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Greek Civil War: Greek Immigrants from Anatolia and Their Involvement in the Communist Insurgency (1946-1949)
Chábová, Tereza ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Soukup, Jaromír (referee)
This Master's thesis deals with the individual's motivations for participation in the Communist insurgency during the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949. More specifically, the thesis aims to analyse the motivations of those who joined the Communist guerrillas and at the same time originated from the population which came as Greek Christian refugees in 1920s to Macedonia, Northern Greece. The Master's thesis introduces several theoretical concepts which try to explain individual's motivations for mobilization in insurgency generally, including the "grievance versus greed" theory, the social networks and collective identity approach as well as coercion approach. The theories are then applied to the empirical case of Greek-speaking Pontic refugees from Anatolia and their participation in the Greek Civil War. The thesis introduces the background and experiences of the researched ethnic group throughout the interwar period up until the Greek Civil War. The analysis of the particular incentives which were behind the Greek refugee's participation is supported by the qualitative research in the form of interviews with 21 witnesses, who fall into the researched group of families who originate from the Pontos region in Anatolia and have family experience of mobilization in Communist Insurgency of 1946 to 1949. The thesis...
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Storytelling and Reconciliation: Shifts in Frames and Discursive Narratives in Listeners of the Initiative "My Story" in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Oberpfalzerová, Hana ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Stojarová, Věra (referee) ; Kubátová, Hana (referee)
Storytelling and Reconciliation: Shifts in Frames and Discursive Narratives in Listeners of the Initiative "My Story" in Bosnia and Herzegovina Hana Oberpfalzerová Abstract In Bosnia and Herzegovina, two non-governmental organizations have been running the initiative "My Story" within which three war victims, one Bosniak, one Serb and one Croat, tell their wartime stories and their way to reconciliation in public testimonies in a side-by-side, live setting to an audience of young people or ordinary citizens. The aim of the initiative is to promote reconciliation in the listeners. This doctoral dissertation integrates several disparate fields in order to create an analytical framework for inferring attitude shifts from the discursive narratives recalled by the listeners, and from the frames that connect the single narratives to broader societal discourses within these discursive narratives. Three public testimonies were analyzed and interviews with eighteen listeners from the three Bosnian nations were conducted, some of which were interviewed by phone about four months later to check for further attitude changes. The interview material was analyzed inductively by the means of thematic discourse analysis in order to identify the underlying discursive narratives that were then regrouped into dimensions or...
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Mapping the Nexus: Assessing the Relationship between Modern European Jihad and the Crime-terror nexus
Sherlock, Kate ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Butler, Eamonn (referee)
The recent proliferation of jihadist incidents of terrorism in recent years has heightened interest in the modus operandi of terrorist operations. Available literature suggests a strong link between criminality and terrorism and the emergence of a crime-terror nexus. Current research on the nexus is based on dated examples and very rarely incorporates theory or an analytical lens. The purpose of this thesis is to explore modern manifestations of the crime-terror nexus from a social perspective in response to emerging data. The research reviews recent open-source data and literature at the institutional level, organisational level and the individual/social level. Analysis was approached from selected social and criminological angles including rational choice theory and a social psychological standpoint. Conclusions pointed to the increasing importance of social factors in areas such as radicalisation and group interactions to the processes of terrorism. Rather than attempting to explain causality, the study simply encourages the use of alternative perspectives when addressing the threat of terrorism. The thesis encourages academics and policy-makers to address the crime-terror nexus as a social problem that is fast becoming a national security threat. The research also highlights the importance of...
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How Ethnic Lobbies Influence Policy: The Case of Armenian Genocide Recognition in The United States
Currie, Erin ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis seeks to examine the characteristics of the Turkish Lobby in the United States and the strategies it has utilized in its approach to countering the Armenian Lobby's efforts at official Recognition of the Armenian Genocide. While the Armenian Lobby and its approach to Genocide Recognition in the United States has been well-documented, the organizational structure of the Turkish Lobby and its approach to counter Genocide Recognition has been less explored. The Turkish Lobby consists of various Turkish-American organizations with close ties to Ankara, as well as professional lobbying and public relations firms contracted by the Turkish government for millions of dollars annually. The variety of actors that compose the Turkish Lobby is a reflection of Turkey's multi-pronged approach to preventing Genocide Recognition. This seeks to examine the primary strategies the Turkish Lobby has employed to counter Genocide Recognition, as well as its strengths and weaknesses according to indicators of effective ethnic group lobbying. Two case studies are presented in order to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the Turkish Lobby and the strategies it employed to prevent two House Resolutions calling for Genocide Recognition. The findings show that the Turkish Lobby fulfills several...
