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The power of the General: Which factors influence the level of authoritarianism in the Southern African context?
Wordsworth, Ronan Peter ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Doboš, Bohumil (referee)
1 Abstract This paper sets out to answer the central question on the causes of authoritarianism within the regional context of Southern Africa. The hypothesises of the article are that there are several factors that contribute to authoritarian levels within the South African Development Community (SADC). The research aims to adequately define the concept of authoritarianism, and then investigate the relationship between authoritarianism and five different indicators. The links are explored for level of authoritarianism against the level of military expenditure of the government, the threat perception of the government, whether there is a single dominant-party system of government, whether the country has a history of coup d'états, and finally, the dominant party in the civil-military relations. This leads to an investigation into the role that the military plays within authoritarian regimes, and which factors lead to increased authoritarianism. Due to the unique post-colonial context whereby many liberation movements and fighters were then installed as leaders of the country, there is a 'special relationship' between many leaders in the Southern African Development Community and the respective military and defence leadership and this paper will seek to explore these links. It is hypothesised that...
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Russian Eurasianism: Geopolitical plan to conquer the world?
Rédrová, Natálie ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (referee)
Eurasianism emerged more than hundred years ago as an intellectual emigre movement after the First World War, mainly as a theory of national values and traditions. In my thesis, I examine how did this politico-philosophical ideology evolved into its Neo-Eurasian version which is popular under the current Russian system. As most of the Eurasian papers were never translated into English and the available; contemporary literature tends to be critical about Eurasian ideology without being examined properly, I decided to translate and evaluate the original texts too. In my bachelor thesis I focused on topics of Eurasian geopolitics. I compared the main classic works of the western geopolitical analysts to the Neo-Eurasian writings and explained the historical background of this land. I analysed into what extend is the Kremlin following the (Neo)Eurasian Doctrine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Also, how Russian Federation incline towards the eastern states after conflicts and misunderstanding with the western states. I collected and compared the information from the official documents, historical writings of the Russian and foreign authors and the geopolitical predictions of the past century. This paper might be of a value for western researchers without a knowledge of Russian language and...
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Turkey's Influence in Kosovo and Albania since 2006
Rukiqi, Dorjeta ; Doboš, Bohumil (advisor) ; Riegl, Martin (referee)
Kosovo and Albania have developed relations with Turkey for many centuries, due to a shared history. These relations took another dimension in the 21st century with the entrance of President Erdogan into the political scene of Turkey. Personal relations were developing between the leader of Turkey with leaders in Kosovo and Albania. Moreover, in the field of economy, they have reached many agreements that impact the markets of Turkey, Albania and Kosovo. The shared past concluded to major similarities in culture between the countries. Due to Muslim societies, Turkey has also been utilizing religion as a tool to project soft power in Albania and Kosovo. In this study we take a closer look at Turkish influence in Albania and Kosovo in the political, economic, and cultural spheres. The study was conducted on a mixed methodology where ten semi-structured interviews with experts, professors and politicians were developed (five per each country) and a survey to include citizens' perceptions on the topic (867 persons responded to the survey, around 51% of respondents from Kosovo and 49% from Albania). This study concluded that Turkey's influence in Kosovo and Albania is not negative, except for rare cases of penetration in internal politics. Cultural similarities are seen to contribute to trade between...
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Attempted secessions in Myanmar: case studies of Karen and Shan states (1948 - 2015)
Dembický, Filip ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Doboš, Bohumil (referee)
Master diploma thesis deals with the potential secessionist attempts in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Thesis is divided into several parts: introduction, theoretical part, practical part and conclusion. In the introduction of the thesis the research question is stated: Is it possible to justify the secessionist attempts in the Karen and the Shan State by the theory of the remedial secession? Theoretical part consists of two chapters. The first chapter explains the concepts of the secession, the sovereignty and the quasi-state. The concept of the normative theories of secession is described. The remedial theory of secession elaborated by American political philosopher Allen Buchanan is introduced in this chapter. Buchanan's remedial theory criteria are applied in the practical part of the research. The second chapter of the theoretical part depicts the constitutional and political history of the independent state of Burma/Myanmar since year 1948 when the state had been created until the year 2015 when Nationwide Ceasefire Act of 2015 between the Burmese federal government and the ethnic armed organizations was signed. This chapter serves as a background for diachronic comparison of three subdivisions of Burmese constitutional and political history. Those subdivisions are: the first era (1947...
