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Comparison of the Decolonisation Process in Indonesia and Malaysia
Šebek, Ivo ; Klusáková, Luďa (advisor) ; Janáč, Jiří (referee) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee)
The author of the submitted work compares the process of decolonization in Southeast Asia on the examples of Indonesia and the Federation of Malaya. Although both countries have much in common, culturally, historically, or geographically for example; the process of gaining independence from the colonial powers differed in many aspects. Text analyses probable reasons for these differences by comparative study of economic, social and political histories of both territories in the 19th and especially in the first half of the 20th century. Taking into account the extensive subject matter the analysis focuses only on selected areas that seem to be essential to the distinct development of decolonization in researched countries based on the existing literature. That involves particularly the approach of colonial countries (Great Britain and Netherlands), the course of World War II, solving the ethnical issue and the role of local political elites. This work also covers brief summary of economic and political development in the period preceding the declaration of independence. Key words: Decolonization Southeast Asia Indonesia Malayan federation colonialism
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Private military and security companies in the fight against pirates from the South China Sea to the Horn of Africa
Perglerová, Soňa ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Bureš, Oldřich (referee)
The international system has been confronting with constant changes since the end of the Cold War. Especially in the last twenty years on the international chessboard has emerged a new player that provides a wide range of military and security services - private military and security companies (PMSCs). While operations PMSCs are mainly associated and confined with conflict and war zones in Africa and the Middle East, this thesis entitled "Private military and security companies in the fight against the pirates from the South China sea to the horn of Africa" is about private military and security companies which provide special security services - naval. The growing demand for these services leads to the increase of private providers not only along the Somali coast, but also in Southeast Asia. The aim of the thesis is to explain why PMSCs engage in the fight against piracy, respectively what are the conditions for the initiation and development of private naval security activities.
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Phylogeography and population structure of two loach species (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) in Southeast Asia
Dvořák, Tomáš ; Bohlen, Jörg (advisor) ; Říčan, Oldřich (referee)
The freshwater fish species Schistura robertsi and Paracanthocobitis zonalternans belong to the family Nemacheilidae, which is distributed across whole Eurasia and with one species in northeast Africa. P. zonalternans occurs in lowland habitats through western Southeast Asia from Central Myanmar until northern Malaysia. The distribution area is of biogeographic interest, because it crosses several known biogeographic barriers, namely the border between Indian and Indochinese freshwater fauna along the Salween River, the Isthmus of Kra, the Krabi - Surat Thani line and the Kangar - Pattani line. In the present study, around 250 specimens of P. zonalternans from 62 localities across the whole distribution area were investigated using genetic (nuclear and mitochondrial sequences), morphologic and geologic data. The genetic data reveal the existence of seven major clades within the analysed material, each of them with a distinct geographic distribution area and only few cases of overlap, but with occurrence of some cases of secondary contact. Divergence time estimations suggested that P. zonalternans is about 18 my old, and a biogeographic analysis located the region of origin in the Tenasserim region (nowadays southern Myanmar). The global sea level fluctuations seem to have had a strong impact on the...
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Pivot to Asia: Case Study of American Democracy Promotion in Myanmar, 2011 - 2016
Grmelová, Lucie ; Kucer, Maxim (advisor) ; Hornát, Jan (referee)
Promotion of democracy, a traditional tool of American foreign policy, was used also during Barack Obama's presidency through open dialogues and mutual cooperation also with non- democratic nations. The United States during Obama's administration renewed and connected diplomatic relations with countries that were overlooked by previous American administrations. This thesis is focusing on the foreign policy concept during Obama's second term, namely Pivot to Asia. Support of universal values and democracy was one of the central pillars of this policy. The main goal of this thesis is to argue if concentrated American presence and activity in 2011-2016 in Southeast Asia either supported democratic growth or led to democratic backsliding in the region. Specifically, Myanmar had gone through major political transformation since 2011. Ruling junta implemented reforms that opened up space for democratic opposition in the country and reduced sanctions and the policy of isolation from many Western states. Changes within Myanmar government in 2011-2016, American policy towards Myanmar, and normalization of American-Myanmar relations are three examples used in this case study that provides concrete approaches of American administration within Pivot to Asia.
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Regional Transition - From Conflict to Cooperation
Kuľková, Miroslava ; Ditrych, Ondřej (advisor) ; Karlas, Jan (referee) ; Koschut, Simon (referee)
Doctoral thesis Regional Transition - From Conflict to Cooperation examines the transformation of world regions from non-cooperative to. It brings reconceptualization of the peaceful change, which it understands as a continuum - negative peace, positive peace, and security community. This understanding builds on the existing literature on peaceful change, yet the conceptualization of the stages is innovated. The main goal of this dissertation is to capture the dynamic process of transition from negative to positive peace, and from positive peace to the security community. It uses findings from the literature on peaceful changes and trust-building to build two comprehensive mechanisms of transition that are subsequently traced with the method of process-tracing in two cases of the region for each type of transition. The focus is on the entities and activities producing the qualitative change in the regional relations. For the transition from negative to positive peace, Western Balkans in the period from 1999 to 2011, and Southeast Asia from 1966 to 2003 are chosen. For the transition from positive peace to the security community, Western Europe (1957-2004) and North America (1940s- 2011) are chosen.
