Scrutiny of legislative behaviour of members of parliament (MPs) has a long tradition in Western Europe. Nonetheless, there has been a research gap in the Czech Republic. Thus, the dissertation thesis identifies the most burning and exciting questions and delivers the answers as a collection of to some extent separated but still interconnected studies. To be more specific, I employ quantitative methods of analysis. I deal with the data on all the members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic who held the mandate between 1993 and 2017. Overall, the original and unique dataset consists of 1,518 legislators and their comprehensive parliamentary activity. The results suggest that two main conflicts drive parliamentary politics - the institutional division between ruling parties and opposition, and the ideological left-right socio-economic dimension. Besides this, the thesis shows that both the age and tenure of the MPs noticeably affect their parliamentary activity. While older and more experienced MPs propose more bills, address more speeches and obtain more intra- parliamentary posts than young novices, the latter group focuses on the work outside of the parliament. Next, the gender differences in the parliamentary activity of Czech legislators resemble patterns from...

<p>Predmet istraživanja u ovoj doktorskoj disertaciji je definisanje mogućih modaliteta finansiranja ruralnog turizma u Republici Srbiji sa aspekta razvoja turističke ponude. Ruralni turizam je počeo da se razvija u Republici Srbiji 70-tih godina XX veka. Njegova dana&scaron;nja razvijenost ne može se meriti sa razvijeno&scaron;ću ovog vida turizma u evropskim državama sa sličnom dužinom razvojnog perioda. Razlog tome su različiti i brojni faktori kako na strani turističke ponude, tako i na strani tražnje. To su, pre svega, politički, ekonomski, socijalni, pravno-regulativni, institucionalni i organizaciono-upravljački faktori.<br />U okviru svih navedenih faktora može se prepoznati zajednička spona a to su finansije, odnosno nepostojanje modela finansiranja, kako na strani ponude, tako i na strani turističke tražnje. U cilju razvoja ruralnog turizma potrebno je definisati modalitete finansiranja ruralne turističke ponude u svim segmentima, a &scaron;to je i tema ove disertacije. Svakako da je u cilju razvoja ruralnog turizma potrebno i definisati modalitete finansiranja ruralne turističke tražnje, ali ova problematika zahteva posebnu i detaljnu analizu i istraživanje.<br />Finansiranje ruralne turističke ponude je kompleksno jer je usko vezano za finansiranje poljoprivrede. Finansiranje poljoprivrede je, stalno prisutan, a nere&scaron;en problem domaće privrede i ekonomske, odnosno agrarne politike. Neophodno je da se paralelno re&scaron;avaju problemi finansiranja ruralnog turizma i poljoprivrede s obzirom na to da su ove delatnosti uzročno-posledično povezane. Nepovoljan ekonomski i finansijski položaj poljoprivrede uzrokuje da ruralno stanovni&scaron;tvo ne može samostalno da razvija turističku delatnost kroz koju bi moglo da realiziju dodatne prihodi i pobolj&scaron;a životni standard. Razvoj ruralnog turizma može da bude zamajac razvoja poljoprivrede, odnosno privrednog razvoja ruralnih područja i pobolj&scaron;anja nepovoljne demografske situacije u njima. Navedeno je posebno značajno za Republike Srbiju, gde je u procesu odumiranja svako četvrto selo. Razvoj ruralnog turizma omogućio bi pozitivne ekonomske efekte na nivou poljoprivrednih gazdinstava, lokalno-ekonomskih zajednica, kao i na nivou države.<br />Finansijski resursi su jedno od najvećih ograničenja razvoja ruralnog turizma u Republici Srbiji, &scaron;to afirmi&scaron;e temu ove disertacije, odnosno potrebu istraživanja u okviru nje. Finasijski resursi predstavljaju razvojno ograničenje posmatrano sa aspekta: nedovoljnosti - u kvantitativnom pogledu i nedostupnosti kvalitetnih finansijskih resursa.<br />Primarni cilj istraživanja je da se predstave dosada&scaron;nji i aktuelni, te defini&scaron;u potencijalni modaliteti finansiranja ruralnog turizma, odnosno ruralne turističke ponude, u Republici Srbiji. Potencijalni modaliteti finansiranja ruralnog turizma obuhvataju:(1) finansiranje turističke<br />Mr Gordana Đ. Radović Doktorska disertacija<br />&bdquo;Modaliteti finansiranja ruralnog turizma u Republici Srbiji&ldquo;<br />4<br />ponude (u užem smislu) u početnoj fazi organizovanog razvoja;(2) finansiranje turističke ponude (u užem smislu) u razvijenoj fazi;(3) finansiranje razvoja turističkih sadržaja;(4) finansiranje razvoja ruralne infrastrukture;(5) finansiranje razvoja kadrova u ruralnom turizmu;(6) finansiranje razvoja promocije ruralnog turističkog proizvoda;(7) finansiranje razvoja kanala prodaje ruralnog turističkog proizvoda. Sekundarni cilj istraživanja je da se analiziraju faktori koji mogu da imaju uticaja na mogućnost samofinansiranja pružaoca usluga u ruralnom turizmu u Republici Srbiji.