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The image of the Commonwealth in the United Kingdom, 1991-2011
Růžičková, Jana ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Rovná, Lenka (referee)
Bachelor thesis "The Image of the Commonwealth in the United Kingdom, 1991- 2011" deals with the international organization Commonwealth of Nations, which evolved from the former British Empire after the Second World War and one of the main objectives of this thesis is to reconstruct the image of the Commonwealth in the contemporary United Kingdom. The UK played a pivotal role within the time of the formation of the Commonwealth, but during the sixties the British approach towards the Commonwealth had changed and Britain quietly started to turn away from the organisation. The timeframe of this paper is defined from 1991, the year of publication of the Harare Declaration, to present. By analysing documents and other mainly primary sources in the first section of this paper, the image of the Commonwealth is reconstructed from perspective of three elements of the British society, namely political scene, media and public. Consequently the crucial question whether the image of the Commonwealth corresponds with the reality is answered and areas where the image and the reality do not correspond are emphasised. The reality of the Commonwealth is derived from its official documents and special literature. Besides the reconstruction of the image the paper also deals with other more general topics such as the...
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Debate about the introduction of a Bill of Rights in the United Kingdom
Kimelová, Anna ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
Bachelor thesis "Debate about the introduction of a Bill of Rights in the United Kingdom" deals with a debate which has been taking place in the United Kingdom since 2007 and which mainly considers the possibility of introducing an original British Bill of Rights. The thesis presents the most important moments of the debate and opinions of its most significant participants. These are politicians, scholars in the fields of constitutional law and human rights as well as non-governmental organisations, think-tanks and pressure groups. The thesis analyses their arguments and opinions and examines which of these arguments are the most often mentioned and are the most influential. In general, the debate deals most with the questions whether a Bill of Rights should be introduced, what it should include and how it should be entrenched. The character and the content of the debate are significantly affected by the discussion of the current protection of rights in the country. This has been since 1998 represented by the Human Rights Act which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into the constitutional system. Its critique stood at the beginning of the debate about a Bill of Rights and the thesis argues that it belongs among the most important arguments for the introduction of a new Bill of...
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Misuse of Allowances in British Parliament
Svoboda, Jan ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Rovná, Lenka (referee)
The bachelor thesis is called Misuse of Allowances in British Parliament and its theme is the Expenses scandal in British Parliament in 2009. The thesis is divided into seven chapters. First chapter brings readers into the problem and describes a system of rewarding British MPs and allowances scheme at the time before the scandal. It is followed by chapters focused on the scandal beginning and reactions on the scandal. Firstly, reactions of media are described and then examples of MPs' reaction are provided. Secondly, reactions of political parties, official institutions and actions taken by the democratic system are studied. The next chapter is dedicated to the impact of scandal on the results of the European Parliament election in 2009 and General election in 2010. Finally, major points of the scandal are analyzed in the last chapter.
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New Labour and its engagement in the security policy of the European Union. Comparison of the first and second term of Tony Blair
Pavelková, Kristina ; Rovná, Lenka (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The thesis analyses the security policy of Great Britain within the context of the security policy of the European Union. By using comparison of New Labour's approach to security policy during the first and second term of Tony Blair in the years 1997-2005, the thesis aims to answer the question whether New Labour managed to keep the pro-European tendencies of Great Britain during both of the terms. The analysis concludes that New Labour failed to maintain its vision of pro-European shift of Great Britain. Since 2001, there is a distinctive shift from European security policy to the American one. Great Britain was mainly interested in its overseas ally at the expense of the European partner after 2001. Partial research question is whether the European security and defence policy was successful or not in promoting the proclaimed objectives within the European Union and whether Great Britain used its security policy to obtain more significant position within the EU. Answer to such question is that Great Britain used its security policy to obtain greater position for negotiation within the EU during the first term of Tony Blair in year 1997-2001 and that in security and defence policy, we talk about New Labour's success in promoting the proclaimed objectives throughout the European Union. Second...
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Britain at Bay: The British Defence Policy between the World Wars
Svoboda, Ondřej ; Smetana, Vít (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The purpose of the thesis "Britain at Bay: British Defence Policy between the World Wars" is to analyse the creation and application of defence policy of Great Britain and its Empire in the interwar period. The author tries to assess and interpret actions of individual government actors as well as actors outside the government. He argues that defence policy promoted by politicians, soldiers, and bureaucrats, was not always a mere result of rational reasoning. There were often cases of defending particular interests, decision-making influenced by emotions and misleading perception of the external world. One of the strongest limitations was Britain's economic frailty which influenced the British grand strategy in eminent and key way during the examined period. It is well demonstrated on the shift from almost unilateral disarmament after the First World War to the immense armament just a few months before the Second World War. Great emphasis is also put on individual armed branches which bore the main burden of Britain's and Imperial security. Therefore, it was important to pursue the internal development of the Army, Air Force and the Navy and their operational plans in which they had to deal with gradual emergence of three enemy powers at three different parts of the world. With regard to the...
