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The Study of Use of Heavy Armoured Vehicles by Non-State Actors in Syria Conflict
Kotrbáček, Adam ; Kučera, Tomáš (vedoucí práce) ; Rosendorf, Ondřej (oponent)
Užití těžkých zbraní, kupříkladu tanků, v konfliktech nedávných i současných je téma, jemuž nebylo dlouho věnováno dostatečné pozornosti. Podobně opomíjen zůstal i koncept konvenčního válčení, či konvenční války. V souvislosti těmito tématy byly dávány do popředí spíše otázky prevence ozbrojených konfliktů, případně postupy jejich deeskalace. Tato diplomová práce jde proti tomuto trendu a zaměřuje se na taktiku nasazení těžkých zbraní v konfliktu v Sýrii, konkrétně těžkými zbraněmi v rukou nestátních aktérů v této zemi. Diplomová práce se snaží plně zužitkovat faktu, že konflikt v Sýrii je jedním z nejlépe zdokumentovaných válek, a pracuje s širokým spektrem převážně primárních zdrojů na sběru dat relevantních k užití těžkých zbraní v konfliktu. Za užití těchto zdrojů práce analyzuje a posléze formuluje jednoznačné modely nasazení těžkých zbraní v měnících se podmínkách konvenčního konfliktu. Práce využívá dvou případových studií, dvou konkrétních vojenských operací, k zjištění, zda existuje kausální spojení mezi modely nasazení těžké techniky a výsledkem vojenského střetnutí.
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Power to Resist: A Case Study of Czechoslovakia in 1968
Vodička, Ondřej ; Ludvík, Jan (vedoucí práce) ; Kučera, Tomáš (oponent)
Využívání hrozeb použití vojenské síly vůči svým oponentům je standartním nástrojem států v mezinárodním prostředí. Nicméně historická data ukazují, že mocnější státy nejsou v prosazování svých zájmů tímto způsobem úspěšné. Tento poznatek významně omezuje platnost argumentu o ústřední roli moci v mezinárodních vztazích zastávaný realistickou školou. Je otázkou, proč státy, které jsou v očividně slabší pozici, odolávají donucování. Za účelem hledání odpovědi, zkoumá tato magisterská práce možné příčiny odporu Československa k požadavkům pěti států Varšavské smlouvy v roce 1968, které usilovaly o ukončení reforem Pražského jara. Tento případ je analyticky cenný kvůli nezpochybnitelné mocenské asymetrii mezi Československem a koalicí vyzyvatelů v čele se Sovětským svazem. V tomto textu pracuji se čtyřmi možnými vysvětleními, jejichž validitu na případu Československa zkoumám. Tvrdím, že nejpravděpodobnějším vysvětlením byla mobilizace občanské společnosti, kterou představitelé Československa použili jako argument při jednáních s představiteli ,,Varšavské Pětky", ale která zároveň omezovala jejich možnost splnit dané požadavky.
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Comparative Study between the 2016 Failed Military Coup and Previous Successful Coups in Turkey
Safarli, Adil ; Kučera, Tomáš (vedoucí práce) ; Aslan, Emil (oponent)
The 2016 Turkish failed coup attempt was a striking political event of the year. Although Turkey is a country with a long history of successful military intervention and deep-rooted coup culture, the coup organizers could not achieve the desired outcome in 2016. The coups of 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997 have resulted in the government's change where the military played an important role by influencing the political sphere. However, the result was different in the coup attempt carried out on 15 July 2016. As the President, a large segment of military, political parties and a significant part of the society had an anti-coup attitude and stood up against the military coup. For this reason, the thesis attempts to compare the 2016 Turkish failed coup with the previous successful coups of 1960, 1971, 1980, and 1997's in Turkey. The comparison is based on the hypotheses built on four civil-military relation theories and concepts: Military Professionalism, Civilian Supremacy, Social Cohesion and Public Institutionalism. According to the analyses, the findings indicate that the theories of Civilian Supremacy and Public Institutionalism better explain the failure of 2016 and the success of the previous coups than other theories.
