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At a Loss for Words: Capturing the Duality of Political Correctness (PC)
Djokićova, Eliška ; Parízek, Michal (advisor) ; Földes, Kristián (referee)
This thesis examines the concept of political correctness (PC). This social phenomenon has recently become a political tool used widely by right-wing politicians to describe the divide between the ruling "elites" and the "ordinary people." More generally, PC acts as an indicator of a broader cultural turn toward "post-material values" in the West. However, despite its prevalence, there is a lack of consensus on its definition and underlying purposes. This thesis wishes to contribute to the PC debate by 1) outlining the historical development of PC, 2) reviewing and synthesizing existing literature, 3) proposing a conceptualization of PC, and 4) developing a measurement tool for PC at the individual level. It is argued that PC has a dual nature: it is comprised of a normative (adherence to social norms and values) and a behavioral dimension (prescription of designated behaviors meant to be their expression). Moreover, it is hypothesized that a gap exists between these dimensions that can be influenced by reputational concerns (social desirability), perceived threats to freedom (psychological reactance), and political orientation. In this context, three pilot studies were conducted to validate the new measurement tools and examine the associations between PC's two dimensions and social desirability,...
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The Role of Trust in Media in Resilience: The Cases of the Czech and Slovak Republic
Doubravová, Barbora ; Bahenský, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Földes, Kristián (referee)
The marter thesis deals with the role of trust in media in resilience. The aim of the thesis is to explore the approach to trust in media by the state and journalists as a factor in countering the issue of disinformation, with potentially co-explanatory differences between the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in their societal resilience. The thesis utilizes exploratory research of a qualitative nature. The results are primarily extracted through 15 interviews with journalists and national officials, as well as experts from both countries. As the results illustrate, the state and media sector in both countries consider trust in the media as a crucial factor in resilience against disinformation and countering disinformation. Journalists' perspectives on the subject are similar in both countries, while the approaches of national officials are to a certain extent differen. In the Czech Republic, national officials express a stronger criticism regarding the quality of media on the national level, at the same time, a passive approach to building their trust. On the other hand, national officials in Slovakia depict a greater eagerness to contribute to trust in media. However, it is often diminished by a lack of resources or political will. The results outline the necessity of a comprehensive...
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The West Through the Eyes of Russian Elite: Evolution of Its Perception in Modern Russian History
Moskovenko, Arsenii ; Földes, Kristián (advisor) ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (referee)
In this thesis I'm going to introduce the process of how the perception of the Western world has been changing in the eyes of the Russian political elites through their discourse since the establishment of a new Russian state. The results of this research may help to fill an important gap, as previously there was no similar research conducted that would try to track the same process. We may find some works which analyze the reaction of Russia to some political events at one exact point in time. However, none of the researchers have been trying to analyze at which point the perception of the West began to turn to a more negative side and what were the main factors for that, taking into account how friendly the relations between Russian and the West seemed to be in the 1990s and how they are heated up nowadays. The research is completed by the method of discourse analysis where I presented relevant quotations of political elites produced in the times of the most crucial historical events with regard to Russia- West relations. In each of the quotations, I was looking for different discursive strategies, such as metaphors, hyperboles or rhetorical questions, which helped us to create a broader picture of how the elites saw the West in their speeches in one or another period of history. The results of the...
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New Pact on Migration and Asylum in the process of adopting legislative proposals - the case of Greece, Hungary and Sweden
Kozáková, Marie ; Földes, Kristián (advisor) ; Plechanovová, Běla (referee)
This thesis focuses on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum (the Pact), which was issued by the European Commission in the autumn of 2020. It includes a set of nine legislative and non- legislative proposals that aimed at reforming EU migration and asylum policy. Specifically, the thesis deals with the process of adopting the proposals in the context of the approach of three selected countries (Greece, Hungary and Sweden) to migration issues. The first part of the thesis defines the method of discursive analysis and the concept of legitimation and then it describes the legislative process within the EU and presents all the proposals that are part of the Pact. The second part, the practical part, contains case studies of selected countries. Through a discursive analysis using the concept of legitimation, the thesis analyses statements of political representatives of the states or EU representatives, based on media statements, EU documents or interviews. Subsequently, their legitimation moves explaining their approach to migration and the Pact are analysed. The main objective is to identify the most relevant factors that play key role for the states and that most significantly influence the decision-making regarding the adoption of each proposal. Together with EU institutions, also Member States are...
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Identity Discourse in Western Liberal Democracies: ETA during the Years 1998-2018
Moncada Bravo, Héctor ; Komasová, Sarah (advisor) ; Földes, Kristián (referee)
Terrorism was a subject of concern that loomed large in the Spanish territory for a protracted period of time. Although at an exclusively domestic level, this master's thesis investigates the evolution of ethnic identity and the evolution of the understanding of violence in ETA's discourse through a critical analysis of six key statements issued between 1998 and 2018. Utilizing Fairclough's three-dimensional approach to discourse analysis, the study examines the linguistic, discursive, and sociocultural dimensions of ETA's rhetoric in each statement with the ultimate purpose of addressing two main research questions: (RQ1) How does the notion of ethnic identity evolve over time and relate to violent conduct and ideology in the statements produced by ETA? and (RQ2) derived from RQ1, how is the understanding of violence embedded in ETA's discourse? The findings reveal a complex interplay between ethnic identity, violence, and political ideology in ETA's discourse, which at the same time are determined by strategic shifts in response to internal and external pressures. Likewise, the approaches of Primordialism, Instrumentalism and Constructivism provided a theoretical framework that served to identify key themes in the statements: the organization's emphasis on historical grievances, the right to...
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A Comparison of migration crises of the European Union in 2015 and 2022 in terms of "push" and "pull" effects - A Comparative case study of migration trends
Fiala, Tomáš ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Földes, Kristián (referee)
in English The waves of migration from Syria in 2015 and from Ukraine in 2022 significantly affected the number of people who applied for asylum or temporary protection in the EU. In this work, these migration waves are compared through a pre-selected framework of the so- called "neoclassical theory" which operates on the basis of rational decision-making about migration as an "economic" calculation of risks, advantages and disadvantages (so-called "push" and "pull" factors and "intervening obstacles"). Through comparison, the work tries to answer the questions of the similarity of the two migration waves and, through their analysis, at the same time, the question of whether these waves influenced the Migration and Asylum Policy of the EU as such. Despite certain similarities in the political aspects of the comparison, the similarity of the two waves was not confirmed, however, a shift in the creation of the EU migration policy framework after the migration wave in 2015 was also confirmed.
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UN Mission in Kosovo: The Causes of Its Long-Term Ineffectiveness
Doležal, Jan ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Földes, Kristián (referee)
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo presented the most complex UN peace mission to date. With its four-pillar structure, consisting of the UN, EU, and OSCE, with security support from NATO, UNMIK was mandated to assume full interim administrative control responsibility over Kosovo following the end of the Kosovo War. While the UNMIK administration (1999-2008) achieved most of its short-term objectives and goals related to negative stability, it was largely ineffective in fulfilling its long-term goals related to statebuilding and positive stability. This case study aims to determine which factors contributed to UNMIK's long-term ineffectiveness. This is achieved through an analysis of the impact of three factors identified as potentially detrimental to UNMIK's long-term effectiveness. While the analysis confirms the negative impact of the lack of local ownership and the prioritization of short-term negative stability, the findings related to the impact of the pillar design on the degree of coordination within the mission are mixed. While the performance of the integrated pillar design was far from perfect, it was still an improvement on the previous regional operations and overall contributed to a higher degree of coordination of the mission. Especially the division of responsibilities between the...
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