This diploma thesis analyses the debates of the two candidates who passed to the second round of the Czech direct presidential election in 2013. Primarily focuses on the debates in the public service media - Czech Television and Czech Radio. To put into context the whole campaign will briefly examine the debates on commercial TV stations as well. The thesis applies content analysis as the methodology. It measures how often both candidates (Miloš Zeman and Karel Schwarzenberg) mentioned their officially declared programme theses in a total of six debates on television and radio. The campaign is also presented more broadly in order to put the analysis into a wider context. Only programmes officially designated will be considered for the analysis so as to secure its accuracy. A quantitative analysis of the content will be applied in order to measure the frequency of programme theses in the debates researched. The principal goal of the thesis is to confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis that programme theses do not play such an important role in a political campaign in general, nor in candidate debates. I focus on the aspect of how different debates were and in which type of media presidential candidates presented the higher number of their programme theses.

Primary aim of this thesis is to describe the effects of direct elections on the nature of the political regime in the Czech Republic. Specifically, author focus on the distinctive attributes of various forms of government, which are then applied to the current state regime in the Czech Republic after the introduction of direct presidential elections and whether it effectively means a transition from parliamentary to semi-presidential regime. Historical analysis of the presidential office in the Czech countries describes the phenomenon of its extraordinary role and respectability, which is reflected in the contemporary political realities and have a major influence on the functioning of the state. Theoretical analysis deals with impacts introduction of the direct presidential election had on the constitutional order of the Czech Republic and disproves various arguments, which once lead to its legislative implementation. Using a descriptive analysis of the behaviour of the first directly elected president Miloš Zeman, author tries to unveil actual jurisdictional disputes between him and other elements of power. The result is a detailed description of the existing cooperation between individual people and institutions of power within the regime and its final character assessment accompanied by...