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Conspiracy Theories and Politics in Slovakia: How Conspiracy Thinking Relates to Political Opinions and Preferences
Kondrótová, Katarína ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
Conspiracy Theories and Politics in Slovakia: How Conspiracy Thinking Relates to Political Opinions and Preferences Katarína Kondrótová Abstract (English) Conspiracy theories have become a fashionable buzzword, appearing across the internet, the media, and political speeches with great frequency. However, there are many misconceptions associated with them, making them more divisive and mysterious than they need to be. The present contribution seeks to remedy that by providing a deep dive into conspiracy theories. It examines the multitude of their possible definitions and conceptualizations, their existence across history, as well as past research findings about why they appeal to us. In the second half, conspiracy theories are presented through new research regarding their relation to political and ideological preferences of Slovaks. The findings are in line with past studies, showing a relationship between stronger conspiracy beliefs and extremist thinking, preference of authoritarian policies, and low faith in authorities. A regression analysis also uncovered a strong correlation between conspiracy beliefs and the political party the respondents had voted for, as well as their preference of the politics and ideologies of 'the West' (EU, USA) or 'the East' (Russian federation).
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American Ways of War and Strategic Culture: A Reflection in Domestic and Foreign Cinematography
Kondrótová, Katarína ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Špelda, Petr (referee)
American Ways of War and Strategic Culture: A Reflection in Domestic and Foreign Cinematography Katarína Kondrótová Abstract This thesis examines the portrayal of American strategic culture in movies from the USA and two countries with which the USA has been in conflict with - Vietnam and Afghanistan. The research focuses on comparing them with official US strategies and contrasting the different national portrayals among themselves. The aim is to discover how the USA and its way of war is depicted at home and abroad through movies - a popular medium with the power to shape perceptions. The research is anchored in the international relations theory of post-structuralism and the concepts of strategic culture and national ways of war. They serve as a lens through which the most popular war movies from each country are analyzed. The findings showed that American movies were more precise in depicting their real-life strategic approaches and tended to be more derogatory in their portrayal of their adversaries. They also showed a more critical depiction of US conduct in Vietnam compared to Afghanistan. When it comes to the foreign movies, Vietnamese films were more critical of the USA than Afghan films, but not as disdainful of the enemy as the USA. Afghan depictions exhibited the dual nature of their opinion of...
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Zpravodajská komunita Spojených států amerických: Byla adekvátně zreformována po teroristických útocích v září 2001?
Kondrótová, Katarína ; Rolenc, Jan Martin (advisor) ; Machoň, Miloslav (referee)
The purpose of this thesis will be to identify the failures and shortcomings of the US intelligence community which allowed the 9/11 terrorist attacks to take place, and analyze whether the subsequent Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 managed to address them appropriately. The paper will examine the development of intelligence practices in the USA, focusing on the failures that occurred before and during 9/11, and analyze the appositeness of the 2004 reform for fixing these failures and improving counter-terrorism measures in the US and internationally. Towards the end, it should provide answers to the following questions: Was the IRTPA a suitable response to 9/11? How did it affect the American intelligence community?
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