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Transitions to democracy
Šperková, Kateřina ; Pithart, Petr (advisor) ; Kysela, Jan (referee)
of the Diploma Paper ,, Transitions to Democracy " Transition of a particular country from an undemocratic political regime to mostly that of democratic is a head subject regarded by many experts and general public. It may seem that democratic regime is a matter of course nowadays; however, the truth is unlike. The democratic regime dominates scarcely in the half of all countries in the world. Regarding to the situation in northern Africa and other Arabic countries, it has recently been more and more proved that changes of political regimes, especially from the undemocratic to the democratic ones, are taken as a current subject matter not only today, but also in the following days, weeks, months and years. This is why I am focusing on the theme of Transitions to Democracy in my diploma thesis. The thesis is divided into four chapters. First chapter, named Democracy, deals with the conception of democracy. One cannot define the word "democracy" by just one feature, therefore, criteria of volition and division of democracy into the constitutional liberalism and illiberal democracy by Fareed Zakaria is fundamental in my work. Second chapter is focused on the undemocratic regimes. Definitions of these regimes are important mainly for understanding why they had been transferred or why they are to be...
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The economic development of Spain in the years 1975-1986
Voneš, Jakub ; Szobi, Pavel (advisor) ; Podgorný, Pavel (referee)
The content of this work is a description of the political-economic development in Spain during the transition to democracy between 1975 and 1986. In this period the country experienced a change from frankism to democracy. The work is mainly focused on major reforms, the problems associated with the transition, aspiration to become full member of European Economic Community and the shifting economy. The work analyzes the impact of the ongoing crisis and efforts of politicians to resolve this crisis. The work also points to issues beyond the economy, such as terrorism and the role of army. For the research I will use a literature of Czech, Spanish and English origin, studies and unpublished sources of the National Archives in Prague.
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Elections in Chile 2009
Kunová, Martina ; Němec, Jan (advisor) ; Školkayová, Marta (referee)
Twenty years has passed from dissolution of authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet and in the presidential election 2009/2010 in Chile the right-wing candidate won. The era of continuous government of centre-leftist coalition, that administrated country from the period of transition, was ended off. The thesis focuses on the analysis of presidential and parliamentary elections, in the first place on the question what was the matter of triumph of the opposite candidate in the presidential election. In this context it should not be left out the binominalism, electoral system which brings other fundamental consequences affecting also the election return of particular candidates or political parties. In the thesis is taken down the running of the election campaign and at the conclusion the returns of both elections are compared.
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Comparison of contemporary Spanish nationalisms: dangerous separatism or pattern of European regionalism?
Brož, Filip ; Buben, Radek (advisor) ; Bureš, Jan (referee)
Spain is not composed with only one nation, it is indeed a multinational state, which is thus logically homeland for many nationalisms and nationalism-related problems. First, I analyze the historical causes of the emergence of nationalisms in the Basque country, Catalonia and Galicia. These causes are the regionalistic tradition of Spain combined with proper attributes of each of these regions, such as economical power, different language and culture and historical experience with self government in the case of Catalonia, distinct "race" and attractive mythology in the case of the Basque country and again, proper language and culture in the case of Galicia, accentuated with their Celtic origins. 67 Second, I analyze the democratic transition from a nationalistic point of view: the constitution of 1978 permitted a strong decentralization and the construction of a state of autonomies. That gave a relative satisfaction to nationalisms but new problems are appearing. Third, I consider nationalisms within the framework of parties and party systems: each of the three regions has a moderate nationalistic party, which is often dominant in its respective region, but their moderate character is often a pragmatic one, moreover Catalonia and especially the Basque country have relevant radical parties. As a conclusion,...
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The importance of EU as an external factor on democratic consolidation. The cases of the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Hilleren, Ann Katrin ; Just, Petr (advisor) ; Krausz Hladká, Malvína (referee)
The breakdown of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe has offered scholars in the field of transition and regime change theory, and comparative politics in general, a major opportunity to test out former theories, but also formulate new ones. Obviously, no theory is alone applicable to the complexity of the transitions. There is a variety of cases, each with distinct developments before, during and after the transition to democracy has been completed. Some common features are still possible to extract when studying regime change in a region. As for Central and Eastern Europe, one of the most outstanding characteristics of the transition to democracy has been the visibility and importance of external factors. Previously the view was held that external factors were essentially secondary to domestic processes of regime change. The studies on Central and Eastern Europe carried out the last 15 years might show another picture, and that leads us to the core of this paper. How important have the external factors been? After providing the reader with some relevant theories on democracy and démocratisation, the focus is turned to the examination of external influences on transition in this region. In order to narrow down the complexity of the subject, the European Union has been chosen as the variable to...
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Development of Left-wing Parties in Czech Republic and Slovakia
Minárik, Pavol ; Just, Petr (advisor) ; Mlejnek, Josef (referee)
This paper, entitled "Development of Left-Wing Parties in Czech Republic and Slovakia (Comparison)", deals with the topic o f great importance for post-communist regimes. Aim of the paper is comparison of the situation in this field in both countries. After brief introduction (Chapter 1), the theoretical concepts o f used in analysis are described (Chapter 2). These include theory o f transitions to democracy and concepts for classification of political parties, namely theory o f cleavages and theory o f ideological families. These theoretical parts are followed by analysis of situation in each country, first the Czech Republic in Chapter 3 and then Slovakia in Chapter 4. For both countries, overall evolution of party system is described. Then, development of each party is examined more closely. Comparison is given in Chapter 5. The comparison showed that there are some similarities in development of Czech and Slovak left-wing political parties. Especially in the first period after the fall of Communist regime, both party systems were alike. However, differences emerged later. In the Czech Republic, party system developed standard western-like structure by the election o f 1998. On the contrary, development of Slovak party system was complicated and it is not finished yet. There are differences in...
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The role of civil society in the process of democratic transition in Mexico and Belarus
Kramko, Natallya ; Krausz Hladká, Malvína (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
Civil society has emerged as a challenging concept in political development theories. As researches claim, economic restructuring has undermined the political hegemony of authoritarian regimes and set up a scene for different autonomous associations. The selection of the two countries (Mexico and Belarus) was conditioned by the fact that they both are representatives of "third wave" democracies and have striking similarities in the post-authoritarian development, assuming there is a undeniable possibility to learn the lesson from the differences as well. From the viewpoint of the citizen, civil society is first and foremost a channel for protecting and promoting personal values and interests. In the authoritarian regime, however, civic freedoms rarely exist and there are limited possibilities for an independent society to function. The main goal of the civil society in the country, which is undergoing the democratic transition, should be to promote change and create all the conditions for the proper functioning of open and public civic movements, which will eventually reflect the views of the citizens through governmental actions. Another important sphere in the democracy building is free media - it helps encouraging citizenry by giving different sides of the event to people, but is often commercial, as...
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Presidentialism under conditions of multipartism. Analysis of sources of system stability in Latin American countries
Kerclová, Helena ; Dvořáková, Vladimíra (advisor) ; Němec, Jan (referee)
According to a lot of experts presidential systems under conditions of multipartism are leading to instability, because there is peril of executive-legislative deadlocks. This thesis is focusing on three stable countries under these conditions (Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay). The main goal of this thesis is to find out the sources of system stability of these three countries. The thesis analyzes them on the basis of four criteria (number of parties, ideological distance, party system institutionalization and simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections together with electoral system). This thesis analyzes election results of these countries since their transition to democracy. The thesis demonstrated, that party system format is not crucial for stability. More important is his stability together with the same actors and unchangeable ties between them.
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