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Local Self-Defence Militias as Counterinsurgents: The Possibility, Willingness and Rationality of Selective Violence against Insurgents
Gilg, Jakob Julian ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Ludvík, Zdeněk (referee)
Local Self-Defence Militias as Counterinsurgents The Possibility, Willingness and Rationality of Selective Violence against Insurgents Autor: Jakob J. Gilg Submitted: 31.07.2019 Abstract How do local self-defence militias (LSDMs) influence violence against civilians in civil conflicts? Compared to other types of pro-government militias (PGMs), LSDMs are active in their home area. This results in abundant local information that can be used to identify and target insurgents and their supporters selectively. Furthermore, LSDMs are part of the local community, resulting in strong social ties, making indiscriminate violence against the community less likely. Finally, since LSDMs are dependent on popular support and cannot move on to a new area after violent acts, they are incentivised to retain local support by abstaining from civilian targeting. Therefore, I hypothesise that LSDMs are more likely to employ selective violence, and that their deployment decreases civilian fatalities in civil conflicts. To empirically test this claim in a global sample, I use 1) a logistic regression to assess the likelihood of selective violence of PGMs (H1), and 2) a negative binomial regression to evaluate the expected number of civilians killed by the government (H2). The results for the first hypothesis suggest an increased...
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European migration crisis and its implications for the security of the Czech Republic
Maňák, Jiří ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Ludvík, Jan (referee)
This thesis focuses on the topic of the European migration crisis in the period of 2013- 2018. The main goal is to determine, to what degree does the securitisation discourse in Germany meets the objective reality. The central part of the thesis is represented by the analysis of data about crime in German states. It is focused just on the data regarding the violent crime, that is because of the higher clearance rate a more significant impact of these crimes on the general mood in the society. The data are separated according to the borders of former eastern and western Germany. The result is a comparison of ongoing trends concerning the overall amount of crimes commited and the share of foreigners among the suspects. In the second part, the thesis focuses on comparing the data from the previous part with the development in the Germanys political landscape. Most notably in the case of developments of AfD, as this party is often referred to as an anti-system party. Again, the focus is on the regional differences between the former eastern and western Germany. In the last chapter, the thesis is trying to use the experience learned from eastern Germany and apply them to the Czech Republic. Eastern Germany was chosen for its relative similarities to Czechia given its history in the eastern bloc, similar...
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International impact of Catalonia independence efforts
Zamlar, Patrick ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Knutelská, Viera (referee)
The master's thesis International impact of Catalonia independence efforts aims to analyze what is the international impact caused by Catalonia's efforts to separate from Spain. It does so by establishing theoretical framework of Conflict theory and internationalized conflicts. Within this framework, the Catalonia's case is examined. The thesis provides wide and extensive background on Catalan independence in order to understand how independence efforts in Catalonia emerged and evolved. The thesis also explains the means which are used by Catalan representatives in order to promote the independence internationally. Brief comparative examples of other regions within Europe are provided (with one notable mention outside of European continent) which seek for independence, as some of the features are common for all of them. Later on, the thesis features analytical part in which international impacts of Catalonia's strive for independence are examined. Those include e.g. effects on the European Union, other separatist regions, and more. Important explanation is offered about possible economic consequences with the usage of quantitative data. The thesis in its final stage applies conflict theory on Catalonia's case. It also uses all the before explained historical background. It concludes with assessment...
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Strategic Culture of the Czech Republic
Beneš, Jan ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Eichler, Jan (referee) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
Jan Beneš Strategic Culture of the Czech Republic Abstract The aim of the dissertation is to define in a complex manner the strategic culture of the Czech Republic. Strategic culture is at first analysed as a conceptual phenomenon both in relation to strategy itself and to the theories of international relations. The dissertation introduces the different streams of thought about strategic culture and then studies the approaches of the key involved authors with a special focus on the discussion between the first and the third generation of strategic culture scholars. Concerning the fact that the strategic culture has been originally created for the study of the behaviour and strategic thought of major powers, the author analyses the historical and geostrategic peculiarities of a small state in the Central Europe and then defines own conceptual and methodological framework. Using the method of grounded theory, the important symbols and narratives from the Czech history as well as the most important moments in the Czech political and strategic thought and decision-making are being examined. The historical narratives re-appear and influence the decision-making, thinking and argumentation of the key actors in the Czech security community. The research of the key decisions and historical moments after the 1989 is...
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Military interventions in civil wars: the role of foreign direct investments and proxy interventions in the motivation to intervene
Klosek, Kamil Christoph ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Schneider, Gerald (referee) ; Nascimento, Daniela (referee)
The current international system with its emphasis on state sovereignty was designed to restrain interference in domestic affairs by other states. However, this notion has been repeatedly challenged throughout the past 70 years by states intervening with military instruments in internal armed conflicts. Possible motives that led states to jeopardize the lives of their soldiers and convinced them to bear the costs of interventions have engendered a rich debate in the studies of International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies. In this dissertation, two arguments based on the logic of the realist theory of international relations are brought forward to augment our understanding of factors contributing to military interventionism. First, it is shown that economic linkages between states transcend the debate on trade and include the effects of foreign direct investment on their willingness to intervene by force. Corporate investment is shown to significantly raise the willingness of states to intervene when existing FDI is endangered by the dynamics unfolding during internal armed conflicts. Second, great powers are apt to harness other states to alter the conflict dynamics in civil wars. Applying the principal-agent framework in combination with the logic of arms trade allows identifying unequal...
