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Strategic Defense Initiative
Čeněk, Jakub ; Raška, Francis (advisor) ; Ulík, Karel (referee)
The doctoral thesis "Strategic Defense Initiative" deals with the issue of the Strategic initiative on the basis of historical-political analysis. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a crucial topic during the 1980s, which had a profound political impact on the development of international events and the Cold war in general. The work presents a brief history of the United States ABM systems and introduces the historical context. Furthermore, the author analyzes possible reasons for the SDI announcement and reexamines Reagan's speech in March 1983. Persons and interest groups who promoted strategic defense are also included in this analysis. Included are problems connected to SDI, as well as a brief description of the program. The following chapter deals with the Soviet reaction to SDI. The seventh chapter discusses the European reaction to SDI. The topic is analyzed citing the example of the United Kingdom. The next chapter deals with the Anti Ballistic Missile treaty and its interpretations from the SDI perspective. The last chapter discusses US - Soviet summits, which took place in the 1980s, with an emphasis on SDI. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Collapse of the USSR - Russsian national tragedy? Analysis of the Russian public opinion on the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Lelek, Jakub ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Kolenovská, Daniela (referee)
Bachelor thesis Collapse of the USSR - Russian national tragedy? Analysis of the Russian public opinion on the dissolution of the Soviet Union discusses the Russian public opinion development about the end of the Soviet Union during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin (1991 - 1999) and Vladimir Putin (2000 - 2008). The first chapter illustrates the situation in Russia after the collapse of the USSR; afterwards it describes the social, political and economic situation of the country during mentioned periods. Based on the available opinion polls and academic works the second part of the thesis examines the shift in Russian understanding of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The fundamental premise of this thesis is the idea that the end of the USSR was Russian national tragedy. After the analysis author concludes that in Russian society during the presidency of both Yeltsin and Putin remained a basic level of post- Soviet nostalgia, yet it wasn't a national tragedy. The regretting was presented within the older generation, for which the Soviet Union symbolized not only a major global player in international politics, but also their own (often idealized) youth, as well as within the younger generation, that has never had direct experience with the USSR. Furthermore author concludes that due to the...
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M. S. Gorbachev's concept of Common European Home
Stejskalová, Jana ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Litera, Bohuslav (referee)
The bachelor study "M. S. Gorbachev's concept of Common European Home" highlights the pro-European oriented idea of Soviet Foreign Policy, which became popular in the middle 80's. The concept was a peaceful vision and a new Soviet openness towards the policy of the United States and the West in an era of the Cold War. This period was characterized by mutual distrust of two ideologically different blocks and by the real threat of nuclear conflict. There were many politicians who engaged with the European Policy in the past. The expansion of European ideas has a considerable historical background. And the expression of the Common European Home was already part of the external policy of Leonid I. Brezhnev. The Soviet concept, however, was first actively promoted by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who is also attributed with its authorship. This bachelor study presents the origin, development and disappearance of this Soviet Policy. The work analyses the content of the idea in detail and also discusses its territorial legacy; including accompanying events and the attitude of Western countries. In addition to other key aspects, Gorbachev's Common European Home is associated with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
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Anti-patrioten, Traitors, Murderers in white cloaks. The image of "The Jew" as an "enemy" in the propaganda of late stalinism
Šimová, Kateřina ; Reiman, Michal (advisor) ; Kolenovská, Daniela (referee)
The period of late Stalinism (1948-1953) witnessed sharp rise of anti-Jewish animosity and discrimination from the part of the Soviet regime. These tensions were caused by both domestic factors (ideological diversification of Soviet intellectual elite, escalation of Jewish nationalism, struggle for power among highest nomenclature) as well as international factors (transformation of the Soviet-Israeli relations, rise of the Cold War). The thesis analyzes, how these circumstances were reflected at that time. Therefore it tries to identify, how the image of "The Jude" was formed by the Soviet propaganda and how it changed in the given time period. As a general framework for this analysis the concept of "The Enemy" will serve which is considered to be one of the basic elements of totalitarian ideologies. The thesis examines by means of semiotic method two significant propaganda campaigns of that period, namely campaign against the "cosmopolitism" in January - March 1949 and campaign accompanying "The Doctors' Plot" during January - March 1953. It would try to identify, how the image of "The Enemy" was connected at that time with the notion of "The Jew".
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Roots of Stalin's positive interpretation in Russia under Putin's presidency
Prokopová, Barbora ; Kolenovská, Daniela (advisor) ; Novák, Petr (referee)
This Bachelor thesis aims to reveal the roots of the positive interpretations of Stalin in Russia under Putin's presidency (2000-2008). At the beginning of the new millennium we witnessed an increase in popularity and uncritical perception of this Soviet leader in the eyes of the Russian public. The thesis examines on which grounds this nostalgia for the Stalin era is based. It explains how during the 1990s the country was facing a difficult post-communist transition to liberal democracy, which contributed to fostering this sentiment. The thesis also analyzes the results of public survey polls to determine which achievements and values of the Stalin era are appreciated by the citizens of the Russian Federation. Furthermore, it touches upon publications by the Russian academic community in order to explore their interpretation of Joseph Stalin's rule and how they might contribute to his positive assessement by the public. It also shows how the political elite succeeding to power in 2000 deliberately supported and fomented this sentiment of nostalgia; what its concrete steps are; and their motivations and implications. The thesis concludes that the period of chaos under President Boris Yeltsin, when the public felt a decline in the living standards and prestige of the country, had a large influence...
