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Nationality Matters: How Members of the European Parliament Decide on Citizens' Petitions
Schüppel, Carl Felix ; Arregui Moreno, Francisco Javier (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
Recent studies have suggested that MEPs give higher priority to their national parties and voters when making decisions than previously thought. To test this finding, this paper investigated whether and why MEPs' decisions on citizens' petitions in the petitions committee were influenced by petitioners' nationality. It employed a mixed-methods design combining statistical analysis of a new dataset of petitions from the 8th and 9th parliamentary term and thematic analysis of interviews with MEPs and administrative staff. The results show that MEPs favoured petitions from their own countries and that petitioners from countries that were overrepresented in the committee had a higher chance of success. The study identified three conditions at member state level that led to national overrepresentation: the possibility to achieve outcomes that can be "sold" to voters, a highly polarised party system, and media reporting on petitions. The paper thus supports the recent findings while also pointing to an unfair handling of petitions that could undermine citizens' trust in the process.
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From Brussels with love? Data Analysis of Social Media usage by Czech Members of the European Parliament
Vanka, Boris ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Ullrichová, Eliška (referee)
Populism is on growth throughout Europe and the World. Research has shown that especially in the European Parliament, the number of populist politicians is rising over the last decades. Likewise, social media usage by users is booming and is used particularly by this type of politicians who spread their messages, using emotionality and negativity. Since the literature indicated that populists are especially active, efficient, and followed this research aimed to analyze the relationship between the degree of populism and its influence on the three variables of the Members of the European Parliament elected for Czechia. In order to evaluate such a relationship, the data from Facebook (page posts, interaction by users, and numbers of followers) were utilized to test defined hypotheses and answer the research question. Exploratory Data Analysis was used as a wider framework, while Pearson Correlation Coefficient served as a tool for computing the correlation. Therefore, the scale of the independent variable (degree of populism) was based on data about Czech political parties, reflected in anti-elitism, corruption salience, protectionism, and nationalism. The dependent variables were based on activity, efficiency, and acquirement of followers. Moreover, the test of statistical significance was conducted...
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Europeanisation of gender equality in Eastern European countries: the case of Slovakia and Slovenia
Petrechová, Sára ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Menclová, Barbora (referee)
Gender equality has long been declared as one of the European Union's (EU) core values and priorities, and its importance is still emphasised today. EU Member States are expected to participate in and take action to promote gender equality. This thesis focuses on the analysis of the process of Europeanisation of gender equality agenda in two Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states, namely Slovenia and Slovakia. Slovenia has long been at the top of surveys on the state of gender equality. Slovenia is more active and successful in promoting and supporting gender equality compared to other EU Member States in the region, while Slovakia is at the other end of the ranking, facing stagnation and lack of progress in this area. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on the new institutionalism, which allows to analyse the impact of institutions and institutional changes at the national level on the process of Europeanisation of gender policy. At the analytical level, the thesis applies a three-level framework of polity, politics, and policy, which examines institutional arrangements, political parties and their approach to gender equality, and legislative changes related to gender equality in both countries. The aim of the thesis is to identify factors that positively or negatively...
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Europeanization of the non-profit sector in the Czech Republic: NGOs dealing with the integration of children from institutional care
Gillarová, Irena ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Weiss, Tomáš (referee)
In the international arena, European integration and globalization are becoming increasingly significant trends to which the Czech Republic must adapt by creating new international and supranational institutional and organizational structures. The Czech Republic's accession to the European Union and the process of Europeanization have opened up new opportunities and challenges for NGOs, which play a significant role in the participation of civil society in the European space. However, although Europeanization puts pressure on the political systems of EU member states, it is still unclear whether there is convergence between the member states, as empirical studies suggest that domestic changes tend to use alternative mechanisms. This diplomathesis deals with the impact of Europeanization on non-govermental organizations (NGOs) focused on integrating children from institutional care into society. The thesis explores the challenges and opportunities that arise with European integration for these actors and seeks to determine whether accessing EU funds provides sufficient motivation for the examined NPOs to Europeanize. The aim of the thesis is to examine changes in the structure, practices, and strategic planning of NPOs in order to gain insights into whether these organizations can adapt their...
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Sinn Féin: Comparison of election campaigns of 2020 Irish general election and of 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election
Dvouletá, Kristýna ; Špína, Vladimír (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The bachelor thesis analyzes the social media political communication of Sinn Féin during the election campaigns to Dáil in 2020 and to Stormont in 2022. The thesis focuses on the analysis of the posts about Irish unification and the usage of populist communication. The analysis proceeds form the Lees-Marshment model of political marketing. Sinn Féin was a sales-oriented party in both elections, thus it promoted its main aim; Irish unity. However, the majority of the posts did not focus on unification. In both campaigns, Sinn Féin followed the electorate's needs. Sinn Féin evinces the features of a market-oriented party. Sinn Féin used populist communication in the majority of the posts. The party was more offensive during the campaign to Dáil. Firstly, the thesis presents the Lees-Marshment political marketing model and it describes the most important features of populist communication. Then, the thesis focuses on the description of the chosen quantitative content analysis. The theoretical framework describes the past and present of Sinn Féin, it focuses on the party's attitude towards populism. The second part of the thesis describes the political system in both countries. Then, the thesis describes the election campaigns. The results are presented in the last chapter.
