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Representational Practices of Rebel Governance
Köbke, Stefan ; Ditrych, Ondřej (advisor) ; Tesař, Jakub (referee)
Representational Practices of Rebel Governance Much of the literature on rebel governance has been focusing on the material factors that influence rebel activities. However, rebels frequently engage in practices that have no clear material benefit. Instead, these are meant to increase their legitimacy with certain groups, by representing a normative conception of authoritative rule. This thesis offers a process-based theoretical framework for understanding these "representational practices" by considering them as acts of communication from rebel senders to their audiences. To this extent, rebels frame themselves as continuous, time-transcendent rulers (content) within authoritative normative frameworks (contexts) and use various "artifacts" and bodily movement as "channels" to transmit these claims. This model is then applied to an interpretive, single-case study of the "Islamic State" rebels in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017. It is found that the model can explain many of the IS's activities. The group framed its ideas of time-transcendent rule in millenarian and apocalyptic contexts, had to adapt its messages to different audiences (such as local civilians and foreign fighters), and communicated its claims not only through internet posts, but also through a careful control of sites within...
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Great Britain and Spanish Civil War: A Contribution to the Changing Attitudes of British Elites and Foreign Policy on the Background of the Conflict in Spain
Jan, Albert ; Soukup, Jaromír (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
Spanish Civil War in contemporary sense is used to be portrayed as a prelude to the WW2, as well as a proving ground for military equipment of Europe's dictatorships. Rather than warfare, this bachelor thesis is concerned with international dimension of said conflict, specifically its influence on Great Britain. British role in this war is, as opposed to that of nazi Germany, fascist Italy or communist Soviet Union, not well known, despite its policy of non-intervention having significant impact on the wars outcome. My intention is to explain generally the position of Great Britain and its development, as well as attitudes of certain british politicians: Neville Chamberlain, Anthony Eden, Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee. Their subsequent conduct during events leading to the outbreak of the WW2 was in my opinion heavily influenced by their experience with the conflict in Spain. I strive to contribute to better understanding of these steps of Great Britain, as from Central Europe's point of view they may seem irrational. However if we set them in the context of british foreign policy tradition and the situation Great Britain had to face with Spanish Civil War, we will reach in my opinion some interesting conclusions.
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Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in securitizing discourse of the USA and Russia : role in the process of security policy formation of nuclear-armed states
Klůz, Tomáš ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in securitizing discourse of the USA and Russia: Role in the process of security policy formation of nuclear-armed states Abstract This master thesis deals with a political usage of securitization of weapons of mass destruction by presidents of the two most important nuclear powers - USA and Russian Federation. For this purpose, discursive analysis of speeches of both presidents during their first terms is performed, with a goal to identify and interpret the securitizational discourse. Result is the analysis of most common type of usage of WMD securitization for legitimization of foreign-political steps and goals of these states, and their comparison. Results of the analysis shows that in the case of the US, WMD securitization was being used mainly for legitimization of politics of active formation of international situation so it would fit the US interests. In the case of Russia on the other hand, analysed discourse was being used mainly for preservation of international status quo in as stable form as possible, due to priority of domestic situation. In both cases however, predominantly economical motivations for the use of analysed discourse can be argued.
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The Role of the Civil Society in the Transformation of the North African States
Jiránková, Adéla ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
The rigorous thesis focuses on the role of the Civil Society in the processes of transition to democracy as a part of the possible democratization wave in the Middle East also know as the Arab Spring. For the purposes of the thesis the author examines three case studies of countries with the successful revolutions - Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia and two countries, where the revolutions were not successful - Morocco and Algeria. Using the method of process-tracing with focus on the path-dependency it traces the changes in the dynamics of the Civil Society in the pre-revolutionary period, concretely during Mubarak's regime in Tunisia, Qaddafi's rule in Libya, Ben Ali's regime in Tunisia, reign of the king Muhammad VI. in Morocco, and Bouteflika's regime in Algeria through the revolutions to the post-revolutionary period. Moreover, the main assumption is that the initial non-democratic regimes have been significantly influencing the transformation process of all three countries and this also applies to the Civil Society as such. The Civil Society, in this thesis, is based on two paradigms. The first is based on the liberal modernization framework and the second is connected with stagnation and socio-economic deprivation. This unique combination contributed to the transformation of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco,...