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The rise and fall of New Labour : a political ideology or just a trend?
Kopecká, Hana ; Rovná, Lenka (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The Diploma thesis "The Rise and Fall of New Labour: A Political Ideology or a Just a Trend?" focuses on the analysis of a British political course called New Labour. The research focuses on internal and external factors that had allowed this ideology to dominate the British politics over the last 13 years under the established brand of Labour Party. This thesis constitutes a comparative case study, based on the theoretical assumption of time, as well as economic and social constrains of the New Labour phenomenon. The circumstances which back in 1997 allowed the election triumph of New Labour, are often similar to those, that let to its decline a decade later, amid the new social, economic and political climate, caused its decline. This hypothesis is confronted with a secondary research based on the evaluation of broader economic, social and political influences. While the study has proved the validity of the New Labour idea in times of favorable economic and political circumstances, such as the combination of divided opposition and economic boom, it has also shown its failure in the times of economic downturn. Although the vision of New Labour was rejected by the current Labour Party, research and the governing coalition prove that the ideology can successfully operate in combination with...
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New Labour, European Union and Initiating Cooperation with the Republic of South Africa based on the Europeanization Approach
Andeltová, Lucie ; Rovná, Lenka (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
Diploma thesis "New Labour, European Union and Initiating Cooperation with the Republic of South Africa based on the Europeanization Approach" deals with the influence of New Labour on the negotiating process between the EU and South Africa in the post-apartheid era. The topic is approached by the theory of Europeanization and the method of a case study is used. A theoretical part of the thesis introduces us to the history and the content of external relations of the EU and their form towards sub-Saharan Africa and the Republic of South Africa and further to the development of relations between Britain and the EU. A special attention is thereby paid to European and foreign affairs of New Labour and the capability of Blair's government to enforce its foreign policy goals at the European level. The practical application constitutes then of a case study which proves the influence of New Labour on the negotiating process and the achieved results on concrete cases regarding the membership of the Republic of South Africa in the Lome Convention and regarding the mutual Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement
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Italian foreign policy in the European context and the second Berlusconi government
Koudelová, Veronika ; Rovná, Lenka (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
To become a global player EU must develop a coherent foreign policy. Common Foreign and Security Policy (SZBP) is composed of foreign policies of individual EU member states and for this reason it is important to deal with them. This paper examines the foreign policy of Italy, which is influenced by the process of European integration. This influence is reflected through the europeanization of this policy. Its effect is even more significant than the impact of domestic political factors. Europeanization changes its character but remains a constant value of the Italian foreign policy. The empirical example of the second Berlusconi government (2001-2006) and its position on three events (the European convention, the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) showed that Italian foreign policy continues to promote an increased assertiveness of its foreign policy objectives through CFSP. If the EU is able to agree on a common opinion, Italy does not hesitate to support it. Limited socialization of certain political elites is in sharp contrast to europeism of the Italian public opinion and pro-European orientation of officials of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first section outlines the theoretical and methodological bases of europeanization of foreign policy, which is then in second part...
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Changes in Strategic Cultures of Ireland and Sweden in the Context of the European Security and Defence Policy-Activism and its Limits
Burda, Tomáš ; Rovná, Lenka (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The diploma thesis "Changes in Irish and Swedish Strategic Cultures in the Context of ESDP" deals with Ireland's and Sweden's involvement in the military dimension of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) focusing on observable changes in national strategic cultures of the states mentioned. The primary aim of the thesis is to find out whether Ireland and Sweden, specific for their long history of neutrality and low level of activism in the use of force, has become more active in pursuit of their security and defence policies. Moreover, findings of this instrumental case study, which uses the method of the least probable case, are supposed to verify a general thesis formulated by Christoph O. Meyer that strategic cultures of states participating in the ESDP are heading towards greater activism. Applying the conceptual framework proposed by Meyer, the thesis analyses modifications in strategic norms representing the most persistent components of each national strategic culture. The norms explored include preferred mode of security and defence cooperation, acceptable goals for the use of force and requirements for domestic and international authorization. The thesis presumes that dominant strategic norms shared by relevant Irish and Swedish decision makers have a major influence on security and...
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