The thesis deals with bilateral relation of Slovakia and Hungary in terms of collective identities. Partial objective of the thesis is to explain Slovak-Hungarian relations from the perspective of constructivist theories and identity perspective. As a consequence both actors perceive historical development of the Central European area and common history differently. The main aim of the thesis is to research the nature of policy of Slovak government towards Hungarian minority living in Slovakia, as well as how this policy affects Slovak - Hungarian bilateral relations. Regarding the hypotheses, we believe that the Slovakia-Hungarian relations are strongly influenced by the structure of Slovak and Hungarian identity and the perception of other side as "the other" (another, foreign, enemy), resulting in a different understanding of the historical development of the Central European area and common history. Currently it expresses itself mostly in different attitudes and opinions on the issue of territory, respectively the border between Slovak republic and Hungary, and the status and rights of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. As for the main hypothesis, the policy of the Slovak government against Hungarian minority living in Slovakia is affected by the identity of the Slovaks. This applies in...

The present paper provides first microlevel (indirect) empirical evidence on changes in the determinants of firm profitability, the role of fixed and sunk costs, as well as the nature of competition for a transition economy. We estimate size thresholds required to support different numbers of firms for four retail and professional service industries in a large number of geographic markets in Slovakia. The three time periods in the analysis (1995, 2001 and 2010) characterize different stages of the transition process. Specific emphasis is given to spatial spill-over effects between local markets. Estimation results obtained from a spatial ordered probit model suggest that entry barriers have declined considerably (except for restaurants) and the intensity of competition has increased. We further find that demand spill-overs and/or the effects associated with a positive correlation in unobservable explanatory variables seem to outweigh negative spill-over effects caused by competitive forces between neighboring cities and villages. The importance of these spatial spill-over effects differs across industries. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Zu den bevorzugten Kunstgattungen gehörte in der Klassik auch in der Slowakei die Musik. Der kosmopolitische Charakter der Musikkunst sicherte die Kontinuität beim Übergang des Mäzenatentums vom Adel auf das Bürgertum (bei fortdauernder Mäzenatenrolle der Kirche) auch in jener Zeit, als die Übernahme des Mäzenatentums durch das Bürgertum bei uns Stagnation, sogar den Niedergang anderer Kunstgattungen zur Folge hatte. Zeugnis von der bedeutenden Position der Musik im Leben der zeitgenössischen Gesellschaft in der Slowakei und in ganz Ungarn gibt die Vielzahl an erhaltenen Noten.

Klíčová slova: identita, vlast, diskriminace, slovensko-maďarské vztahy, volební chování, Maďaři na Slovensku, percepce budoucnosti Práce se zabývá výzkumem národní a regionální identity maďarských středoškoláků na Slovensku. Je zaměřená na příčiny vzniku různých postojů, ale též se pokusí prezentovat vnímání a plánování budoucnosti cílové skupiny. Co považují respondenti za vlast a s jakými řádovostními úrovněmi (od místa bydliště až po Evropu) cítí sounáležitost? Jaký mají vztah k většinovému národu? Šetření provedené na 32 středních školách jižního Slovenska s účastí 1142 maturujících studentů, hledá odpovědi na takové a jim podobné otázky. Výsledky výzkumu poukazují na složitost slovensko-maďarských vztahů, na něž nelze nahlížet dichotomicky, jak to dělají aktéři vysoké politiky. Dvě třetiny maďarských maturantů si představuje svoji budoucnost ve své vlasti. Stát se ale stává vlastí tehdy, pokud vytvoří pocit domova pro své občany a respektuje jejich lidskou důstojnost, svobodu a identitu. S vytvářením tolerantního prostředí pro menšinu, by se ve velké míře dalo přispět k přesvědčení i té třetiny, která plánuje svou budoucnost mimo území Slovenska. Dle našich výsledků je mládež otevřená a je připravená na aktivní kooperaci.

Termination of employment in an international comparison - a comparison of the Czech republic and the Slovakia Resumé: The aim of this thesis is to discuss the termination of employment contract from the multinational perspective, ČR a SR. Thesis is thematically divided into 4 large groups containing the termination of employment contract on international, Czech and Slovak legal grounds respectively alongside with the comparison of individual dissolution acts. Labor law is a legal discipline which is dynamically evolving and modernized whilst there are apparent differences in the comparison of labor law regulation within the EU member states. ČR and SR both approach the modernization of labor law in a different manner and the necessary flexibility of the labor market, employee protection and social security are incorporated in their systems of law with certain differences. The beginning of the thesis provides a brief excursus to the history of labor law. The following part aims to describe the institute of termination of employment contract in the context of international law regulation and its impact on Czech and Slovak labor law. Prior to the description of the individual means of termination of employment contract according to national regulations, there is a brief introduction into the issues of...

