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Non-political politics. Destiny of the concept and practice in the Czech lands (from K.H.B and T.G.M. through Vaclav Havel to presence)
Šmíd, Šimon ; Pithart, Petr (advisor) ; Urban, Michal (referee)
Although a lot of people are not familiar with the term non-political politics, it has its indisputable place in the Czech history. It has evolved from thoughts of Karel Havlíček Borovský as a solution to the nation which was facing lack of its independence and was based upon awareness of national culture and self-governance. This conception was later adopted by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who implemented the idea into its own political programme aimed at free and educated society. His non-political approach reflected intellectual and steady attitude with a manifest perspective which made him a leading person in establishing an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks. In 1970s, Václav Havel restored non-political idea and designed it for the purpose of the confrontation with the communist regime. Owing to his authority, non-political politics became again one of the main mechanisms leading to political pluralism. The topic of non-political politics, which is often perceived as the legacy of Václav Havel, is still present in the days of growing scepticism towards a democratic system with political parties. This thesis aims at description of non-political approach of K.H.B., T.G.M. and Václav Havel. It also attempts to ascertain if there is some similarity and continuity among the attitudes using the...
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State governed by the rule of law and Democracy
Pelán, Marek ; Kysela, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee)
Democracy and a state governed by the rule of law The diploma thesis deals with the topics of democracy, the rule of law and their interaction. It is focused on both themes in the context of their historical development and other ideas that have influenced one or the other phenomenon. For this reason, the reader encounters primarily the issues of an ancient understanding of democracy, ideas of republicanism, liberalism, constitutionalism, or the Anglo-American concept of government. In this diploma paper, democracy and the rule of law are analyzed as concepts that have a general, i.e., global, meaning. Examples of elements typical of democracy and the rule of law are, however, the provisions of the Czech law. The aim of the diploma thesis is to point out the influence of historical experience on the development of ideas about democracy and the rule of law, and to emphasize the phenomena that are being studied, how they differ and how they interact. In conclusion, the historical development of both phenomena has led to a fundamental change in their understanding. Both terms are limiting and balancing each other. At present, democracy is seen as a universal value and, together with the modern concept of the rule of law, creates a liberal democratic system of governance. At the same time, however,...
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Modern states and genocides : the fate of Turkish Armenians and European Jews
Šeferna, Václav ; Kosek, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee)
Modern states and genocides: the fate of Turkish Armenians and European Jews This thesis primarily explores the relationship between modernity, modern thinking and modern state on one hand and the Holocaust, Armenian genocide or other genocides, on the other. The purpose of my thesis is to answer the question whether a modern state can be considered a perpetrator of both these tragedies. Furthermore, in my thesis I investigate the causes of these genocides and mainly the influence of nationalism, bureaucracy and racism. The first part of the thesis is devoted to genocide and implementation this concept in international criminal law. I deal with the emergence of this concept and its subsequent development as an independent crime under international law. In the second part I deal with the classification of genocides. First, I deal with the typology of genocides by individual authors. I also examine the differences between traditional massacres and modern genocide, name the pivotal features of modern genocide and try to answer the question of whether it makes sense to use the term "traditional genocide" at all. In the next chapter I focus on the Armenian genocide. This part begins with a short introduction of the Armenians, a quick overview of their history and a description of the Armenian situation in the...
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The prohibition of the parties-theory and discourse
Chytil, Matěj ; Wintr, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee)
Banning Political Parties - Theory and Discourse The political regime change of the Velvet revolution in 1989 brought to light many questions, that the Czech politics and law had not to answer until then. Arguments about the legitimacy of the post-revoutionary Czech communist party marked the early years of the free competition of political parties. There being no precedent in the decision-making of Czech courts, the Supreme Administrative Court had to decide many substantial questions when dealing with the case of Dělnická strana (The Workers' Party) in 2010. Some of those were elaborated by the European Court of Human Rights, other were more of a political and philosophical nature. The history and experience of pre-war Czechoslovakia and dissolution of German national-socialist parties in 1933 also influenced the debate. The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic changed in the decison of Dělnická strana the nature of Czech political discourse and brought it out of the post-communist context to the contemporary European level. Using the concept of self-defending or military democracy, that is also used by the ECHR, it created a shared framework of both Czech and European debate on the limits of political rights and freedoms of association. The concept will be contested in the future, but its...
