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The Norwegian policy of cooperation in Education and Research as a soft-power tool for Norway's foreign policy
Pajerová, Anna ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Young, Mitchell (referee)
This diploma thesis examines the Norwegian policy of cooperation in Education and Research as a soft-power tool for Norway's foreign policy. Within a European context, three levels of Norway's participation in Education and Research programmes will be analyzed. The first level is Norway's cooperation policy toward the EU, though as a weaker actor. The second is Norway's value of cooperation as an equal partner, which is typical in the Nordic region. And the third is cooperation via EEA Grants and Norway Grants, in which Norway is a dominant player. This thesis combines a theory of international cooperation and Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye's theory of soft-power, complex interdependence and asymmetry of relations between the participants. In the research, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods are used. This thesis reveals that Norway decreases the financial spending to the areas where it has more influence and can utilize more of its soft power, while it also invests into areas where it plays the role of substandard actor. An explanation is found in the theory of international cooperation and the game of Chicken, where the longstanding and successful corporation strives to achieve a compromise rather than a win, i.e. to moderate any power fluctuation and strive for an equilibrium state.
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The depiction of Nordic model of welfare state in nordic noir: the case of Denmark
Michalková, Dominika ; Matějka, Ondřej (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
Nordic noir is a distinctive component of the current Nordic cultural export, which has become increasingly popular in recent years not only in Europe. One of the main characteristics of this genre is the description of tensions between the seemingly insignificant and peaceful social climate in the Nordic environment and the murders, racism, inequality and other malfunctioning mechanisms that occur beneath the surface. This creates an ideal spare for criticizing the welfare state. Denmark, as a representative of its Scandinavian model, is also one of the countries where nordic noir has spread very quickly. Therefore, this master thesis will be devoted to analyzing the criticism of the welfare state in the Danish series The Killing in order to demonstrate socio-critical tendencies in the aforementioned genre. It will further examine how they are approached and what specific aspects are subjected to criticism. The work aims to contribute to the current debate by presenting specific examples based on a detailed analysis of the selected case.
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Media representation of the United Kingdom Independence Party in selected British media before EU referendum
Rukavička, Tomáš ; Šafařík, Petr (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
This bachelor thesis is analyzing media representation of the United Kigdom Independent Party in selected printed british media from the beginning of the year 2016 until the date of the United Kigdom European membership referendum, which happened on Thursday 23 June, 2016 and became known as brexit. The paper is examining how many times were the selected topics used with connection to the Party, as well as the culmination of these topics in individual months and the media representations created by the medias, based on these articles. Through the short history of the Party this work contains explanation of all the concepts, which are connected with the analysis. That one is done based on the two chosen themes, populism and euroscepticism. These topics were searched in the printed weekday newspapers The Sun, Daily Mail and The Daily Mirror. These tabloids were selected based on the newspaers circulation in the selected period and also their political inclination. The paper analyzes all the articles from the period, which contain any mantion about the party, speifically UKIP, or United Kongdom Independence Party, which was 565 articles. The research was done using the the content analysis methodology, which aim was to see what was the ratio of the populism and the eurosceptism topics in the articles...
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Comparing commemorations of semicentennial and centennial anniversary of Easter rising
Hromádka, Michal ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (referee)
The aim of this work is to compare the two most important commemorations (semicentennial and centennial) organized to commemorate the Easter Rising. The first chapter introduces the concept of collective memory as well as some interpretations of this concept by various authors. The concept of collective memory and memory of space is crucial for this work, because commemorations are analyzed using these two concepts. This chapter also introduces research criteria that are later used to compare commemorations. These categories include the identity of the organizers, the geopolitical situation of the Republic of Ireland prior to commemoration, and the building of memorials and memory sites in connection with the Easter Rising. The following two chapters analyze specific commemorations and compare similarities and differences according to predetermined research criteria. Although there are some similarities between the two commemorations and there are many, these commemorations are totally different from each other, especially because of the consequences. The 1966 commemoration was very controversial, especially because of the speech given by President de Valera on the last day of the official ceremonies. The 2016 commemorations were generally accepted as peaceful, respectful and meaningful, even...
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Reflection of the Highland Clearances in Historical Novels
Hejtmánek, Matěj ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Tomalová, Eliška (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with historical events of the Highland Clearances. This concept refers to the events that took place in the late eighteen century and early nineteenth century. In this time period Scottish Highlands were going through significant social and cultural changes. The Highland Clearances caused the displacement and dispersion of many thousands of local people from Highlands and Islands of the north of Scotland; mostly it was people with agricultural background who eventually had to move to big cities in the south of Scotland, to England or even abroad. These events still matter to a lot of Scots and are widely regarded as historical tragedy or trauma. This thesis focuses on analysis of 3 historical novels which portrayed these events. Specifically it is Waverley (1814), Butcher's Broom (1934) a Consider the Lilies (1968). These novels are analyzed and compared based on the origin of their author, the selection of the aspects of the Clearances, which they focus on, and its overall contribution and the form of presentation.
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Comparison of Two British Referendums on European Union membership in 1975 and 2016
Sýkora, Ondřej ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Kłusek, Johana (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with comparison of two referendums held in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in which British people decided about EEC/EU membership. These referendums were held in years 1975 and 2016. In 1975 people voted to stay in EEC, whereas in 2016 the exact opposite decision was made. The comparative method which is used in this thesis is applicated to analyse selected criteria. These are political background of the referendum, renegotiation of membership terms and the form and the results of the referendum itself. The comparative method is used to reach the goal of the thesis which is to reveal differences and similarities between the two referendums. Several differences explaining the opposite outcomes of the referendums were discovered as a result of the comparison.
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Tony Blair and moral arguments in foreign policy
Handl, Vladimír ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
For ten years he spent as the Prime Minister, Tony Blair led Great Britain in no less five then military operations, more than any other Prime Minister in the modern history. Neither of these operations was strictly speaking in British national interest and thus Tony Blair had to use other than the usual arguments to legitimize Britain's participation. He therefore started using moral arguments. Usage of these became much more acceptable during the nineties due to the changes in the international arena, this thesis looks at which moral arguments Tony Blair used during his tenure as the Prime Minister and how he used them. It analyses his arguments used to legitimize operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo.
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Deployments of World War I History in the Medium of Video Games
Šindelář, Jakub ; Matějka, Ondřej (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
The thesis is a comparative case study, that applies the typology of deployments of history of S. A. Metzger and R. J. Paxton on the World War I video games Battlefield 1 and Valiant Hearts. The objective of the thesis is to compare the studied games and to evaluate the usefulness and limitations of the applied typology as an analytical tool. A. Chapman's analytical framework for the formal analysis of historical video games is used as a methodological guideline. The "texts" of the video games serve as the main data source, complemented by the use of Let's Play videos, that allow a deeper level of analysis in certain areas and offer a glimpse of how historical representations and narratives are being consumed. Results show that both games present a rich and critical view of the World War I history and that they offer space for representation of marginalized groups. The game Valiant Hearts, unlike the game Battlefield 1, has a strong anti-war message and tells its story from a transnational perspective, emphasizing the Franco-German reconciliation. The game Battlefield 1 celebrates the combat heroism of the soldiers of individual nations and avoids completely the portrayal of civilians and the impact of the war on their lives. The World War I in this game is likened to the Second World War and it...
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