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Is it neccessary to reform Czech intelligence services?
Bulan, Jiří ; Šándor, Andor (advisor) ; Balabán, Miloš (referee)
Bulan, Jiří. Je třeba reformovat české zpravodajské služby? Praha, 2011. 101 s. Diplomová práce (Mgr.) Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta sociálních věd, Institut politologických studií. Katedra mezinárodních vztahů. Vedoucí diplomové práce Gen. Ing. Andor Šándor. Abstract The thesis is a comparative analysis of the Czech intelligence system. It is trying to answer how and whether or not to reform the Czech intelligence services on the basis of scholarly articles and especially interviews with current and former intelligence officials and particular politicians. It turned out that among some of the Czech intelligence services and even within those services prevails the tense atmosphere, which had been caused by various personal failings. All the cases were the individual personal excesses, not the system errors. Representatives of the services assesses the ability to detect security threats very critically. The services miss particularly tight government management as well as the independent overview of the service operations. How to improve the intelligence services work? The intelligence community must establish a common vision that will emerge from a deeper internal discussion only. It is not possible to reform the system without it.
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The Role of Business Lobby in the Immigration Reform in the United States during the Second Administration of George W. Bush
Mackuliaková, Kristína ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the role of business lobbying in relation to the political arena of immigration reform in the United States during the second Bush administration era. It attempts to evaluate the impact of businesses on immigration policies through their lobbying activities. It analyzes expenditures on two separate bills that were introduced in Congress in the years 2006 and 2007. The thesis tries to answer the question whether American businesses enjoy an uneven impact on politics and is based on several premises. Businesses try to increase their profits via decreasing the wage level which is made possible by abundance of workers. They also try to prevent a situation in which there is a scarcity of workers. Businesses thus demand open liberal immigration policy and spend considerable resources to achieve this goal. Businesses have, according to some authors, a special position among other interest groups which enables them to effectively control political decisions. Given the fact that both bills I considered were liberal and heavily supported by the business lobby groups and still did not pass in the Congress I will claim that businesses are not as powerful as often expected.
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The Impact of the 2007 - 2009 Reform of the Police of the Czech Republic on Police Performance
Knížek, David ; Knobloch, František (advisor) ; Brázová, Věra - Karin (referee)
This paper deals with the impacts of the 2007-2009 Reform of Czech Police on its performance, it focuses on the transformation of police work with respect to the legislative framework of the reform. It provides insight as to how the reform influenced the conduct of common policemen and how it was perceived by both the policemen and the public. In its theoretical part, the paper puts the reform in the context of Theory of Public Management, Organization Theory and Theory of Bureaucracy. The author describes major changes in police law which took place at the beginning of 2007 and 2009. He compares extensive Citizen satisfaction surveys with the performance of Czech Police versus the objectives of the reform as well as reflects both on the 2001-2011 public confidence surveys conducted by the police in 2001 - 2011 and internal police surveys on the police reform in 2009. The author evaluates the reform's impact on the work ethics of policemen, on the number of policemen recruited into the police service as well as the number of policemen who left the police force. An important point of the paper is the qualitative research concerning the reform's impact on the conduct of the common policemen, their perception of the reform and a research focused on the policemen's opinion on the public perception of...
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The meaning, form and reform of the family by T. G. Masaryk
Kaňa, Jan ; Horský, Jan (advisor) ; Lenderová, Milena (referee) ; Moravcová, Mirjam (referee)
This study investigates and describes ideas of the proper form of family life and activism in this matter - efforts to persuade general public to adopt these ideas. This corresponds to the choice of the main goals of the study: 1. Show what the content of these ideas was. 2. Show the range of topics covered by the authors of these ideas. 3. Show the manners of this activism. What media these activists usually used, how they fought or cooperated with rival activists and who was "target" of their enlightenment efforts. 4. Answer the question "Why did these efforts arise at all?" Why there was a feeling that family is in crisis and in need of reform. The feeling that family is in crisis probably has its origin in the days of the first attempts to define the family. However, this study does not focus on the topic from its presumed origin, but from the last quarter of the nineteenth century to the second half of the 1930s. This period represents a time of boom of these enlightenment efforts in the Czech lands and it's also time of T. G. Masaryk. His ideas of the proper form of family life and activism in this matter form the backbone of this work. The reason for choosing Masaryk is given by the fact that he dealt with given topic in its wide range. He was a man who didn't avoid disputes with other...
