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The Czech Republic's Participation in the Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America and its Policy Implications
Morales Interiano, Andrés ; Vacek, Pavel (advisor) ; Semerák, Vilém (referee) ; Figueira, Filipa (referee)
University College London - School of Slavonic and East European Studies Univerzita Karlova v Praze - Charles University in Prague - Faculty of Social Sciences International Masters in Economy, State & Society - Economics and Business Andrés Morales Interiano UCL Student Number: 14082525 The Czech Republic's Participation in the Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America and its Policy Implications Master's Thesis Supervisors: Dr Filipa Figueira (UCL) and Dr Pavel Vacek (Charles University) 20 May 2016 - Prague, Czech Republic Abstract: Preferential Trade Agreements have become evermore popular in the worldwide market economy and have raised much interest in academics and policy-makers alike. This paper studies the participation that the Czech Republic had in the Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America during the pre- negotiation and negotiation rounds, and the effects that it brought to the Czech Republic's trade policies and trade flow with the mentioned region. It focuses on a qualitative approach of the Political Economy of Regionalism and liberal perspective to explain how the Czech Republic participated in this agreement previous to its signature in 2012 and views some of the consequences it has caused after its provisional application. It finds...
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Rule-following
Jelačič, Josef ; Koťátko, Petr (advisor) ; Marvan, Tomáš (referee)
Following any rule is not possible without some external instance of a jury that can evaluate if anyone (other than himself) acts according to a rule or against it. This work compares different perspectives on the issue of "rule following" and bounding a meaning. It progressively elaborates toward the theories explicitly built on social interaction and psychological terms, where the world is much more analysed by linguistic feeling of an individual, rather than towards a single objective theory of meaning that can clearly decide what is right and what is not. Accumulated findings are then used in the mind experiment that attempts to outline the idea of the world operating on the basis of relatively related processes taking place at different levels of perception, and to point out the possibility of creating complex structures based on the repetition of simple and obvious rules.
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Stigma toward people with mental illness
Weissová, Aneta ; Tuček, Milan (advisor) ; Remr, Jiří (referee)
Stigmatization of people with mental illness has negative impact on quality of their life. There are few Czech studies focusing on stigma, but they rather focus only on one element of the problem. Aim of this thesis is to identify level of stigma in the Czech Republic and its socio- demographic predictors. This knowledge will help when choosing target groups for stigma reducing campaign. Thesis focuses on three elements of stigma - problems in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. Four datasets are used - one from survey conducted within this theses, one from CVVM and two from INRES, which were conducted for NUDZ. Standardised research tools were used to measure knowledge (MAKS scale), attitudes (CAMI scale), behaviour (RIBS scale) and social distance. Predictors were identified using multivariate linear regression analysis. When comparing level of stigma among three elements, behaviour has the highest level and knowledge has the lowest level. Higher level of stigma in knowledge and attitudes is associated with being a male, lower education level and smaller size of residence. Higher level of stigma in behaviour is related to higher age, region and previous contact with person with mental illness. However these relations are rather weak and there are other nonsocio-demographic factors influencing...
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Structuralism and Concept of Discourse in the Work of Paul Ricoeur
Skoumal, Petr ; Borecký, Felix (advisor) ; Marcelli, Miroslav (referee)
This diploma thesis focuses on structuralism and concept of discourse in the work of French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. The aim of the thesis is to show Ricoeur's effort to interconnect structuralism and hermeneutics and, after this, to treat how this interconnection works as a general paradigm of human sciences. The point of departure is Ricoeur's revision of Saussurean structural approach which divides language into language system (langue) and speaking (parole). Then, the concept of discourse is grounded and the thesis proceeds to problems of text. By using the concept of discourse for written forms of language (texts), Ricoeur introduces this term to his hermeneutical approach. Its interconnection with structuralism is made possible by circular dialectics of explanation and understanding in which structuralism is shown to be necessary for the hermeneutical knowledge. Ricoeur's hermeneutical thought is also characterised by movement from text to action. Ricoeur finds some parallels between them and between the interpretations of them. By this, he proceeds from hermeneutics of text to hermeneutics of action and presents his conclusions as a general paradigm of human sciences. These are said to have a hermeneutical nature. However, according to Ricoeur, the deep hermeneutical comprehension is...
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Negotiations on the extension of the Russian 201st military base in Tajikistan, 2008-2013
Mastný, David ; Šír, Jan (advisor) ; Horák, Slavomír (referee)
This case study examines a negotiation process on extension of the Russian 201st military base in Tajikistan, which took place in 2008-2013. The paper examines interests of Russians and Tajiks in relation to the base, their motives, on which they based negotiations, factors, that entered the process and a future impact of Russian military presence on the political, security and economic situation of the country. It consists of an analysis of significance of the base in context of Tajik and Russian relations, regarding to problems such as porous borders, drug trafficking and smuggling, radical Islamism, quality of Tajik armed forces, energy policy, trans-regional transportation network connection, labor migration and relations with Uzbekistan. It includes also an analysis of the negotiation process from historical and political point of view and an analysis of other direct and indirect impacts of future Russian military presence in Tajikistan.