<br />U disertaciji se analiziraju iskustva u razvoju i finansiranju ruralnog turizma u Evropskoj uniji, odnosno u Sloveniji, Hrvatskoj, Mađarskoj, Austriji i Rumuniji. Njihovom sintezom dolazi se do zaključaka - predloga relevantnih za finansiranje, ali i redefinisanje domaće ruralne turističke ponude, &scaron;to bi se posredno odrazilo na pobolj&scaron;anje ekonomskog položaja ruralnog turizma u Republici Srbiji, a time i na potencijal samofinansiranja ove delatnosti.</p> / <p>The topic of the research presented in this doctoral thesis is defining the potential modalities of financing the rural tourism in the Republic of Serbia with respect to the development of the tourism offer. Rural tourism began to develop in the Republic of Serbia during the 70s of the 20th century. Its state-of-the-art development cannot be compared to the one existing in other European countries with the similar length of the developmental period. The reasons for this are numerous various factors, both in favour of the tourism offer and the tourism demand. These are primarily political, economic, social, legal and regulatory, institutional, as well as organizational and management factors.<br />A common link can be identified in all of the above factors such as finances, actually the lack of financing models, both with regards to tourism offer and the tourism demand. In order to develop rural tourism, it is necessary to define the financing modalities of the rural tourism offer in all its paradigms, which is the topic of this thesis. Certainly, it is essential to define the financing modalities of the rural tourism demand if the goal is rural tourism development, however, this topic requires a tailor-made and detailed analysis and research.<br />Financing of the rural tourism offer is complex because it is closely related to financing of agriculture in general. The issue of financing agriculture has been omnipresent and yet an unresolved problem of the local economy and agricultural policy. It is mandatory to simultaneously work on solving the issues of financing both the rural tourism and agriculture, taking into account that they show causal relationship. Discouraging economic and financial position of agriculture causes the inability of the rural population to independently develop the tourist activity aimed at generating additional income and improving the living standards. The development of rural tourism can be a driving force of agricultural development, i.e. of the economic development of the rural areas and improvement of unfavourable demographic situation thereof. This is especially important for the Republic of Serbia, where every fourth village is dying out. Rural tourism development would provide positive economic effects on the level of agricultural holdings, local economic communities, as well as on the level of state.<br />Financial resources persist to be one of the biggest limitations of rural tourism development in the Republic of Serbia, which puts forward and supports the topic of this doctoral thesis and the need for the proposed research. Financial resources remain to be the developmental constraint in terms of insufficiency and the unavailability of solid financial resources.<br />Mr Gordana Đ. Radović Doktorska disertacija<br />&bdquo;Modaliteti finansiranja ruralnog turizma u Republici Srbiji&ldquo;<br />7<br />The primary goal of this research is to present the former and current, as well as to define the potential modalities of financing the rural tourism and rural tourism offer in the Republic of Serbia. Plausible rural tourism funding modalities include: (1) financing of tourism offer (in the narrow sense) in the initial stage of structured development; (2) financing of tourism offer (in the narrow sense) in the developed stage; (3) financing the development of tourist facilities; (4) financing the development of rural infrastructure; (5) financing the development of human resources in rural tourism; (6) investing in the development of the rural tourism product promotion; (7) investing in the development of the rural tourism product sales channels. Secondary goal of this research is to analyze the factors that may have an impact on self-financing of the service providers in rural tourism in the Republic of Serbia.<br />The dissertation analyzes various experiences related to the development and financing of rural tourism in the European Union, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Romania. Synthesizing all of them leads to relevant conclusions and proposals related to funding, but also to redesigning the domestic rural tourism offer, which could indirectly influence improvement of the economic status of rural tourism in Serbia, and consequently the potential to self-finance this activity.</p>