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What has been the role of the EP in the externalisation of migration policy since the 2015 migration crisis
Maes, Silke Rosie M ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Escriba, Abel (referee)
In 2015, an unprecedented number of migrants entering the EU, and the failure to coordinate the inflow of migrants on the basis of solidarity led to an exponential growth in externalisation policies aimed at curbing migration flows. Readmission composed an important part of this strategy, constituting one of the EU's priorities. Many of the readmission agreements signed during the 8th parliamentary term took the form of informal agreements in which the European Parliament has no formal role. Previous research on the topic has argued that, in the wake of the migration crisis, the European Council cast a "shadow of hierarchy" on the European Parliament, actively undermining its role. However, an in-depth analysis of the arguments and drivers from the perspective of the European Parliament had, so far, not been conducted. Therefore, this thesis aimed to answer the following question: what drives contestation by the European Parliament of informal readmission agreements? To explain limited but varying Parliamentary opposition to informal readmission agreements and identify the drivers and arguments for contestation, this thesis conducted a qualitative comparative small n case study of 3 agreements (Turkey, Afghanistan and Ethiopia). The theoretical framework by Thevenin, which identifies means and...
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From Brussels with love? Data Analysis of Social Media usage by Czech Members of the European Parliament
Vanka, Boris ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Ullrichová, Eliška (referee)
The central theme of this thesis was a deeper understanding of social media communication by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) elected for Czechia between 2020 and 2022. The author decided to conduct the research due to the influence the politicians maintain (factual within the legislative process and the one based on their authority when co-creating opinions in the public sphere), while a lack of academic studies on such a topic existed, establishing a research gap to be filled. In the past, researchers within the field of political sciences focused primarily on the qualitative dimension of online communication (text analysis) or only one of the social media platforms (mostly Twitter). This approach could uncover sentiments but made it much more challenging to spot trends. Therefore, the data from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were obtained via an online provider Zoomsphere, mainly from the parties' leaders in the European elections of 2019. These pieces of information were researched with a data analysis approach, which consisted of nine main steps. After evaluating the research aim, data were identified, collected, extracted, cleaned, aggregated, analyzed, and finally visualized in order to make conclusions based on the outcomes. Once this process was finished, the data were compared...
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The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on meeting the objectives of the EU's Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 in the Czech Republic and Austria
Jančíková, Natálie ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Bauer, Paul (referee)
This Master's Thesis investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 in Austria and Czechia, with a focus on the strategy's goals of freedom from violence and stereotypes, thriving in a gender-equal economy, and equal leadership throughout society. The research adopts Sylvia Walby's theory of gender regimes to provide context, which highlights the role of the state in shaping gender equality outcomes. Austria and Czechia are identified as social democratic and neoliberal gender regimes, respectively. This mixed-methods study employs thematic analysis and comparative case study and combines qualitative data gathered through ethnographic methods and quantitative data from open statistics. The thesis finds that Czechia operates as a neoliberal gender regime, with a limited role of the state in supporting women at risk of gender-based violence. In contrast, Austria's social democratic gender regime has provided robust support during the pandemic, with a centralized system of shelters and a state-wide 24/7 women's helpline. The study contributes to the development of gender regime theory and offers a nuanced understanding of the pandemic's impact on gender equality in different gender regimes. The findings have relevance for ongoing academic debate on the...
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British policy towards the Soviet Union during Winston Churchill's second term as Prime Minister
Vondráčková, Tereza ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Kłusek, Johana (referee)
The bachelor thesis titled "British policy towards the Soviet Union during Winston Churchill's second term as Prime Minister" deals with the issue of British policy towards the Soviet Union which was influenced by the changing attitude of the most prominent British statesman of the first half of the 20th century, Winston Churchill. The thesis focuses on the beginnings of the détente policy caused by Stalin's death in 1953. In order to shed light on the historical context, it was also necessary to make a recapitulation of the policy pursued by the previous Labour government which was led by Clement Attlee. The examined period of 1951-1955 is characterised by the diplomatic efforts to initiate dialogue between the Western and Eastern blocs. The thesis further focuses on international conferences that aimed to reduce tensions and the arm race in order to eliminate the possibility of a nuclear conflict between the superpowers. Based on the studied secondary literature and available primary sources, the result of the thesis is the determination of the influence of détente on British policy towards the USSR and the evaluation of Churchill's attempts to engage in dialogue with the Eastern bloc.
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