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What is the Strategic Impact of Chinese Anti-Access and Area-Denial Capabilities on the Offence-Defence Balance in East Asia? A Comparative Case Study of the United States and Japan
Oldemeier, Niels ; Kučera, Tomáš (vedoucí práce) ; Urbancová, Kateřina (oponent)
iv ABSTRACT Over the last four decades, the People's Republic of China has modernized its armed forces and acquired the world's largest and most diverse missile arsenal. In light of Beijing's vague yet increasingly assertive stance in the region, China's A2/AD capabilities have sparked a discussion about their offensive potential and threat to the region's stability. This thesis has conducted a qualitative strategic impact of Chinese anti-access and area-denial capabilities on the offence-defence balance in East Asia. Applying Biddle's revised offence-defence theory, this thesis investigated and compared the Sino-American and Sino-Japanese balances. The analyses found that Chinese A2/AD capabilities do not have a uniform impact on the offence-defence balance in the region. Despite its offensive potential, Chinese A2/AD does not provide an effective, sustainable counter to Japan's deep, reserve-oriented force employment strategy. Even though China fields the world's largest fleet, it does not field enough principal surface ships to exploit a temporary offensive advantage. As such, any Chinese attempt to claim the Senkakus would result in a Chinese naval overstretch and create a mutually contested no man's land in the East China Sea. As for the Sino- American balance, Chinese A2/AD creates an...
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Challenges to the Weberian state: hybrid state and non-state actors in Iraq
Benhamou, Louis ; Kučera, Tomáš (vedoucí práce) ; Bahenský, Vojtěch (oponent)
This thesis examines the relationship between the Popular Mobilization Forces and the state in post-conflict Iraq. It critically assesses their link as mutually exploitative and derives back their agency to both actors. The concept of hybridity, to characterise a behaviour that is simultaneously cooperative and competitive, is applied to both terms of the dyad. Overcoming the Western conception of the state, the research offers to consider the Iraq as a post- Weberian system where hybrid state and non-state actors collaborate to offer an alternative political order.
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Rightist shift in Poland's internal security: Regional security implications for NATO
Pehrson, Taylor Anne ; Smith, David (vedoucí práce) ; Kučera, Tomáš (oponent)
Within the last decade, European states, particularly in the post-Communist and post-Soviet region, have elected more rightist-led governments. Poland is no exception and after a surprising election in 2015 led to a Law and Justice Party (PiS) government majority in the state, questions of how this political shift in the "role model" Eastern European state could impact Polish security began to circulate. (Lupitu, 2016, p. 25) This study analyses the PiS's security actions within its first year as the Polish government majority (2015-2016) to discern the potential agency political actors have in determining how regional security organisations function through a structure vs. agency framework. Using NATO as a unit of analysis, the study aims to synthesise regional security implications of Poland's political shift on the Alliance. To do so, a triangulated methodology is applied to four key security events and actions PiS took within 2015-2016 using both a document and news media analyses as well as three elite interviews. These four events include a controversial pardoning of the minister responsible for all Polish Special Services, lustration activities within Polish security agencies, a controversial dismissal of the head of NATO's Centre of Excellence in Warsaw and the Warsaw Summit of 2016. A common...
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The role of cyber operations in Iran's policy toward the United States: A qualitative perspective
Monsen, Ingunn Helene Landsend ; Kučera, Tomáš (vedoucí práce) ; Biagini, Erika (oponent)
This study examines the role and utility of low-severity cyber operations in one state's policy toward another within the context of a long-term hostile feud. This study has fulfilled this task through an explanatory qualitative analysis with cyber operations as an embedded unit of study. The subject of research is the policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran toward the United States in the time spanning from the historic agreement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Nuclear Deal, in July 2015 through 2020. The role of the cyber operations in Iran's policy is examined by juxtaposing the pattern of escalations and de- escalations occurring in the context, and in the political and military domains conducted by the Islamic Republic with their deployment of cyber operations. Through this pattern matching, this study identified a visible relative restraint in the cyber domain during the first years following the conclusion of the JCPOA, as the Islamic Republic had obtained its top strategic goal, defined as eliminating all sanctions burdening its economy. Iran's cyber operations towards the United States re-emerged when Washington exited the Nuclear Deal in 2018 and began re-instating sanctions, and the operations were intensified when Tehran began steadily escalating in...