Synopsis The aim of this work is to analyse the difference between two different perceptions of ethnicity. On the one side there are people living in places relativlely homogenous in sence of the ethnic diversity, on the other side there are people living in places relatively heterogenous in the same sence. The assumption of this work is that the environment where this people live (ethnic heterogeneity/ homogeneity) has influence to their perception of the ethnicity itself. The core of the work is a research focused at the comparison of the mental model of the ethnicity of the people living in two different environments. First group are citizens of Košice and Trebišov. In both cities predominate Slovak population. Second group is the people living in the region of Horné Medzibodrožie where the big part of population is Hungarian. For the ascertainment have been used the survey mapping the respondent's enviroment and related traits. Respondent's implied model of ethnicity (the one which determines in a big part his acts related to this subject), explicit model of ethnicity (the one which is claimed by the respondent), the intensity of the interethnic relationship, national symbols and the importance of the respondent's ethnic identity. This respondent's point of view have been put in context with other his...

The effectiveness of interest rate pass-through is crucial when shaping monetary policy. In this paper we use error correction framework in order to estimate the speed and the completeness of pass through in Slovakia. Our thesis brings a unique research on how the financial crisis and Euro adoption affect the pass-through. In Slovakia those events occur at the same time; we attempt to distinguish between what phenomenon has greater impact. We also distinguish between what bank characteristics have impact on individual bank's spread during financial crisis. Our results suggest that the interest rate pass-through completeness increases in long term. We however found evidence of decreasing pass-through in case of deposit rates during crisis. Banks are unwiling to lower them and hence harm their competitve position. The pass-through in Slovakia is found to be relatively fast and consistent throughout periods. With the crisis, the speed for mortgages rates however decreases. We conclude that the impact of financial crisis outweights the impact of Euro adoption. Concerning the banks' characteristics, we conclude that higher portion of loans on assets, higher costs over income and better liquidity position decrease the spread. This is explained by the size of Slovakian banking market; banks lower their spread to...

The diploma thesis deals with media representation of Slovak political case "Gorilla" in Slovak and Czech print dailies. The thesis builds upon the theoretical principles of the relationship between politics and media in a given societal system, media framing of political news, and normative aspects of balance in the news. A definition of scandal follows as well as description of fundamental characteristics of promotion in the media of political scandals in particular. The thesis aims at application of this theoretical basis on the aforementioned case and its empirical verification. The empirical research includes source analysis and an evaluation of the source balance. A quantitative content analysis is used for these purposes. The results show an intense media coverage of the case and a major media focus on elite (political) resources as well as a frequent representation of particular political actors at the expense of others (related to the case). The results also demonstrate that media did not reflect the fact, that the authenticity of the Gorila document which was the origin of the case was not officially proven at the time.

The contribution of diploma thesis is to clarify what the logistics center actually is, its function, role, providing services and bringing benefits not only to economic but also non-economic entities in its vicinity. Start of construction of logistics centers occurred in the Czech Republic and Slovakia at different times, which could be caused by many different factors, but we can simply say that the construction was started with the arrival of foreign investors in the market and lack of storage and distribution network here in the meantime occurring. Central European market is still due to relatively cheap labor attractive place for the construction of logistics centers for investors, because of this there is still the ongoing construction. Market Characteristics of Czech Republic and Slovakia is primarily focused on describing the situation in both markets, layout of logistics centers in countries and also the performance of developers operating in the market. Development of the construction of logistics centers in both markets can be divided roughly into three periods-the pre-crisis known as boom years, a period of financial crisis and post-crisis period marked as the revival phase.

The diploma thesis focuses on the internet marketing and its use in promoting tourism in Slovakia. It describes forms of promotion of a tourism destination, compares different media types and focuses more on the internet as a marketing medium. Selection of the best internet marketing tools applicable for destination promotion are presented. It also introduces Slovak tourism entities and the most important websites presenting tourism in Slovakia. The work describes current use of internet marketing tools promoting Slovakia and compares them with examples used by other destinations. This is followed by specific suggestions, how can described internet marketing tools be applied. Thesis deals with topics such as social media and YouTube, development of satellite websites, and paid advertising in search engines. The work includes practical proposal of a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaign. Part of the thesis is devoted also to use of the mobile marketing and various web applications. In the future, already strong trend of internet marketing will further increase in its importance. The goal of this diploma thesis is to propose applicable mix of internet marketing tools, which would significantly improve the position of Slovakia in the world tourism.