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Limits of demokracy
Zaripov, Sergey ; Kysela, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee)
Resume In the first part of the graduation thesis Limits of Democracy qualifies the term of democ- racy, the return to democracy sources, especially to the archaic Greece, where democracy began and then developed thanks to the philosophers were like Socrates, Plato or Aristotle. At that time, democracy had strong competition and was created various ideologies and forms of government. Democracy was not made at that time and was standing in the shad- ows of history. In the next part of the graduation thesis author deals with return of democratic thinking in the French Revolution, their thinkers were like Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu and Jean-Jeacques Rousseau who became the inspiration for a revolutionary campaign. In France after the revolution started to emerge riots, wars with neighbors and followed terror. In this part of the graduation thesis author defines the term totalitarian democracy and points to the "democratic" process in 2011 during the Arab Spring. Then the author focuses on today's modern democracy and analyzes the United States as a state, as a bearer of democracy. State that this ideology spreads and becomes uncompro- misingly authority that considers what is democratic and what is not. In this part of thesis is reminded the origin of USA and related issues...
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The Concept of Sovereignty of the People and the Political Party System in the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) and in the Czech Republic since 1993
Havel, Tomáš ; Kysela, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee) ; Holländer, Pavol (referee)
The idea of sovereignty of the people offers a concept which allows searching for legitimacy of power. The legitimacy of power is one of the key structures establishing a relation between those who govern and those who are governed. Whether this relation is accepted, acceptable, functional, desirable or undesirable is a matter of finding the very definition of sovereignty of the people as such. The aim of this doctoral thesis, titled The Concept of Sovereignty of the People and the Political Party System in the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918 - 1938) and in the Czech Republic since 1993, is, firstly, to define the concepts of the people, on one hand, and sovereignty, on the other hand, in the historical, political and legal context from the ancient times up to now while reflecting the role of political parties in relation to the sovereignty of the people. Secondly, this thesis aims at exploring and describing the functioning of the party systems in the interwar Czechoslovakia and in the Czech Republic after 1993. Thirdly, this thesis seeks to answer the following questions: who represents the people in liberal democracies which are based on sovereignty of the people; how do the people exercise their power; and what is the role of the political parties in this process.
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Authority and conformism; social psychology of Nacism
Dvořáková, Denisa ; Kosek, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee)
Authority and conformism; social psychology of Nazism This thesis attends to Nazism from the perspective of social psychology. Its aim is to analyze Nazism by using chosen theoretical concepts of social psychology, namely authority and conformism. The work begins with the presentation of the concept of totalitarianism, when in the first instance the term totalitarianism is generally defined and then the great part of this chapter deals with the concept of totalitarianism in Hannah Arendt's conception. At the end of this chapter there are mentioned some limits of Hannah Arendt's conception. The ideology of Nazism is the content of the next chapter. There are terms ideology and Nazism defined and subsequently there is the goal and basic characterization of Nazi ideology given. The third chapter deals with the authority and the conformism as social psychological phenomena. The first part of this chapter defines conformism, lists the possible resolution of its causes and basic typology of its consequences. Furthermore, there are presented the most important classical studies in the field of the scientific study of conformism carried out by laboratory exepriments and briefly outlined the problems of disposal and situational approach. Next a brief treatise on modern individualism as a possible aspect of...
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Semi-presidential systems
Drápelová, Hana ; Kysela, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee)
This thesis deals with the topic of semi-presidential systems. As the title suggests, semi-presidential modes oscillate somewhere on the border between parliamentarism and presidentialism. Considering the fact that even the scholars have no consensus how to define this term, the whole study is conceived as a comparison of the opinions of prominent Czech as well as international constitutional lawyers and political scientists. Nowadays the necessity to define the semi-presidential model clearly becomes important because there has been a lengthy discussion after implementation of new constitutional phenomenon in the Czech Republic (the direct election of the head of the state) about how it affected the constitutional system of the state. Both the public and many prominent experts have the opinion that it is the direct presidential election that has changed the constitutional system of the Czech Republic from a purely parliamentary model to a semi- presidential model or at least, it significantly leads to it. The objectives of this study are modest. Since the number of mutually different definitions of this system from the perspective of many constitutional lawyers and political scientists is really large, it was impossible to cover such a broad topic completely, therefore this work is devoted to the...
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How the Constitution of the CR was formed: political contexts, persons, influences.
Fuksová, Veronika ; Kysela, Jan (advisor) ; Pithart, Petr (referee)
This thesis deals with topic of creation of the Constitution of the Czech Republic. The main aim of the thesis was to map all relevant circumstances that led to approval of the final form of the document in December 1992. The thesis is divided into chapters that deal successively with historical circumstances, sources of inspiration, various actors involved in the creation of the Constitution of the Czech Republic, the sequence of negotiations and finally with critical issues that provoked widespread debate. The question was how the Constitution was influenced by previous proposals and other sources. The finding that these effects were substantial and that actors of creation of the Constitution explicitly invoked them is partial result of the work. Another question was how the text of the Constitution itself was affected by specific political influences. Based on an analysis of various historical documents, it appears that an attempt to influence the constitution-making process by the government coalition was strong, however, in the result there were compromises in the framework of fundamental issues accepted because there was need to adopt the Constitution in the Czech National Council in December 1992, which was eventually successful.
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