The thesis demonstrates that the first Methodists missionaries to their arrival in Mulungwishi, unlikely did not penetrate the culture of the Bemba people and merely rejected everything that they could not understand because it was considered as heathen. As result, the missionaries’ contempt of the Bemba’s worldview and their fundamental values led to the proselytism and the syncretism. The study figures out the tension between the Gospel presented by the United Methodist Church and the Bemba Culture. Evidently, God (Supreme Being, Creator) had been known and worshipped before the expansion of the first missionaries in Mulungwishi and in the Democratic Republic of Congo at large. Much has been said and done on the contextualization venture through different models and assumptions. Arguably, this missiological study agrees with the eminent scholars’ stream that defends the pre-eminence of the word of God toward all cultures. This led the study to evaluate the missional tools and strategies used by the United Methodist Church missionaries to touch the culture of the people in depth and empower the Christian mission in Mulungwishi. Least has been done for the community development facing the unstable economic, social, and political context of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Church still have a long way to go on the social mandate. The solution is to be originated in the theology of reconstruction (Kalemba 2008; Mugambi 1999, 2003; Maluleke 2002; Kä Mana 1999, 2002, etc.) which works out that it is possible to rebuild the Congolese society explicitly to its best image by teaching the gospel that touches the roots of the evils and lead the people to the proper change of mentality. Then, the thesis underlines the necessity of contextualisation of gospel and missional theology for good accomplishment of Christian mission everywhere. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / Ph. D. (Theology)

Attitudes towards immigration in Ireland are the focus of this study and, more specifically, what aspects of life the native-born population perceive to be impacted by immigration into Ireland in 2018. This thesis uses two primary socioeconomic attributes of the native-born respondents as explanatory variables, focusing on education and income levels of the native-born population. The aim of this study is to examine the association between attitudes towards immigration, across different attitudinal dimensions, and socioeconomic status of native-born individuals in the Republic of Ireland in 2018. This thesis uses data taken from round 9 of the European Social Survey and purports that individuals (i) without tertiary education and (ii) on low-incomes will be more likely to oppose immigration across all dimensions of attitudes to immigration, all else equal. In addition, it propagates the idea that individuals will be more likely to oppose immigration due to the perceived effect of immigration on the economy, all else being equal.  This research draws on Group threat theory and Contact theory as the foundation for the hypotheses and research questions and enables investigation into the primary socioeconomic determinants influencing attitudes towards immigration in Ireland. Furthermore, whether an association exists between socioeconomic status and attitudes across all attitudinal dimensions is explored.  The results indicate that, all else equal, those who studied to at least a tertiary level are more likely to display positive attitudes towards immigration than those without a tertiary education, regardless of attitudinal dimension. Similarly, those on the highest incomes are more likely to exhibit positive attitudes to immigration across all dimensions compared to their low-income counterparts, all else being equal. Interestingly however, this thesis did not find statistically significant evidence that individuals will be more likely to oppose immigration due to the perceived impact of immigration on the economy, as was originally hypothesised.

This work uses analytical-comparativel methodology in basic outline trying to map catechetical-pastoral activity of the Church in Czechoslovakia since the establishment of the first republic to the present. Given the extensive topic it is focused only to selected major figures of Czech churches who were acting from the thirties of the 20th century to the Velvet Revolution and who, through their services, influenced the lives of many people. Work first defines the terminology and then presents a theoretical study of basic post-conciliar magisterium of the Catholic Church documents, relating to the subject of work - catechesis of adults. In this light as well as in historical and social context of the past, this work also perceives testimony of life, services, and ideas of three giants of the era which were Tomislav Kolakovič, Ota Mádr and Jan Evangelista Urban. Through their lifes analysing the literary works of those, this work will show individual paths of adults-catechesis and what these theologians were anticipating with as it was found later in church documents.