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Adaptive radiation of the genus Rattus
Skalíková, Hana ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Mazoch, Vladimír (referee)
Rats are an important group of rodents originating and living mainly in southeast Asia. They are important pests and reservoirs of zoonosis. Yet, about many species we only have basic information. Here, I summarized available information about 66 species of the genus Rattus and 10 species of the genus Bandicota, Diplothrix, Limnomys, Nesokia and Tarsomys. I focused on distribution, ecology and morphology (body lenght, tail lenght, hind food lenght and ear lenght) and their mutual relationships. The body lenght differs beetwen phylogenetic lineages and beetwen habitats. The other morphological characters (tail lenght, hind food lenght and ear lenght) correlated with body lenght. Further, I describe an adaptive radiation of rats. Rats are separated into several lineages, diferring in their geographic distribution and ecology. Moreover, many species are commensal, that is benefiting from close relationship with humans. Commensalism species can be found in several lineages of rats, therefore commensalism probably developped independently more than once. The commencalism was origined several times. I discuse why are some commensal species more successful than others. Key words: adaptive radiation, Bandicota, commensal species, ecomorphology, Rattus, rodents, southeast Asia
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Can China rise peacefully? The South China Sea Issue
Petreková, Patrícia ; Sehnálková, Jana (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with the rise of China in the context of its behavior in the South China Sea over the past decade. The significant economic growth of the People's Republic of China over the last few decades is expected to affect not only the regional balance of powers, but also its position within the international system. There is a wide-ranging debate in academia about how China will grow and how it will affect the international community. As a reaction, in order to explain its growth, China has introduced the concept of "peaceful development", according to which its growth should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat to the international community. An offensive realism approach was chosen for this work and the ideas of its main advocate John Mearsheimer will be applied to the specific behavior of China in the region. The role of the United States, which influences China's behavior, will also be discussed. The diploma thesis will further deal with the increased Chinese assertiveness in the area of South China Sea and the means it uses in it to enforce its claims. The basic aim of this work is to underscore the contrast between the declared official policy of China and its actual behavior.
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The Implications of the Collapse of the Caliphate for Southeast Asia
Clancy, Jean-Patrick Christian James ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Ludvík, Zdeněk (referee)
Following the announcement of the establishment of a Caliphate in 2014, individuals and groups from all corners of the world pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State. Of particular interest to this study are violent terrorist groups based in Southeast Asia. The thesis focuses on this region as, despite obvious geographical constraints, local bay'ah pledges have allowed ISIS to suddenly emerge in the region with a large and well organised force allowing for an increase in terrorist activities and ultimately the capture of Marawi, the largest city to fall under the ISIS banner outside of Syria and Iraq. But a question remains too often unanswered - why do terrorist groups ally? While the dynamic is rare and paradoxical due to groups' illicit and clandestine nature, strategic alliances between terrorist groups are far from being a new phenomenon. While a handful of scholars dared to explore this complex field, it remains under-theorised to this day. This thesis uses an available list of studies and analyses on terrorist alliances and complements it with theories related to alliances between states in order to understand the rationale behind Southeast Asian Islamists alliance with ISIS. While there lacks a consensus as to why groups ally, the study finds it to be a multi-dimensional and mutually...
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Geopolitical Importance of the South China Sea
Volf, Dominik ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Karásková, Ivana (referee)
This diploma thesis, entitled "The Geopolitical Importance of the South China Sea", deals with the issue of the South China Sea dispute in view of the economic and strategic importance of the region. The main goal is to analyze the claims of individual countries and to find out whether this dispute has the potential to grow into an armed conflict. The dispute arose from overlapping territorial claims that countries in the region began to make after the end of World War II. This is primarily the case of the various maritime features in the vicinity of which there are considerable reserves of natural resources. It is the interest in securing these resources that is the main issue of the dispute. To this day, this situation has not been resolved and on the contrary it has triggered a response from states outside the region, mainly the United States of America and Japan. In order to achieve the goal of this diploma thesis, the theoretical framework, which is geopolitics and critical geopolitics, is first introduced. Furthermore, the general meaning of seas and oceans with the current legislation is introduced. On this basis, country case studies are conducted with the aim of making a comparative analysis that should clarify the current form of the dispute and the potential of the dispute to grow into...
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Phylogeography and population structure of two loach species (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) in Southeast Asia
Dvořák, Tomáš ; Bohlen, Jörg (advisor) ; Říčan, Oldřich (referee)
The freshwater fish species Schistura robertsi and Paracanthocobitis zonalternans belong to the family Nemacheilidae, which is distributed across whole Eurasia and with one species in northeast Africa. P. zonalternans occurs in lowland habitats through western Southeast Asia from Central Myanmar until northern Malaysia. The distribution area is of biogeographic interest, because it crosses several known biogeographic barriers, namely the border between Indian and Indochinese freshwater fauna along the Salween River, the Isthmus of Kra, the Krabi - Surat Thani line and the Kangar - Pattani line. In the present study, around 250 specimens of P. zonalternans from 62 localities across the whole distribution area were investigated using genetic (nuclear and mitochondrial sequences), morphologic and geologic data. The genetic data reveal the existence of seven major clades within the analysed material, each of them with a distinct geographic distribution area and only few cases of overlap, but with occurrence of some cases of secondary contact. Divergence time estimations suggested that P. zonalternans is about 18 my old, and a biogeographic analysis located the region of origin in the Tenasserim region (nowadays southern Myanmar). The global sea level fluctuations seem to have had a strong impact on the...
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