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Two 1939 Soviet - German Pacts and Their Reflection in the Press of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia
Nevrkla, Lukáš ; Václavů, Lubor (advisor) ; Míšková, Alena (referee)
Two 1939 Soviet-German Pacts and Their Reflection in the Press of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia Abstract The main aim of the thesis is to analyze the reflection of the Soviet-German relations in the Czech legal press of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia at the time of the outbreak of the Second World War when the Ribbentrop-Molotov non-aggression pact (23 August 1939) and of the treaty of borders and friendship (27 September 1939) transformed the character of the international relations in the Central and Eastern Europe. At first, the text concentrates on analysis of the contemporaneous circumstances both in terms of international relations in Europe and in terms of internal domestic policies in the protectorate. In the following part, the author discusses the protectorate press response to the two German-Soviet treaties as well as the press attitudes to a number of other related issues such as the Soviet-Japanese conflict in Mongolia. The thesis is based on research of a series of Czech protectorate dailies, namely A- Zet, České slovo, Národní práce, Venkov a Vlajka. However, it also takes into account two illegal Czech periodicals, the magazine V boj and the Communist illegal newspaper Rudé právo.
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Informals and political activity outside the communist party in the USSR in the second half of 1980s and at the beginning of 1990s: the case of Leningrad
Matolín, Petr ; Kolenovská, Daniela (advisor) ; Litera, Bohuslav (referee)
The proposed thesis deals with informal political associations and organizations (so called informals) in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with a special focus on Leningrad in the second half of 1980s and at the beginning of 1990s. The thesis is trying to find a place of political informals within the Soviet society and within perestrojka as well as it is trying to portray informals as a pluralist element in the Soviet society, as a beginning of multipartism, as an alternative structure to official state organizations and as a strong politization and radicalization factor for masses of Soviet citizens. First part of the thesis is dedicated to the theoretical part of the problem and so it concentrates on basic characteristics of informals, its variety, ideological and social differences. Also the relations of informals and a disent movement, democratic movement, the attitudes of power structures towards informals and relations between informals themselves are assesed here. Apart from that, the fate of informals after the dissolution of the USSR and the place of informals within perestrojka are discussed. The second part of the thesis deals more specifically with a situation of political informals on the territory of Leningrad, which was a very important city from the point of view of...
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Economic Reforms of Nikita S. Khruschev
Jasenčáková, Miroslava ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Litera, Bohuslav (referee)
The bachelor thesis "Economic Reforms of Nikita S. Khruschev" analyzes the process of the Soviet economy during 1953-1964. It focuses on agricultural reform. Major emphasis is insisted on so-called seven-year plan from 1959-1965. For clarification of context of the paper, it includes events since the beginning of early thirties. The main goal of these reforms was to attain a level of U.S. agricultural production. During the seven-year plan, the increase of production was designed for 70%. Finally, the realization of this idea failed, partly because of the negative impacts of the reforms from 1958. This study aims to analyze the reasons of the collapse of Soviet agriculture during the seven-year plan and uncover a proportion of system faults. The thesis also examines the contradiction between the stated goals and reality.
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Cultural Policy of the United States and the USSR after World War II.
Vorlová, Tereza ; Reiman, Michal (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee)
After the Second World War the United States and the Soviet Union started off with almost opposite models of cultural policy, eight years later in the midst of Cold War their cultural policies were as close as they ever would get. Cultural policy had changed; this thesis analyzed the quality and direction of this change. In the Soviet Union the post-war ideological campaigns have changed the nature of Soviet cultural policy in the sense that punishment was no longer lethal. The purpose of these campaigns had become redefining what Soviet culture should look like. This policy, however, was not practical, but rather rhetorical. The ultimate goal was not to affect culture, but rather to demonstrate what it should and should not look like. Cultural policy proper was overshadowed completely by cultural policy as display. In the United States the House Un-American Activities Committee attacked the most prominent and loud center of American culture - Hollywood. In this case again, the purpose of this policy has not been to exert actual influence on culture, but rather to insist, that there are parts of culture that can be "un-American". In the American case this policy was even more "as display" than in the Soviet Union, simply because the HUAC could not be the source of actual restrictive cultural policy. Overall...
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The FRG in the Western Defence System, 1969-1974
Kminiak, Tomáš ; Horčička, Václav (advisor) ; Soukup, Jaromír (referee)
The Master's Thesis on the Inflow of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Western Security System, 1969-1974, consists of four and tied parts. The first part is an introduction, which has put the reader into the problem of this work. It also includes the methodology of processing of the archival sources and secondary literature and their evaluation too. The Second part is an analyses of the question of Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the importance of this Treaty for the future development and the position of the so-called Grand coaliton in relation to NPT. The third part is an analyses the question of détente policy and conception of Willy Brandt's European security policy, then the problem of the implications of the US/USSR Strategic Arms Limitation Talks for the security status of the Federal Republic of Germany and also the developing of mutual relationships of FRG with NATO in SALT process and involvement of the Nixon administrative in this policy. This chapter also includes the problem of the question of the importance of SPD/FDP security policy in an international context. The fourth chapter is a study of the internal political reasons of Willy Brandt's security policy, mainly the problem of existence of a terrorist group, the Red Army Faction. At the end of this...
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