is characterised by a specific linguistic situation in which speakers must choose between two varieties – Standard Czech (SC) and Common Czech (CC). This choice depends on a number of linguistic, cultural, social and other factors. Television discourse, which is a mixture of prepared and unprepared speech, provides a good opportunity to study the distribution of these varieties and their function. The aim of the dissertation is to research these issues in talk shows and discussion programmes. The following aspects are analysed in the dissertation: – The frequency of occurrence of a number of phonological and morphological elements of the two varieties. This analysis is conducted in a quantitative study of a corpus of 24,000 words (fifteen television shows). The elements are categorised and analysed statistically. The frequency of these elements is shown on two levels: in the total corpus material and in groups of programmes. The results are compared with previous studies of spoken Czech. – A comparative study of the Communist and post-Communist television discourse, in which television programmes from before and after 1989 are analysed and compared. The study reveals a number of linguistic differences between the two programmes and their relation to such factors as operational roles, the function of media and the frequency of dialogue markers. – A qualitative analysis of the fifteen programmes which comprise the corpus. The aim of this study is to show the function of the two Czech varieties in different types of television discourse. The variables affecting the participants’ choice of variety are analysed. The investigation shows that dialogue form, genre and operational roles are directly related to the choice of SC and CC in the programmes. These results are also connected with language norms and other social factors.

法治國原則作為當代政府治理所不可或缺之憲法規範，其之精義涵括了課予政府依法行政、恪守現行法律規範及法律原則等義務；承上所述，倘一國公部門行政為諸多貪腐情事所囿，其不僅意謂著違法行政與牴觸法治國原則之狀態，其猶與國家制度發展的健全性與否相涉。 再者，學界為求分析前開指涉的不利情狀，業已有繁多的相關文獻證實貪腐對經濟及社會環境造成的損害；於此，本研究對貪腐所進行之研究的動機，蓋可歸因於國際透明組織所釋出的貪腐印象指數報告；詳言之，除探索部分後共國家為何特別易於為貪腐所囿乃係本研究之所由外，此等國家的公部門於千囍年後的發展亦為所欲考查之部分。 總此，有鑑於對前述的後共貪腐情形為審慎評估之必要性，本研究應用了文獻分析、個案分析及法律分析方法進行諸多探討；又本研究作為和政府廉政與否具關聯性之議題，不僅政府與社會關係乃係觀察重點，公部門貪腐現象、警察制度發展、抑或是政府肅貪辭令及現實，亦為本研究就後共俄羅斯與喬治亞於斯範疇所欲分析之課題。 / The principle of rule of law acts as a crucial constitutional element in contemporary governance, it requires the government to exercise its power in accordance with well-established and clearly written rules, regulations, and legal principles, hence if a state's public sector has been affected by entrenched corruption, it not only means equally to the illegal status of administration, the breach of rule of law, but also correlates with the quality of a state's institutional development. In view of those aforementioned detrimental conditions, since lots of research effort had already verified the disastrous economic and social consequences of corruption, this study’s research motive was inspired by corruption perceptions index released by transparency international; in other words, why some post-communist states had been bothered with various corruptions after dissolution of the Soviet Union, and how do their public sectors evolve after Millennium. In order to make proper assessment on those illegal phenomena above, this study was constructed by document Analysis, case study analysis and legal analysis. As a study relates with government’s integrity issues, this case study surveys on the relationship between government and society. And by means of exploring corruption phenomena in public sector, the development of police institutions, as well as anti-corruption rhetoric and its realities in Russia and Georgia during the post-communist period. Keywords: Corruption; Anti-corruption; Integrity; Post-communist transition; police institution

Presidential power and constitutional issues are at the very core of recent popular upheavals in the former Soviet republics, as demonstrated by the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, and similar protests in Georgia in 2003 and in Kyrgyzstan in 2005. After the demise of the Soviet Union, these countries opted for a particular form of semi-presidentialism, here referred to as president-parliamentary. This dissertation deals with president-parliamentary systems, as well as with the other form of semi-presidentialism, namely premier-presidentialism. The study examines a typical feature of semi-presidentialism, i.e. intra-executive conflicts between the president and the prime minister/cabinet, by analysing the pattern, institutional triggers, and implications of such conflicts in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, the choice of semi-presidentialism and differences in transitional context and constitutional building are accounted for. The following countries are specifically dealt with: Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, and Romania, Russia and Ukraine. The study’s empirical base is a mixture of data derived from literature, reports, review of constitutional documents, as well as from an expert survey conducted among analysts with an expert knowledge on the countries under scrutiny. The results suggest that both actor-oriented and historical-institutional factors have to be considered in order to understand why so many post-communist countries ended up with semi-presidentialism, and why there is such a sharp divide between Central Europe and the (non-Baltic) former Soviet republics with regard to the choice of semi-presidential type. The pattern of intra-executive struggles reveals that conflicts were somewhat more recurrent in the early period following the transition, but persist as a frequently occurring phenomenon throughout the post-communist period. The most common type of conflict has revolved around division of powers within the executive branch. As for triggers of conflict, the study suggests that certain institutional factors, such as electoral concurrence and party system fragmentation, have been important. Regarding the management of conflict, and the options available to the conflicting parties, the analysis indicates that the constitutional courts have played an important role as conflict mediators, and that attempts of changing the constitution, and using public addresses are options preferred by the presidents. Finally, the analysis shows that intra-executive conflict is associated with cabinet instability. A case study example also illustrates how the president-parliamentary framework can be related to policy ineffectiveness. The study finally concludes that premier-presidential systems have great governance potential provided that the party systems develop and consolidate. The conclusions regarding the president-parliamentary system are less encouraging, and it is argued that the adoption of this system is an important factor in relation to the failed democratisation in many post-Soviet countries.