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Brainwashing and New religious movements
Madarová, Sara ; Vojtíšek, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Kostičová, Zuzana (referee)
My diploma thesis, called "The new religious movements and brainwashing", could be divided into two imaginary units. The first one is more general but technical. This part analyzes the term brainwashing as a whole, from a different point of views. The term brainwashing appears throughout the whole paper; from its formation, across the development, until its usage in everyday life. This contains the usage in media, advertising, and other spheres. This chapter should point out the importance of this topic, which is often forgotten. The second part of the thesis aims to contrast the book by Ted Patrick and Tom Dulack, which describes the term deprogramming. This term was allegedly invented for the new religious movement practices and brainwashing purposes. This chapter outlines the Ted's Patrick stances and gives an impartial reaction on it. The third part of the thesis is more of a narrative. It gives a fundamental explanation and typology of new religious movements, which connects the previous two parts. The following chapter clarifies the opposition theories. Nonetheless, it focuses on the anti-cult movements, but also the perception of media, the majority society, or a role of the state. This part of the thesis is vital in order to take a stand on the brainwashing itself. Its careless usage is an...
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The Legality of the Use of Force against Islamic State
Mlčák, Jiří ; Bílková, Veronika (advisor) ; Ondřej, Jan (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the lawfulness of the use of force by the United States of America against the so-called Islamic State in the territory of Syria, in terms of Ius ad bellum. For this purpose, the thesis is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on assessing the subjectivity of the Islamic State. In particular, the subjectivity is examined with regard to the criteria arising from the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States and from professional experience. The Islamic State is assessed in terms of defined territory, permanent population, effective government, capacity to enter into relations with other states, independence and legitimacy. The second part deals with the legal regulation of the use of force in international relations. After the presentation of the historical development, the attention is paid especially to the UN Charter and the ensuing prohibition of the threat or use of force in international relations. In the context of the use of force against the Islamic State, legal exceptions to this prohibition, which could be used in the fight against the Islamic State, are presented. First, attention is paid to the exceptions resulting from the UN Charter, which are self-defense under Article 51 and actions under Chapter VII. Two types of...
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Child Soldiers: Recruitment and Abuse of Children in Armed Conflicts
Karásková, Karolina ; Makariusová, Radana (advisor) ; Ludvík, Zdeněk (referee)
The main aim of this Master's thesis is to analyse how children are recruited and abused as soldiers in armed conflicts, and how international humanitarian law protects their rights. The thesis is divided in two main parts, theoretical and empirical. In theoretical part are introduced the most important documents of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including international governmental and non-governmental organizations which promote these rights. In empirical part, the author focuses on case studies, namely the case of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the case of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The author was not interested in finding similarities in these two cases, but conversely, to point out on the uniqueness of each case. To precise, the thesis is analysing reasons for the recruitment and abuse of children by the LRA and ISIS, and the legal responsibility of both groups. The author of this thesis chose as a methodology an instrumental case study which is useful for providing a general understanding of a phenomenon by using a particular case. In addition, this methodology is convenient for interpretation of legal documents, and two selected cases serve as instruments for interpreting the recruitment and abuse of children in armed conflicts. The...
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US Strategic communication towards Islamic state
Truchlá, Jana ; Beneš, Jan (advisor) ; Riegl, Martin (referee)
The main topic of my bachelor thesis is illustration of public image and strategic communication towards ISIS of two US most recent presidents Obama and Trump. In the theoretical part of the bachelor thesis I will outline the basic description of the Islamic state as a terrorist aggressor and the threat of the West as opposed to US protective policy and leadership in the World Anti-Terrorist Coalition. In this part of thesis I would primarily try to depict the main concept of strategic communication, its forms and the differences between the notions strategic communication and propaganda. In the main part I will describe the activities and the ways of formulating US strategic communication actors to explain the individual steps during the war against ISIS for the relevant audience - US citizens. In particular I will concentrate on official political strategic communication of the US Presidents which I will demonstrate on the particular examples - presidential press conferences and releases. Among digital media, I will focus on using the Twitter social network as a phenomenon to implement diplomacy through tweets. The key point of the work will be a determination of the priorities of strategic communication in the timeframe of Obama's and Trump's term in office. Choosing this specific timeframe...
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Syrian Civil War from the Perspective of Czech and German Diplomacy
NOVOTNÁ, Tereza
This bachelor thesis elaborates on the topic of one of the biggest humanitarian crises since the Second World War - the Syrian Civil War. Special attention is given to the perspective of Czech and German diplomacy regarding this conflict. At first, the reader is made familiar with the aspects of authoritarian ruling in the Middle East. These aspects are analysed in a broader context, regarding the Arab spring, which started in 2011 and later developed into Arabellion. Secondly, the main events of the Syrian Civil War (till late 2018) are described as well, so that the reader can get an overview of the process of this war. And last but not least, the Czech foreign policy and the German foreign policy towards the affairs in Syria are analysed and commented by the author of the thesis. As both countries are members of the EU, which has its own Common Foreign and Security Policy, this aspect is also mentioned in the conclusion of the thesis.