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Analytical Eclecticism in an Analysis of Turkey's Regional Foreign Policy
Scartezzini, Valerio Francesco ; Daniel, Jan (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
Historically, Turkish foreign policy (TFP) has hardly been unpredictable; hence, the field of study has always been somewhat classical, rigid and orthodox. After the end of the Cold War, a changed international system has allowed Turkey to slowly change its foreign policy (FP), but it is not until the early 2000s that an underlying change in Turkish society, identity and politics had the opportunity of giving a new momentum to TFP transformation. In the last decade the Turkish political system has seen a major reorganisation, and one of the many consequences in such change, perhaps the most apparent transformation to the external observer, has been a shift in Ankara's otherwise restrained and status quo oriented FP. On the one hand, these changes found unprepared observers, who often enough gave wrong interpretations of the events unfolding under their watch. On the other hand, said changes have sparked a renewed interest in TFP, and new alternative approaches in TFP analysis (TFPA) have proliferated. With this thesis I aim at providing a more comprehensive account of Turkish regional foreign policy vis-a-vis the Arab uprisings. I will do so by providing explanations on different levels of analysis; this will also demonstrate that different methodologies need not necessarily wield different results. I will...
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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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France's mal-être: Exploring the root causes and other explanatory factors behind the rise of radicalization in France.
Gallard, Alice Mathilde ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Charvát, Jan (referee)
This thesis will provide readers with an in-depth understanding of the root causes and risks factors of Islamic radicalisation in France. It argues that Islamic radicalisation in France cannot solely be explained through one factor. This research argues that mental illnesses, deception, trauma and relative deprivation do not give a solid impetus for individuals to radicalize. Rather, radicalisation in France should be understood as an association of socio-economic, psychological, and political factors. Given the misuse of the term, the first chapter has been dedicated to its definition and to the differences between cognitive and behavioural radicalisation. Such differentiation is necessary for a thorough understanding of the topic. The second chapter gives a clear and concise overview of the different models and theories of radicalisation, contributing to a quick introduction to the different root causes and risk factors of radicalisation. The third chapter consists of a review and analysis of the available literature on the risk factors of radicalisation while the fourth and final chapter consists of an analysis of said factors in light of the French case, ultimately aiming to understand which root causes and risk factors are of high relevance in the case of France. All in all, this thesis sheds...
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Indonesia: Hotbed for Terrorist Activities?
Lim, Selynn Yan Ting ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Karmazin, Aleš (referee)
Selynn Yan Ting Lim Abstract The thesis endeavours to use the concept of relative deprivation to explain and account for the reasons behind the various manifestations of political and religious tension in Indonesia. From the most recent series of bombings in Surabaya in 2018, to the conflicts in the Maluku Islands back in 1999, it is undeniable that Indonesia is not immune to extremist activities or religious- political conflicts. The involvement of Political Entrepreneurs (PEs), such as giving a frame to people's perceived grievances, drive sentiments of being deprived in relative to other groups. Such feelings are especially made salient with the influence of social media. At the same time, the Indonesian government's advocacy of the wasatiyyah concept, which means middle-path Islam, appears to be its most effective tool in countering the trend of extremism in the society. However, such an interpretation of Islam is potentially at odds with the "right" form of Islam as practiced by the Muslims in Saudi Arabia. Faced with increasing pressure from Islamic hardliners in the society, the Indonesian state ideology - Pancasila - is under much threat as people are gradually becoming disillusioned with it.
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How terrorists pick their targets: Cases of Aum Shinrikyo and the Japanese red army
Hromádková, Klára ; Kolmaš, Michal (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
Although Japan is not a state which would often be associated with terrorist attacks, several extremist and terrorist groups formed in the country in the second half of the 20th century. One of them was the ultraleft terrorist organization called Japanese Red Army, which was founded in the 1960s as a part of the student leftist movement, and the second was Aum Shinrikyo, a religious millenarian organization founded in the economically prosperous 1980s as one of the so-called new new religious groups. Both these groups, circumstances of their establishment and the way they chose targets of their terrorist attacks are the studied subjects of this work. The first part of this study focuses on the theoretical description of terrorism. In the following chapters, I focus on both groups, specifically on two selected terrorist attacks, in which I examine the influence of the following factors on the choice of their targets: ideology, quality of leadership, quantity and quality of members, weapons available and financial base. Concerning the Japanese Red Army, the thesis focuses on the terrorist attack on the Lod airport (1972) and the attack on the U.S. and Swedish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (1975), regarding Aum Shinrikyo, it is the attack on the Sakamoto family (1989) and the Tokyo subway sarin attack...
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Transformations of the Nordic Model of Peace Operations
Jašová, Lucie ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with cooperation of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in the area of peace operations from the beginning of Cold War till today on the background of a new institutionalism theory a small countries concept. Its goal is to find how the Nordic participation in peace operations developed in United Nations, NATO and in the European Union. First this study introduces theoretical basis; the main focus is on analysis of the Nordic peace operations model and on its gradual transformation. In the course of solution there were used qualitative and quantitative data from professional texts and available statistics. On the basis of the results it was found that Nordic participation from the second half of 1990s was rapidly reducing mostly on account of institutional changes in the peace operations concept itself and disparate national interests of individual states.
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