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Owning Sudan's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process : between theory and practice
Mackuliaková, Kristína ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
In a broader sense, this thesis examines the extent to which the international community decides on the application and shape of standard security templates in post-conflict environments. These standard templates are increasingly criticized for their inflexibility and inability to adapt to the actual conditions and needs on ground. In order to alleviate this criticism, as well as improve the success of these programs, the international community recently embraced the concept of national ownership. Whether it is a rhetorical concept and political tool and how its understanding differs between theory and reality are the main topics of this thesis. Specifically, the paper analyzes the concept of national ownership in the process of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants on the example of Sudan from 2003 until 2013. Sudanese DDR process has been defined as nationally owned, but nevertheless criticized for the blind following of international standards and overall inability to adapt to the context. The objective of the thesis was set out to establish what the interpretation of national ownership was in theory and compare it with the type of ownership that had taken place in practice. The main part of this study is the analysis of the control exercised by national and...
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China, India and the potential for armed conflict in South East Asia
Blažek, Zdeněk ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
Master's thesis China, India and the armed conflict potential in South East Asia is concerned with the current relations of mentioned countries and is trying to figure out, if an outburst of a military conflict between them could occur or whether they will rather cooperate. The thesis is based on the notion that these two world giants in the terms of number of inhabitants, area and even a GDP volume have an unresolved border dispute, ever since the India reached independence. Their mutual border has never been officially demarcated. The small skirmishes between the border patrols of both states are uncountable. In addition, in 1962 they waged a war against each other, which China won in very decisive manner. Both states have been disputing which side caused this conflict till today. Rising economic power of both states currently, together with supposed arming, development of military rocket and submarine technology capable to carry nuclear warheads and establishment of naval bases by China in the proximity of India could create a really effervescent atmosphere in the area. The thesis is divided into six chapters. First chapter introduces the topic. Second chapter establishes the theoretic framework, which is underpinning the research. The other chapters are empirical. The main areas of the analysis...
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Normative power as a Source of EU Peacebuilding: Diffusion of Normative Power Europe in the Western Balkans
Petrlová, Eva ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
This thesis aims to interconnect a theory of normative power Europe with the activities of the EU and its affect on the Western Balkans. The theoretical concept of normative power is based on the assumption of the EU as a normative actor who is able through its norms, values and principles to become a major civilian actor in international relations, especially in the area of conflict management. The theoretical part of the paper therefore focuses on the concept of normative power EU (NPE) as it is presented by Ian Manners, and how its normative character is reflected in the common security and defense policy. It is analysed how the NPE is diffused in selected countries of the Western Balkans through four chosen transfer mechanisms by Manners that comprise the operationalization of the thesis at the same time. Therefore the aim of this work is to contribute to the further broadening the debate over the EU's role in the international system, but also to find out how the norms and values are transmitted in selected countries of the near neighborhood - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. All of this with regard to democracy, human and minority rights, peaceful settlement of disputes, good governance etc., which encompass the basic values of the EU. The selected operationalization has allowed...
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Causes of conflict in Africa. The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Hanková, Barbora ; Werkman, Kateřina (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
This thesis aims to explore selected theoretical approaches investigating the causes of conflicts on the African continent and then try to apply it to the particular case of the Democratic Republic of Congo and its second war, running from 1998-2003, and then assess the impact of each selected causes of this particular Congolese conflict. This Work in the first chapters outlines the chosen theories related to the causes of armed conflicts in Africa, focusing on three selected causes of conflict: natural resources, ethnicity and weak state. These chapters are theoretical basis for the analysis found in the final chapter. It then evaluates the impact of chosen variables on the outbreak of the Congolese war. Based on the analysis the author draws the following conclusions: 1st the main cause of the second war in the DRC, running in the years 1998 - 2003, can be considered as raw materials, or the efforts of rebel groups and neighboring countries to control and subsequent illegal mining of mineral wealth of The Congo; 2nd although ethnic factors are not the main cause of the second Congolese war, their impact on the conflict, especially in the early days of the conflict is obvious; 3rd nature of the State, namely the weakness of the Government of DRC, ranked according to key indicators, turns out to be the most...
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