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The Perception of Women in Terrorist Organizations: A Comparative Study of the Islamic state and Al Qaeda
Antonínová, Aneta ; Ditrych, Ondřej (advisor) ; Záhora, Jakub (referee)
The thesis aims to analyze the role of women in the Islamic State and Al Qaeda and determine which factors can account for the differences in their perception of women. Although the phenomenon of terrorism has been the focus of many researchers in the field of international relations, the amount of attention paid to women as perpetrators of terrorist violence is significantly smaller. Both of the studied terrorist organizations follow the radical interpretation of Islam which results in many shared views concerning female roles in society in general and in jihad in particular. However, it is possible to find differences in their opinions of women, especially in relation to a more active involvement in the groups' combat and martyrdom operations. In regards to methodology, comparative case study was chosen as the best possible method to explain these differences. The results of the analysis show that it is the worsening security context and increasing threats to the group's survival that are able to account for the acceptance of female combatants in the case of the Islamic State. On the other hand, Al Qaeda's relatively strong position does not create similar pressure for the group to change its position regarding women. Keywords Terrorism, Role of Women, Islamic State, Al Qaeda
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Methods of Recruitment and Propaganda Activities Carried Out by Terrorist Groups Inspired by the Ideology of Salafi Jihadism
Kubrina, Ekaterina ; Ditrych, Ondřej (advisor) ; Ludvík, Zdeněk (referee)
The diploma thesis is focused on the issue of radicalization of young people, who join terrorist organizations inspired by the ideology of Salafi Jihadism. Terrorist groups are one of the greatest global threats of the 21st century, and the recruitment of new fighters is their basic factor of success and growth. Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to compare the methods and techniques of recruitment used by Salafi Jihadist groups and to identify successful strategies of terrorist groups, leading to the radicalization of certain populations. The work deals with two concrete terrorist groups - the "Islamic State" and Al-Qaeda, because these groups operate globally, have sympathizers around the world, and attract different people to join them. The basis of the research is an application of different radicalization models that have been developed up to now on the observed methods and strategies of terrorist recruiters. The result of this research is a revealing of the most used methods of recruitment, the reasons of successful recruitment cases and a summarizing of the qualities of potential recruits and the factors facilitating radicalization of these persons.
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Comparing U.S. Counterterrorist Policies against Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
Kopecká, Anna - Marie ; Ditrych, Ondřej (advisor) ; Doboš, Bohumil (referee)
The thesis deals with comparison of the United States counterterrorist policies against al- Qaeda and the Islamic state. It compares the approaches of two U.S. administrations in period from 11th September 2001 to end of the year 2014, when the Operation Enduring Freedom came to its end, and in period from July 2014, when the Operation Inherent Resolve was launched, to the end of the year 2016. The thesis characterizes similarities and differences between both strategies. It also aims to answer the question whether the U.S. approach to al- Qaeda was tougher than the one to the Islamic state. Counterterrorist policies are being compared here based on three criteria: military means employed, cooperation with international actors and extra-legalism. The first part of the thesis copes with concepts of terrorism and counter-terrorism. In the next part both approaches are analyzed separately and compared subsequently. In the conclusion the results are summarized and causes of differences between approaches are interpreted.
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Media Construction of Kurdish women's militia in CT, CNN, AJE and RT
Slezák, Prokop ; Vochocová, Lenka (advisor) ; Krobová, Tereza (referee)
The diploma thesis The media construction of the Kurdish women's militia in CT, CNN, AJE and RT deals with the media coverage of all female Kurdish militias in three world media and one domestic. The aim of the thesis is to allow readers a comprehensive approach to the studied media in covering topics related to Kurdish fighters with the use of a qualitative method known as interpretive reading. The author has included TV stations, each of which represents one dominant region - CNN American, AJE Middle Eastern, RT Russian and Czech TV domestic. Existing academic papers often focus on media fascination with Kurdish fighters, labeling them as "tough warriors", describing them as an unusual phenomenon in the territory of the patriarchal Middle East. This work focuses mainly on comparing the degree of fascination and gender stereotyping in media coverage of each media house. Kurdish women's militias have been the center of media attention in connection with the war with the so-called Islamic State, which has captured large areas in Syria and Iraq since 2014. The main events that raised media attention around the Kurdish women fighters were the battle of the city of Kobani in northern Syria and the assault on the Yazidi community in the northwest of Iraq at Mount Sindjar. In both cases, Kurdish women became an...
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Securitization of the Veteran Effect of Foreign Fighters from ISIS in Europe
Pěčková, Miroslava ; Ditrych, Ondřej (advisor) ; Ludvík, Zdeněk (referee)
The aim of this Master's thesis is to examine the securitization discourse used to construct the security threat coming from the veteran effect of the Islamic State's foreign fighters in Europe, and to see what kind of policies were adopted to counter it so far. The phenomenon of departing European citizens, who are becoming foreign fighters in the Syrian conflict, joining the ranks of the Islamic State, and then return back to their country of origin after having acquired combat experience or other training, has become a hot topic of discussion not only for academics, but also for politicians and ordinary citizens. To precise, this thesis is working with three main case studies, whose securitization discourse and security policies are analysed. These are: European Union, United Kingdom and France. The author was interested in finding out what similarities and differences can be found between the analysed countries, plus, whether there is some pattern of influence between the European Union and its member states in this area. The author of this thesis chose to use a comparative case study as a research design. It is useful to realize a contrast of contexts and therefore to discover specifics of the analysed cases. Two tables were created in order to clarify the operationalization of the analysed...
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