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Conflict without casualties: political-military context of NATO's intervention in Kosovo
Trojáček, Jan ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Střítecký, Vít (referee)
The bachelor thesis "Conflict without casualties: political-military context of NATO's intervention in Kosovo "is dedicated to with the war in Kosovo in 1999 in particular to the military operation "Allied Force." The purpose of this thesis is to describe the Revolution in Military Affairs, which has changed the way in which military conflict and campaigns were fought. Furthermore, Kosovo campaign set up the concept of "clean kill", which was in other words a new concept of conducting a clean war with both minimal casualties and other secondary costs. With the application of discursive analysis, this thesis examines the statements of former prominent political and military leaders. The bachelor's thesis analyses the rhetoric of the US President Bill Clinton, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, together with the statements of NATO Secretary General Javier Solana and the Allied Force Operation General Wesley K. Clark. The discursive analysis of each individual was used in the research. There was a general agreement in the discourse of the political representatives from both the UK and the US, but also with the NATO's Secretary General Javier Solana. More noticeable and distinctive was the discourse of the General Wesley K. Clark, who was more referring to the pin point accuracy and the...
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Germany's commitment to CSDP operations: comparing the cases of the DRC and Libya
Westenberger, Kay Louise ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Beneš, Jan (referee)
This thesis analyses Germany's commitment to multilateral military operations. Following the research question why Germany participates in some multilateral military operations but not in others, Germany's respective decision-making process regarding troop deployment in the DR Congo in 2006 on one hand and military non-engagement in Libya 2011 on the other hand is traced. By contrasting the concept of strategic culture with a purely rational assessment of the factors of alliance politics, risk-analysis and military feasibility of the operations, the decisiveness of taking into account Germany's strategic culture to explain deployment decisions is stressed. Neither is there a lack of external pressure for German military participation in the case of Libya, nor is the military operation in the DR Congo decisively less risky or militarily more feasible. Rather, Germany's multilateral and anti- militaristic strategic cultural strands affect its decision-making. Next to demanding a thorough justification and legitimization of any military engagement, two red lines for military deployment can be identified. First, Germany refuses to act unilaterally and displays a high reluctance towards military engagement outside the multilateral framework of the UN, NATO or EU. Secondly, Germany rejects to engage in...
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Analysing the alternation of strategic subcultures: the case of Israel
Houdek, Kryštof ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
The thesis examines altering of Israeli strategic subcultures and their influence on strategic decision-making. It expands the body of literature on strategic culture. The strategic culture influences the decisions regarding when, if and how to use force. The three cases in this thesis encompass strategic decision-making in regard to Iran, Hezbollah and the Syrian civil war. The strategic culture takes a form of particular strategic subculture, which expresses a preference for a particular kind of strategic behaviour. Israeli strategic culture is examined thoroughly throughout its history in the context of strategic culture. The strategic culture and its aspects are described on the background of evolving "national security doctrine." The changes in the strategic culture are correlated with the shifts in the strategic environment and with the evolution of new military technologies and strategies of waging war.
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Changes in Turkish foreign policy towards Iran in the Davutoğlu era (2002 - 2012)
Marcinová, Slávka ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
The principal aims of the research are to identify the nature and scope of Turkish foreign policy change towards Iran in the period 2002-2012 - the first ten years of the successive governments of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Then, individual sources of foreign policy change and their respective roles in shaping Turkish foreign policy toward Iran will be investigated. As the research is theoretically grounded in the subfield of foreign policy analysis known as foreign policy change, the reader is familiarized with a variety of different models used in the study of foreign policy change. In order to assess the relevance of the individual sources, an alternative explanatory model is designed. The application of the designed foreign policy model highlights the necessity of applying a wider approach in the quest to assess Turkish foreign policy change, taking into account the different domestic and international sources in order to achieve a comprehensive explanation that can evaluate the relative power of international and domestic political, economic, and ideational sources serving as its driving mechanisms. The role of economic factors - long seen as fundamental in shaping Turkey's foreign policy toward its neighbors - and the role of security concerns are subsequently identified as...
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Combatting Disinformation Campaigns: A Reappraisal of Strategic Communications
Wilson, Alyssa Joy ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Beneš, Jan (referee)
In the context of increasing technologicalization and the growing interconnectedness of our world through social media, this thesis aims to answer the question, why is disinformation not being sufficiently handled in the United States in the wake of the foreign meddling in the 2016 Presidential Elections, and what can and should be done about the threat? This master thesis therefore aims to delve into the inherent vulnerabilities in the U.S. societal fabric, and thus conduct an in-depth explanatory case study model analysis of what should be done to further combat and counteract disinformation and election meddling within the country. The author argues that disinformation and election meddling are not only a serious security threat, but are also not being properly handled as they are only being addressed technologically, and not through the realm of information, and societal resilience. This thesis therefore argues that strategic communication, which should be redefined and expanded in definition, should be used to combat disinformation campaigns to prevent further election meddling. The author posits that a two-level approach is best, one which aims to negate the negative disinformation campaigns through a single governmental body, while also addressing the root causes through education.
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