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Economic Rationale behind the Evolution of the Slovak Insolvency Law
Hrnčiar, Pavel ; Richter, Tomáš (advisor) ; Gutiérrez Chvalkovská, Jana (referee)
The Slovak insolvency law reform, which came into effect on 1 January 2006, introduced a brand new restructuring option for business debtors. In this thesis, we present the first complex empirical analysis of all restructuring attempts allowed in the period 2006-2010. Results, based on a large amount of data, which we gathered for this purpose, suggest that the restructuring option is much more viable than the composition option under the previous Bankrupcty and Composition Act. The system is characterized by very high success rates (in terms of plan confirmation) and speedy proceedings. The size of the debtor affects neither the prospects for success, nor the length of proceedings significantly. We conclude that, even though a lot of improvements still need to be done, the reform moved the Slovak insolvency law closer to the standards of the best-performing jurisdictions. JEL Classification D23, K12, K20 Keywords insolvency law, reform, restructuring, bankruptcy, restructuring plan, trustee Author's e-mail hrnciarpavel@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail tomas.richter@cliffordchance.com
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Reform of the UN Security Council and the associated stumbling block
Jindřich, Petr ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Plechanovová, Běla (referee)
Reform of the UN Security Council and a stumbling block associated with it - abstract This thesis deals with matter of the Security Council reform, the most crucial body of the United Nations. It examines approaches of eleven specific countries which are divided into two groups. The first group is comprised by permanent members of the Security Council, the second one by states which, in case of their creation, could claim new permanent seats in this body. This thesis examines not only their real policies, but also their policies from theoretical - specifically neorealistic - point of view. Two different hypotheses were deduced from neorealism which were tested and subsequently evaluated as (in)valid. Hypothesis emerging from a standard neorealism put emphasis on policy whose goal is to maintain, alternatively to increase a state's autonomy (autonomy-seeking policy). International organizations are viewed as entity which limits, to some extent, this autonomy. On the other hand, hypothesis emerging from a modified neorealism put emphasis on policy whose goal is to gain, alternatively to increase influence on other actors (influence-seeking policy). On the contrary, within this policy international organizations are an useful entity because it is possible to achieve such an influence by means of them. In the...
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Reform of the system of dispute resolution within the World Trade Organization
Svoboda, Ondřej ; Balaš, Vladimír (advisor) ; Faix, Martin (referee)
This thesis the Reform of the WTO Dispute Settlement System, deals with urgent questions about the most important system resolution in international economic law. The WTO Dispute Settlement was established in 1995 and since then it has become a prime example of evolution in the field of international dispute resolution. The system itself has indeed its flaws and therefore its critics. Even its "founding fathers" indented to conduct a reform of the mechanism after few years in action. However, the reform has not yet materialised. The aim of the thesis is to discuss the state of negotiations over the reform of the system, in particular in context of power and rule orientation, and to analyze possible causes of the current state. The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One offers brief characterization of the WTO Dispute Settlement and its main document Understanding on rules and procedures governing the settlement of disputes (DSU), which is found in Annex 2 of the WTO Agreement. Chapter Two chronologically follows the so far unsuccessful development of DSU Revision in WTO. In international trade disputes, two ways of their settlement are recognised: power-oriented and rule-oriented. Both methods are described in Chapter Three. The Chapter Four focuses on the institutional dimension of the...
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Comprehensive immigration reform suspended: Lessons from the U.S. Senate 2004-2010
Švajda, Michal ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Calda, Miloš (referee)
The M.A. thesis "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Postponed: Lessons from the Senate 2004- 2010" elaborates upon the causes hindering in the years 2004 to 2010 the adoption of a comprehensive immigration reform in the United States of America. The main goal of the thesis is to assess the consequences of the polarization of the American political scene on the immigration reform and to evaluate the party divide on the matter upon the floor remarks made by the members of Senate Committee on the Judiciary taking in account the differences in between the 109th and 111th Senate. The focus on the Committee on the Judiciary is justified by the role played by its members in the drafting process of particular reform proposals. The scope of the polarization of the Committee is assessed upon the aggravated means attributed to the most dominant narratives used by the senators. The remarks used in the evaluation are addressed in the context of the most significant contemporary factors influencing the polarization of American political scene as well as under the light of the development surpassing the domestic affairs.
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Mixed member proportional representation in New Zealand
Trávníček, Matěj ; Mlejnek, Josef (referee) ; Šedo, Jakub (referee)
The thesis is about New Zealand House of Representatives electoral system. In introductory part is briefly presented the political system of New Zealand. Then is currently used electoral system, its genesis and impacts of transition from the first past the post to mixed member proportional system researched. Thesis is in its effort focusing on segments of electoral system and trying to identify its problematic points and to introduce alternative electoral system proposed to the electors in referenda. The thesis is using the electoral studies methods, especially quantitative measuring of attributes of electoral system and party structure within the House of Representatives. Implementation of mixed member proportional electoral system returned New Zealand towards highly proportional electoral results and raised the number of relevant political parties and thus created the praxis of coalition and minority cabinets. Transition to mixed member proportional electoral system, which occurred as a result of referenda, also helped to solve a certain crisis of polity perception connected to first past the post system, which was that time in use. In New Zealand there is currently a high emphasis on expertise and public involvement in the matters of electoral system and contrary only a small part is played by political...
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