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Oil and its influence on the development of democracy. Comparative study of Norway and Azerbaijan
Bárta, Richard ; Guasti, Petra (advisor) ; Riegl, Martin (referee)
On cases of Norway and Azerbaijan, the Bachelor's thesis examines the relationship between the oil and gas production revenues and the quality of democracy. Norway is one of the few countries in the world, that had successfully avoided the Resource curse symptoms. On the other hand, Republic of Azerbaijan is typical example of a state, where oil and gas revenues helped to promote the authoritarian regime. The thesis is trying to find key factors of Norway's oil and gas management success, and also to point out, whether these factors were absent in the case of Azerbaijan. The thesis is focused on the amount of oil and gas related revenues, and its influence on developement of democracy in observed countries. Finally, the thesis responds to following questions: Is the quality of democracy influenced by the amount of revenues from oil and gas? In what way did the revenues allocated from the mineral resources extraction helped to preserve the current regimes? Does Norwegian model provide guidance for avoiding the symptoms of the Resource curse?
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The GIUK's gap Geopolitical Importance
Prášil, Matěj ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Romancov, Michael (referee)
The following thesis is focusing on the geopolitical as well as geostrategic significance of the GIUK Gap. In addition to an overview of the realist theories of international relations used in the analysis as such, the thesis includes a section devoted to the historical development of the geopolitical and geostrategic significance of the GIUK Gap, but above all an analysis of the current geopolitical and geostrategic significance of the once mentioned specific North Atlantic region. The analysis of the current geopolitical situation is written with an emphasis on the increasing importance of the area for NATO and the Russian Federation, whose interests have increasingly clashed in recent years, not only in this region. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate a causal relationship between the generally deteriorating relations between NATO and the Russian Federation following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the growing importance of the GIUK Gap.
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How the World Views the Israeli and Hungarian migration policies
Piletskaya, Vera Nika ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Landovský, Jakub (referee)
The vitality of study of migration and its outcomes has become one of the red flags of the century. Since the years 2014-2015 western countries have become the destination, but how does the world see migration policies of Hungary and Israel - the two very far from each other states that, with a detailed analysis of their regulations, laws, detentions, and facilities for those purposes, appear to have a number of correlations. Badly equipped detention centres and/or camps, long-time application procedures, attempts to relocate refugees, and built-up fences form the common ground of the two countries. Robert Cooper's theory from "The Breaking of Nations" (2004) on the state formation is meant to differentiate the world into three categories, pre-modern, modern, and post-modern. Those would have different opinion on Israeli and Hungarian migration policies, but how does that perception vary? Three focus states would be the representatives for those types of state formation. Libya is for pre-modern states, those are unstable and face the risk of falling from the uneven, usually military, order to chaos; the United States of America comes as a representation of the modern states, which focus on the balance of power, and national security and privacy of their affairs prevails over other matters; and the...
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Augmentation of a State's power in Kautilya's Arthashastra, The case of India
Pandey, Shubhang ; Doboš, Bohumil (advisor) ; Riegl, Martin (referee)
Abstract- Western thoughts and thinking dominate international relations theories. Kautilya's Arthaasatra is a text written on political statecraft and governance almost 2300 years ago. Utilising this text, the research question of how India can augment its state power is answered. Two hypotheses are employed to answer these questions. One is if India can be an alternative to the Chinese monopoly in rare earth elements. The second is if India can lessen its dependence on semiconductors, which comprises 100% imports. This thesis finds that both the hypotheses are valid and recommends that the present government ensure that the mines remain in government control It also recommends that for the next decade, the government maintains control over the semiconductor industry or even if it's privatised, the government retains the facility, in order to generate revenue from it. This thesis demonstrates that the Indian state's power can be augmented by augmenting its economy. Západní myšlenky a způsob myšlení dominují teorie mezinárodních vztahů. Kautilyna Arthaastra je text napsaný o státnictví a vládnutí téměř před třemi tisíci lety. Pomocí tohoto textu můžeme zodpovědět otázku výzkumu jak může Indie rozšířit svou státní moc. Pro zodpovězení těchto otázek zapojíme dvě hypotézy. Jednou je, zda Indie může být...
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