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The status and role of the Scottish Office: development and transformations of the ministry for Scottish affairs in the context of devolution
Hubáčková, Kristina ; Říchová, Blanka (advisor) ; Riegl, Martin (referee)
The theme of this bachelor's thesis is the status and role of the British ministry for Scottish affairs (Scottish Office) and its development in the context of devolution. The work traces the history of the Scottish Office since its foundation in 1885 until its dissolution in 1999, while placing its dissolution into the context of the devolution process in the UK. The objective of the work is to answer the question of whether the Scottish Office acted as a representative of the interests of Scotland at any stage of its development, or whether it only represented the interests of the British Government during the entire period of its existence. In the context of the process of devolution, the work also addresses the Scotland Office, which replaced the Scottish Office after the implementation of devolution proposals in 1999. Based on an analysis and comparison of the activities of the Scottish Office and the Scotland Office, the author concludes that throughout its existence, the ministry for Scottish affairs represented only the interests of the British government in Scotland, and at no stage of its operation was it ever a representative of Scottish interests in the British government.
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Scottish National Party and its position after 1999
Bielawski, Adam ; Říchová, Blanka (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
The bachelor's thesis "Scottish National Party and its position after 1999" discusses the development and status of the Scottish National Party since its foundation in 1934 with emphasis on period after the emergence of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. The thesis is focused on the position of the party in political systems of the United Kingdom and Scotland and its efforts to enforce the primary goal of Scottish independence. The basic measures of party's success are election results and participation in decision-making. The author examines the factors influencing the overal image of the party such as ideology, internal situation, party leader, etc. Study of the party documents, such as election manifestos and government programs, is important part of the paper. The last chapter is about independence referendum, which was held in September 2014. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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The position and role of the Welsh office: evolution and transformation of this British department in devolution context
Elblová, Barbora ; Říchová, Blanka (advisor) ; Kotábová, Věra (referee)
Bachelor's thesis is primary focused on evolution of the Welsh Office (that was founded in 1964) and its role in devolution context. This institution is considered as one of the main innovations of the British regional administration within the territory of Wales during the second half of the 20th century. Text is evaluating political and cultural situation in Wales in relation to Great Britain. Followed by periodical chapter about institution itself - what preceded its establishment, office's function and process of earning powers step by step with focus on character and position of the Secretary of State for Wales, up to successful devolution referendum in 1997. Thereafter the Welsh Office formally ended its activity. Then the research is focused on transfer of powers from the Welsh Office to the newly established National Assembly of Wales under circumstances of the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the role of successor institution - the Wales Office. The aim of this work is to evaluate and describe the role of the Welsh Office, examined the main hypothesis that the Welsh Office and its staff were crucial during the decentralization process in the Welsh region. Another hypothesis is focused on the main political parties of the United Kingdom, whether each party contributed to the realization of...
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Role of the Supreme court of the United Kingdom in the devolution process
Mezera, Martin ; Brunclík, Miloš (advisor) ; Říchová, Blanka (referee)
This Bachelor Thesis deals with role of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in the devolution process. It examines two important aspects of british political system, the judiciary and devolution. Relation between them has in fact been quite overlooked. Main purpose is to find out, wheter newly established Supreme Court has contributed on deepening the devolution. At first author briefly describes UK judiciary and tries to explain relatively complicated systém of courts in all of three legal systems, England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. Afterwards, he explains wht devolution issues are and how their judicial review had looked like before 2009. The most important part of this thesis deals with description of recent devolution develepmnet in all areas. Author analyses single court decisions and and exlplores opinions of court's justices. By this analysis author finds out that the number of court decisions is still relatively small to prove without doubts its influence. Nevertheless, even those few decisions help us understand the development of Supreme Court judges's opinion.
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The concept of referendums in democracy: a comparison of the Scottish and Catalan models
Dudycha, Petr ; Říchová, Blanka (advisor) ; Brunclík, Miloš (referee)
The diploma thesis called 'the concept of referendums in democracy: a comparison of the Scottish and Catalan models', deals with the question of referendum in democracy which is an instrument for countries to become independent. The referendum is correctly known as a constitutional referendum. This thesis also deals with the application of a constitutional referendum in the cases of Scotland and Catalonia. The main purpose of this research is to analyse the conduct of the Scottish and Catalan referendums for independence, both of which were held in the autumn of 2014. The paper looks to identify the similarities and differences between these two examples. Both cases are based on seven variables in the research of referendums: 1) constitutional framework for holding a referendum of independence, 2) identification of the basic political process leading to a referendum, 3) organizational-administrative regulation of a referendum, 4) issues during the referendum campaign, 5) opinion polls for the referendum, 6) results of the referendum and 7) predicted consequences of the referendum. The final purpose of this thesis is to assess how these two models reflect on the current constitutional practice in a democratic society.
