Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2007. / Thesis Advisor(s): Abbas Kadhim, Heather Gregg. "June 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 67 -71). Also available in print.

Voucher privatisation was designed to effect a rapid transformation of state-owned enterprises into private ownership with as limited state intervention as possible. Premised on neo-classical economic theory, the Czech government anticipated new private owners would emerge with greater incentives than the state to undertake restructuring and ensure the efficient operation of these firms. However, this thesis argues that for restructuring to occur, formal ownership patterns are less important than an ability to exercise control because of institutional influences. The de jure and de facto roles of owners, managers, and labour are discussed, showing how endogenous and exogenous factors affect their ability to dictate and control restructuring outcomes in voucher privatised firms. The thesis argues that observed post-privatisation restructuring outcomes cannot be understood without considering the institutional environment within which firms are situated. Institutions are conceived to comprise formal, informal and enforcement aspects, but also with a temporal dimension encapsulated by the use of path- dependency and embeddedness. The explanatory framework offered here is a modified version of new institutionalism perspectives, termed "embedded institutionalism". Case studies of seven firms privatised by voucher are presented in this study to demonstrate how the interaction of institutional influences, understood through embedded institutionalism, is the most appropriate framework for understanding postprivatisation restructuring processes in post-communist countries. This approach provides a synthesis between the theoretical expectations of neo-classical economic theory and the practical outworking of post-privatisation restructuring in Czech firms. Voucher privatisation was a novel scheme, and became the central aspect of the Klaus government's economic transformation. Important historical and contemporary institutional influences impacted on its design and implementation. However, it is argued that understanding privatisation and its effects on restructuring through embedded institutionalism negates the view that a unique Czech way of privatisation exists, and that observed outcomes are simply responses to the surrounding institutional environment.

The present research attempts to assess the likely revenue, trade and welfare implications of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study adopts a partial equilibrium model based on the World Integrated Trade Solution 2010 database and the Software for Market Analysis and Restrictions on Trade (WITS-SMART) as the methodological approach. The findings of the research reveal that the COMESA FTA will be beneficial to the DRC in terms of an increase in exports of US$371.57 million and consumer welfare gain amounting to US$28.49 million. Moreover, The WITS-SMART simulation results indicate that around US$322.10 million of trade will be created in the DRC as a result of the COMESA FTA. Notwithstanding the fact that trade creation will have a positive effect on welfare, as the Congolese consumers would benefit from lower prices, some local industries in the DRC may be threaten of closure due to the lack of competitiveness. In addition, the simultation results show that the country will experience a huge fiscal revenue loss amounting to US$107.01 million due to the implementation of zero per cent tarrif rate on imports duty from the COMESA trading partners. Finally, the simultation results indicate that an equivalent value of US$49.47 million of trade will be diverted from more efficient and low cost non-member states to high cost suppliers from the COMESA region. In light of these results, the research recommends that the DRC’s government needs to come up with a strategic plan in order to protect the national industry that would be negatively affected by the trade-creation effect. In order to mitigate the expected revenue loss, the implementation of the COMESA FTA in the DRC should be accompanied by fiscal reforms to improve the tax-collection system from sales or value-added taxes (VAT) and domestic excise. Regarding the trade-diversion effect, the inefficient producers from the COMESA region could be displaced through building new capacities in short, medium and long term based on comparative advantage in order to address supply constraints in these sectors affected by trade diversion.

Magister Legum - LLM

This work deals with development of insurance in the Czech and Slovac Republic and the EU. Describes the basic legislative and economic social conditions in the monitored areas. Analyzed on the basis of macroeconomic and microeconomic insurance status each year in different countries. And compare their outcomes with regard to local conditions.

Master's Thesis focuses on development of unemployment in countries of Central Europe, specifically on example of Czech and Slovak republic. Aim of Master's Thesis is to analyse and name the causes of unemployment in Czech and Slovak republic, esprecially during the period after the year 1993, when these two countries separated. First, theoretical part describes the reasons and different kinds of unemployment. Included are also sociological, psychological and health aspects. Methodological part describes the mothods used for Master's Thesis processing. Naming and comparison of different unemployment reasons in Czech and Slovek republic are creating the content of practical part of this Master's Thesis.

M.A. / The aim of this study was to explore the democratisation process that unfolded in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1990 to 2006 with a view to establishing whether Huntington’s model of democratisation as set out in his Third Wave: Democratisation in the Late Twentieth Century (1990) is useful in analysing the Congolese transition. Huntington’s model is essentially based on the experiences of democratisation in the so-called third wave of democratisation that occurred in countries in Southern and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. In line with Huntington’s analysis of the democratisation process elsewhere, the study examined, among other things, the triggering factors of the democratisation process; the modes and characteristics of the transition and the factors favouring and obstructing the development of democracy in the Congo. The study has found grounds for some minor deviations from Huntington’s observation of experiences elsewhere. These pertain to the sequence of the democratisation process, the complexity of the problem in the Congo and the role of the military. Whereas Huntington posited that one of three modes of transition occurred in a particular country – transformation, replacement and transplacement – all three modes transpired in a dialectical sequence in the Congo. In addition, the democratisation process in the Congo was intensely militarised since it involved not only the government and what one could call the ‘classical’ opposition, but also an ‘armed opposition’ encompassing several rebel groups and militias backed by foreign armies, each with its own agenda. Furthermore, when the military was confronted with the pressure to democratise elsewhere, it was generally instrumental in the democratisation process. In the Congo, to the contrary, it is the powerlessness of the military that constituted an obstruction to the democratisation process in the country. The weakness of the generals in the Congolese army results from their vassalisation by politicians who utilised army officers for their political ends. However, in an overall evaluation of the applicability of Huntington’s model to the Congolese democratisation process, it can be stated that, despite the above minor differences, Huntington’s model serves as a useful tool in analysing the democratisation process in the country, irrespective of the complexity of the Congolese experience. The model serves to elucidate the causes, patterns, power dynamics in the democratisation process, and also identifies potential problems in the consolidation of democracies. Its usefulness in analysing the Congolese transition makes it an equally useful tool in analysing the democratisation processes in other African countries.

The theoretical part of thesis on "Real Estate Tax in the Czech Republic" is dedicated to defining the individual components of this tax and legislative amendment pursuant to the Act No. 338/1992 Collection of real estate tax. The practical part of thesis is focused on comparing this tax to the applicable regulations of the Slovak Republic and define the main differences.

No description available.

This thesis focuses on the depictions of Czech and Czechoslovak presidents in caricature. It deals with the timespan between the foundation of Czechoslovakia and the present, within which it examines the cartoon representations of presidents. The thesis deals with the period of the First Czechoslovak Republic, the Second Czechoslovak Republic, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the period from 1945 to 1948 (also known as the Third Czechoslovak Republic), the communist regime of the 1950s and 1960s, the Prague Spring, the era of normalization and the Velvet Revolution. It aims to describe the reasons why and how each president is depicted in one way or another within a given era, or in some cases why he is not depicted at all. The thesis pays special attention to the issues of freedom of the press and speech and also to the laws against the defamation of the head of state, and sees them as direct factors influencing the depictions. The thesis further aims to place the cartoons in their socio-political context and deduce from it what was the public perception of each head of state in the various stages of our history. The research sample is primarily based on period caricatures in the press, containing a wide spectrum of opinions and periodicity. The thesis also uses file catalogs of the most...