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"Guilt and Wrongdoing: The Problem of Responsibility"
Pacovská, Kamila ; Barabas, Marína (advisor) ; Kohák, Erazim (referee) ; Cowley, Christopher (referee)
(in English) This dissertation explores the notions of guilt and wrongdoing in the context of contemporary analytic ethics. It draws upon the critique, advanced in the second half of the 20th century, of a one-sided interest in episodic action and its rightness or wrongness. Thanks to the revival of virtue ethics during this time, the subject matter of ethics was extended to take account of human character and human life as such. As a result, the domain of moral psychology and of contingent aspects of moral experience started to be explored again. This development in ethics is outlined in the first chapter and the second chapter addresses the impact of this changed understanding of ethics upon our conception of moral judgment and responsibility. I suggest that the concept of responsibility divides in two: responsibility for the agent's (inner) fault and responsibility for the wrongdoing itself. Whereas the remainder of chapter two deals with the former, the rest of the thesis focuses upon the latter i.e. upon responsibility for the wrongdoing and upon two problems which are generated by the intricate bearing of luck and contingency on the concept of responsibility. The first of these problems concerns the relation of the person to her guilt. Guilt arises through a condemnable action for which the...
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Judgment and Action. On the Concept of Judging in Arendt and Gadamer
Novák, Jakub ; Čapek, Jakub (advisor) ; Ritter, Martin (referee) ; Holub, Štěpán (referee)
The dissertation focuses on the theme of practical judgment (i.e. judgment related to human action) in Hannah Arendt and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Despite substantial differences in philosophical approaches, perspectives and motivation, I show that there are important areas of overlapping. I approach the problem of judgment in a systematic way, being fully aware that especially Hannah Arendt does not treat judgment systematically; what is more, a book she meant to dedicate to the problem of judging remained unwritten. The dissertation is divided into three parts. I start with the relation between judgment and rules. The second theme is judgments' validity, especially the specific kind of validity of political and moral judgments, while the third part concentrates on how judgment is related to other people and the world. I also try to evaluate the way Arendt interprets Kant's theory of aesthetic judgment as well as Gadamer's criticism of Kant. In the third part I investigate not so well known areas of Gadamer's and Arendt's philosophy such as their notion of solidarity and the way how they grasp the relation between judgment and responsibility (or responsibility of judgment, both towards one's own self and towards the world).
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Principles of the tax justice
Huspeková, Marie ; Seknička, Pavel (advisor) ; Bažantová, Ilona (referee)
This thesis is an interdisciplinary perspective on the issue of fair distribution of the tax burden. Taxes are assessed in terms of its purpose, which is to establish resources for the payment of government spending . Attention is focused on the moral and ethical aspects of the impact of the tax burden in human behavior and decision making. The work is divided into four chapters . The first chapter is devoted to human beings , its behavior and decision-making capabilities and comprehensive view of human individuality. One is set in the perspective of living and farming. The second chapter contains a brief look at the concepts of justice , focusing on the relationship between justice and ethical values selected . In the third chapter, the evaluation of the structure of the tax system and individual taxation, with a focus on tax fairness in economic sense . The fourth chapter is devoted to some aspects of international taxation. In conclusion, the thesis are evaluated conflicts tax fairness with other values .
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The poetics of selected plays by Roland Schimmelpfennig performed on Czech theatre stages in the context of the contemporary German-speaking theatre
Celárková, Michaela ; Augustová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Pšenička, Martin (referee)
This thesis presents the work of a contemporary German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig in a wider context. In the main chapter, the author focuses on the analysis of five Schimmelpfennig's plays that have been performed also on Czech theatre stages. The analysis emphasizes the elements of a dramatic structure that Schimmelpfennig uses in an innovative way: epization of texts, unrealistic treatment of dramatic time, elements of magic realism etc. The author also pays attention to a general characteristic of a contemporary German-speaking theatre with respect to the topics that it deals with. A significant part of the work is devoted to classifying Roland Schimmelpfennig's work in the historical and theoretical context of a contemporary German-speaking theatre. A book called Die Rückkehr der Helden by a German author Nikolaus Frei, which questions some opinion on the recent development of theatre presented in a book Postdramatisches Theater by Hans Thiese Lehmann, has become a crucial source for this thesis. Nikolaus Frei copes with the question of animateness/inanimateness of theatre and by using extracts from particular dramatic texts by contemporary authors proves a possible continuity of mimesis, realistic acting and conflicts on the stage until the 21st century. In conclusion, it is possible...
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Concepts of "value-action gap" and "knowing-doing gap" on the example of reports on the state of natural environment
Knybel, Ondřej ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
Concept "value-action gap" is most often mentioned in frame of behavioral studies of individial approach to ecological issues. Its meaning lies in description of a gap that opens between values claimed by respondents and their consequent actions (people act in accordance with values which are different than those pro-environmental values that they originally signed up to). There also is a concept of "knowing-doing gap" which stems from a different context and describes different situations. Its authors demonstrate how many corporations/firms/organizations employ disfunctional/ineffective management practices and ways of work organization - and all that in a situation when responsible employees and managers know about better practices. Furthermore, those employees are being continually educated about those more effective practices; corporation/firm also has plans of implementation of those done by hired consultants and all those plans would have had better results, should they be implemented. But despite this knowledge and good experiences of other organizations - managers keep on working using old inefective means. In this text I examined whether it is possible to identify a combination of those two concepts/phenomena in a frame of discourse related to expert knowledge about a state of natural...
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