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Northern Irish-British relations after 1998 in the context of devolution examines
Hecht, Petr ; Říchová, Blanka (advisor) ; Švec, Kamil (referee)
Bachelor's thesis Northern Irish-British relations after 1998 in the context of devolution examines development and causes of periodization of the Northern Ireland's autonomous assembly since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) until 2012. In the same interval examines the thesis development and transformation of british government policy towards Northern Ireland and reflects the actions of the main political parties in Northern Ireland as well as the role of Republic of Ireland. It uses the method of descriptive case study. The ascertain facts suggests, that the political situation in Northern Ireland was significantly stabilized just after the decommissioning by the paramilitary groups, primarily IRA. The shift in the british government approach towards Northern Ireland contributed to settle the situation as well. Nevertheless, the process of creating stable political representation and functional legislative and executive bodies lasted almost a decade since signing GFA. The transformation of society will take even longer.
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The position of England in the context of the regional organization of Great Britain
Kimelová, Anna ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The diploma thesis "The position of England in the context of the regional organization of Great Britain"deals with the issue of establishing a regional level of governance in the eight regions of England in the period between 1997 and 2004. This policy was promoted by the New Labour government as an answer to demands for democratisation and responsibility of governance in the regions as well as an answer to demands for improvements in economic performance of the regions. The aim of the thesis is to respond to the question of why the public in the regions does not support plans for strengthening of the regional level of governance and for establishing elected regional assemblies in the regions and why this policy was rejected in the referendum held in 2004 in the region North East. The research was carried out using the theory of new regionalism and the concept of construction of regions. Specific criteria are set and are used as a basis for analysis of the situation in the English regions in the selected time period. The first criterion is the territorial framework of the English regions, the second criterion is the institutional framework and the last criterion is the regional identity. It clearly emerges from the analysis that the English regions are not institutionalised as distinctive units...
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Nationalism in the case of Scotland and the possibility of an independent Scottish state?
Martinovská, Veronika ; Lebeda, Tomáš (advisor) ; Říchová, Blanka (referee)
The thesis presents the process of evolution of nationalism in Scotland. The question is asked whether a Scottish nation exists and what features characterise it and how far its history goes back. This thesis considers the possibility of establishment of Scotland as an independent state and examines the prospective form of that subject from the political and economical points fo view. The first part examines the evolution of Scottish nationalism mainly focusing on the formation and progression of the Scottish National Party, especially during 1960s and 1970s as the period of significant growth of its voters, on the process of devolution and institution of the Scottish Parliament after the SNP's victory in the elections in 2007 and 2011. The second part is focusing on the probability of formation of the independent Scottish state. Firstly, the SNP's conception of the prospective Scotland is summed up and then the final version of the planned referendum is described. The important parts of this account also include research into public opinion and its conclusions. The result of this thesis is understanding of the Scottish nation and its history as well as of the attitudes of Scotsmen to the issue considering their independence.
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Devolution and Labour Party in Scotland
Havlíková, Veronika ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The bachelor thesis "Devolution and Labour Party in Scotland" addresses the issue of the relationship between state decentralization and the inner decentralization of political parties. The adoption of devolution has significantly changed the institutional environment in which the British parties operate and thus they were confronted with fundamental question of adapting to this new arrangement. This thesis examines the development of policies and organisation of the Scottish Labour Party after devolution, and aims to evaluate whether the creation of the Scottish Parliament brought for the Scottish Labour Party greater autonomy from the central leadership of the party. The first part of the thesis establishes the theoretical framework for examining the impact of decentralization of the state on organisation and functioning of political parties. It is followed by description of evolution of the Labour Party and its regional branch in Scotland prior to the devolution. This part forms the basis for comparison of the changes in policies and organisation of the Scottish Labour Party after the establishment of the autonomous institutions. The research itself focuses on development of policy in the Scottish Labour Party after devolution, formulation of party policies and electoral programmes. It also examines the...
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New Labour and the Devolution of the United Kingdom in the 1990s
Stejskal, Leoš ; Kovář, Martin (advisor) ; Soukup, Jaromír (referee)
(english) This work focuses on the development devolution questions in the second half of the 20th century and the final implementation of the 90's 20th century policy of New Labour. It seeks to analyze the main assumptions and circumstances leading to the creation of a new institutional framework of the constitutional British Union. The subjects of the research are various political actors and their strategies to attain certain goals, but the focus is on New Labour as the main actor of the period and political phenomenon of essential social processes of the late 20th century. The object of analysis is the connection between the first unsuccessful attempt to devolution in the 70th years and 90 years, with a focus on social, economic and political development. This development enabled the establishment of a just political success of New Labour and devolution enforcement policy, in its specific form as such.
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