Presented work introduces basic view of Catechesis in Czech Republic considerating from the foundation of the republic - Czechoslovakia - till now. There is a note in introduction of how we actually understand Catechesis to place the words to context. Reflections and opinions of the church are mentioned in the text as well as references to some documents of church and also notes of Catechesis held in the church outside the Czech lands to clarify the topic of Catchesis in the Czech Republic. Together with resources from books listed in the end of the work, some personal experiences of an author for the period of last thirty years are also noted. The work does not attempt to be a complete outlook on the whole issue but is rather a look at this issue from a new angle.

This master thesis "Anti-Jewish propaganda during the Second Czechoslovak Republic in selected periodicals" analyses four journals for evidence of anti-Semitic manifestations. Jewish question in the second half of the Thirties of the 20th century resonated throughout whole Europe, including Czechoslovakia. On the territory of the Second Republic was the situation for the Jewish population, unlike other European countries, relatively bearable. However, it is possible to observe the practices of anti-Jewish propaganda, for example labeling of Jewish shops, or anti-Semitic texts published in papers. Periodicals based in Czechoslovakia in the period from October 1938 to March 1939 can be divided into three groups according to the classification of Petr Bednarik. In the first group there are newspapers with anti-Semitic articles, among them the National Policy. The second selected journal Czech Word belongs to the group of periodicals, which was trying not to publish articles about this topic, and the third group, which rejected anti-Semitic attacks, include the periodicals the People's Right and the National Labour. The aim is to map these periodicals and confirm their inclusion in the relevant categories and describe the development of anti-Semitic propaganda during the Second Czechoslovak Republic....

Magdaléna Moravcová Diplomová práce Ne/zavedení aplikačních místností v České republice Abstract The thesis titled Non/introduction of drug consumption rooms in the Czech Republic is devoted to the controversy that surrounds the debate on the possible introduction of drug consumption rooms in the Czech Republic. It focuses on understanding the attitudes of actors of czech drug policy towards this tool by examinig discourse through analysis of language and speech they use. The analysis of discourse identifies two discoursive groups . The first group are advocates of introduction of drug consumption rooms who adopt the discourse that is marked as a humanist and a second group are the opponents, who adopt the discourse I named as represionistic. The thesis reveals the value contest behind these discourses and also points to the associated discoursive conflict on how to make policy. Such a discourse significantly affects the form of the discourse on the possible introduction of drug consumption rooms in Czech Republic. By using the theory of social construction of target populations the text is looking for an answer on how the target population of problem drug users is socially constructed, and how the character of such a construction is related to the attitudes towards the introduction of drug consumption...

In my PhD thesis I investigate the relationship between corporates' financial and environmental performances. The concept of quantitative environmental performance measures was introduced to enable to compare and analyse environmental impacts of different socio­economic units e.g. companies, countries, regions. In my dissertation, I use environmental performance measures to examine their effect on the financial performance of different companies. In the first chapter, I apply a meta­analysis to examine the results of the previous studies which investigate the impact of firms' environmental performance on their financial performance. The outcomes propose that it is important to account for the omitted variable bias such as unobserved firm heterogeneity. The results suggest that it takes time for the environmental regulation to materialize into the financial performance, too. In the subsequent two chapters I study Czech firms over 2004­2008. First I study the intertemporal effects of corporates' environmental performance on financial ...

What explains the dynamics of contentious collective political action in post-Soviet Central Asia? How do post-Soviet Central Asian citizens negotiate the tensions between partaking in and abstaining from elite-challenging collective protests? By analysing cross-national attitudes in two Central Asian states, this article (1) systematically analyses the variation in collective protests by testing rival macro-, meso-, and micro-level theories; (2) reintroduces a conceptual and empirical distinction between low-risk and high-risk collective protests; and (3) examines the conditions under which individuals participate in two distinct types of elite-challenging collective actions. Three conclusions are reached. First, the evidence suggests that nuanced consideration of multi-level theoretical perspectives is necessary to explain contingencies of elite-challenging actions. Second, economic grievances and resource mobilization emerge as leading factors driving both low-risk and high-risk protests. Third, Islamic religiosity and social networking robustly predict participation in high-risk collective action.