The presented work is focused on the birth and evolution of radical thought in Syria and Egypt during the first half of 20th centrury and especially on it's interaction with art and literature. First of all it's focus is on the relation of Arab renaissance and radical left ideas and continuity of this thought in region under the study in the first half of 20th centrury. This work is as well focused on the common grounds of radical trends in Arab renaissance with Egyptian surrealist movement of the 30's and 40's. To this movement is dedicated final part of this work.

Barbora Skálová Whose side are you on? Radical Left in postwar Finland - on the phenomenon of Marxism-Leninism outside the Eastern Bloc Abstract The dissertation aims to explore the phenomenon of a radical left movement - Taistoists - which at the turn of the 60s and 70s for a short period of time dominated the student and cultural circles in Finland. The dissertation strives to shed light on the reasons for the uprise of the - in European context unique - pro-Soviet, Marxist-Leninist and "anti-anti- establishment" youth movement, and on its influence on home and foreign policy of Finland in terms of so-called Finlandization. The work also puts the movement into the Czechoslovakian context, mainly in relation to the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion. The dissertation discusses the theoretical anticapitalistic background of the movement and compares it to the theoretical background and political practice of coeval New Left movements in Europe and the USA. The experience of the members of the movement has been elaborated in the oral history part based on personal interviews. The oral history chapter aims to offer an explanation and a broader perspective of the taistolaiset phenomenon presented by direct witnesses and participants of the movement.

This essay describes the radicalization of the Greek society and the rise of the political extremism in Greece in the period of 2000-2012. In this time important changes could have been observed in the Greek political scene and in the society which were linked to the polarization of the electorate and the growth of populism, nationalism, euroscepticism, xenophobia and racism. As a result of modernizing efforts of Constantinos Simitis cabinet (1996-2004), which were related to the Greek ambition to become fully-fledged member of the EU and the Eurozone, under the influence of globalization, immigration crisis and finally the recent slump of the Greek economy, a new social conflict emerged in Greece. This essay analyzes these problems from the perspective of the cleavages theory by Seymour M. Lipset and Stein Rokkan and tries to find social and political roots of such conflict. The radicalization of the Greek society between 2000 and 2012 does not represent a new phenomenon, but is is a continuation of long-term ideological clashes present in the Greek social reality since the World WarI. After identifying the main cleavages in interwar and postwar period the essay identifies the main conflict of Greece after the fall of junta in 1974. Afterwards it confronts the new political issues of the period 2000-2012...