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Securitization of an imaginary threat as an authoritarian legitimation instrument: The cases of Belarus and Uzbekistan
Akromov, Otabek ; Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (vedoucí práce) ; Kučera, Tomáš (oponent)
Securitization of an Imaginary Threat as an Authoritarian Legitimation Instrument: The Cases of Belarus and Uzbekistan. July 2021 GUID: 2458329A DCU ID: 19108281 CU ID: 22199053 Presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
Degree of International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies Word Count: 22 451 Supervisor: Donnacha Ó Beacháin Date of Submission: 31.07.2021 Abstract This research explores how the securitization of imaginary and exaggerated threats is used as a legitimation instrument in hegemonic authoritarian regimes. Approaching the task through the cases studies, this thesis will situate the securitization practice within the performance mechanism of authoritarian legitimation and apply it in two hegemonic autocratic regimes - Uzbekistan of Islam Karimov and Belarus of Alexander Lukashenko. This dissertation picks qualitative research design. Methodologically, discourse and content analysis will be used to test the theory that will be developed in this project. The arguments presented in the thesis draw upon the primary sources such as speeches, official statements, and memoirs. The dissertation will also refer to the secondary sources in order to synthesise arguments provided by the existing literature related to the issue in question. This research project...
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Diverging interests driving a shared strategic culture in Europe through the European Intervention Initiative
de Valk, Giliam Josse ; Kučera, Tomáš (vedoucí práce) ; Smith, David (oponent)
The European Intervention Initiative (EI2) is a European defence framework that was proposed by France in September 2017 and formally established in June 2018. The EI2's ultimate goal is to develop a shared strategic culture in Europe. How this objective should be achieved, however, is barely described by the EI2's participant countries. This research used the concepts of strategic culture and national interest to analyse how the EI2 and its ultimate objective came into being. While the participant countries had different national interest for joining the EI2 and different understandings of strategic culture, the ambiguity surrounding the EI2's ultimate goal in fact provided an outcome. It was concrete enough to get behind, but also allowed participant countries to interpret and explain the objective the way it suited their own national interests and understandings of strategic culture. As such, the two concepts did not oppose, but rather facilitate each other in the EI2's development.
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The bureaucratisation and professionalisation of security in INGOs: Security-risk management from the perspective of field workers
Cottin, Johanna Luise ; Gaynor, Niamh (vedoucí práce) ; Kučera, Tomáš (oponent)
Based on eight in-depth interviews conducted with humanitarian workers working in high-risk areas, this research examines the impact of bureaucratisation and professionalisation of INGOs on their security-risk management. Whereas twentieth century theorist have argued that bureaucracy and professionalisation increase efficiency in public institutions, this research has found that it also impedes on the delivery of humanitarian aid. The increased bureaucratisation and professionalisation of tasks in INGOs has created tensions between different hierarchical levels. In particular, field staff perceives the growing bureaucratisation of security risk management as a coercive and controlling tool used by headquarters to monitor their work at field level. At the same time, field staff have developed strategies to counter restrictive measures to retain independence and autonomy in their security-risk management. These tensions reflect the evolution of the humanitarian sector and the evolving drive behind aid delivery. This research thus contributes to debates around the securitization of the humanitarian sector and the implementation of efficient security risk management. 1. Cover of the book Saving Lives and Staying Alive by M.Neuman and F. Weissman (2016)
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