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Change in the American policy towards Cuba during Barack Obama's administration
Veselá, Gabriela ; Raška, Francis (advisor) ; Kozák, Kryštof (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with American foreign policy towards Cuba after President Barack Obama became president. The main objective of this work is to answer how the US- Cuban relationship has changed since 2009, and to show the positive approach of the new president and his government administration towards Cuba and their share on these changes. The thesis analyses factors that resulted in gradual releasing of political tension between the US and Cuba, events that contributed to this process over the years 2009-2014 and steps that US and Cuban governments have undertaken to develop mutual cooperation. The work focuses mainly on the influence throughout presidency of Obama and his efforts to start negotiations with Cuban government. Along with this, the thesis analyses matters that prevented and still partly prevent full recovery of US-Cuban future cooperation, such as economic embargo imposed on Cuba and lack of Cuban respect for human rights. The author comes to conclusion that recovery of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba in December 2014 is mainly the result of forthcoming policy of Barack Obama, who refused to go on in non-functional form of the anti-Cuban policy, applied by most American Presidents since the 60s. Thanks to Raul Castro's willingness to cooperate in joint...
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Comparison of U.S. and Mexican approach to freedom of speech
Drhlíková, Eva ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Raková, Svatava (referee)
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right which is important not only for the intellectual integrity of an individual but also for the healthy development of the whole society. The work represents both general arguments for freedom of expression and codification of freedom in two different legal cultures. In the United States the freedom of expression is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, which complements the rich jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the United States. In Mexico, the right is regulated in Article 6 of the Constitution. The work shows how both countries reached the current legislation on the basis of examination of legal developments and cultural values. The values of the societies are presented on the basis of Hofstede's cultural dimensions. The core of the thesis is to compare the legal limits, which is made primarily on the basis of judicial practice of the Supreme Courts of both countries. Emphasis is placed on four main areas which are related to freedom of speech: (i) fighting words including hate speech, (ii) symbolic speech, (iii) obscenity, and (iv) defamation. In addition to the legal limits the work interprets also the most significant actual limits in both countries. Finally, the author examines the relationship between freedom of expression and...
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Minutemen: New Racism on the U.S.-Mexican Border?
Divišová, Kristýna ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Fiřtová, Magdalena (referee)
This study has for its goal to examine whether a new racist prejudice against Mexican illegal immigrants was driving the activities of the minutemen movement operating along the U.S.- Mexico border whose stated goal was to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country. This work assumes that the old blatant racism is no longer acceptable within society but was replaced by a conspicuously color-blind rhetoric, typical of the minutemen movement, that might harbor a new racist prejudice. New racism does not put forth a race defined biologically but understands the white and non-white races conceptually. It thus contributes to the maintenance of the white-black dichotomy within society and more importantly to the discrimination and exclusion of the non-white races. In order to disclose a possible racist prejudice, this study conducts a Critical Discourse Analysis of the minutemen's discourse. Results of this analysis show that especially the focus on the notion of law and order, so typical of the discourse, is hugely misleading and that under this seemingly color-blind reasoning, there is, indeed, a hidden expression of the new racist prejudice.
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Crisis of U.S. Intelligence? George W. Bush and the decision to invade Iraq
Ondrejka, Miroslav ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Anděl, Petr (referee)
The intelligence failure regarding the estimates of the Iraqi regime is often cited as the main reason for President George W. Bush to change the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Between 2002 and 2003, the highest figures o George W. Bush's administration often used arguments of the intelligence community to justify their decision to overthrow Saddam's regime by force. Their arguments were based primarily on the information on Hussein's contacts with al-Qaeda and his continuing ability to produce weapons of mass destruction. After the war, these estimates were proven wrong and the intelligence community was marked as the force that triggered the invasion. In my master's thesis called Crisis of U.S. Intelligence? George W. Bush and the decision to invade Iraq, I put forward arguments contradicting this widespread idea. The goal of the thesis is to cast light on the fundaments of the intelligence failure regarding Hussein's alleged contacts with al- Qaeda and his capability to stockpile and produce weapons of mass destruction. I reveal the ideological and strategic reasons behind the Bush's decision to invade Iraq and the fact that the intelligence findings played only secondary role. The true reason of the intelligence failure wasn't only flawed manipulation with human intelligence (HUMINT) and...
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Comparison of the Methods of Commercial and Political Marketing in the American Media in the 1970's and 1980's.
Kleňha, Jan ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Šafařík, Petr (referee)
UNIVERZITA KARLOVA V PRAZE FAKULTA SOCIÁLNÍCH VĚD Institut mezinárodních studií Jan Kleňha Porovnání metod komerčního a politického marketingu v amerických médiích v 70. a 80. letech 20. století Bakalářská práce Praha 2014 Abstract: Two decades of 1970's and 1980's are perceived from a media point of view as an era of large and previously inexperienced systemic changes within the industry, with far-reaching impacts on the American society. This bachelor's thesis will focus on proving that, since it's extensive emergence in 1970's, the political marketing has been implementing many of the methods of commercial marketing, which were previously developed by rigorous empirical studies and were proven to be successful. Political campaigns were using the same media as the commercial campaigns and were forced to deal with the same cultural background and the same changes in the society. No matter what the crucial differences in financing, preconditions, aims or impacts between political and commercial advertising were, many of their methods were based on the same socio-psychological principles of influence and persuasion. Therefore, the more these methods were used in specific political campaigns, the more successful these campaigns were in reaching its objective.
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The issue of race in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the United States : the evolving interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause
Martinec, Tomáš ; Sehnálková, Jana (advisor) ; Kozák, Kryštof (referee)
This thesis entitled The Issue of Race in the Jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the United States: The Evolving Interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause analyses the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, in particular the following decisions: Plessy v. Ferguson, Sweatt v. Painter, Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Grutter v. Bollinger, Gratz v. Bollinger, Fisher v. University of Texas and Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. The analysis of the above- mentioned decisions illustrates the evolution of the philosophical background of the Supreme Court. After the Second World War, the natural-law legal philosophy began influencing the Justices and slightly overshadowed the positive-law current that was predominant in the pre- War era, in particular in the 19th century. This new philosophical background of the High Court help to constitutionally entrench the affirmative action policies by Justice Powell's opinion in Bakke and particularly by Grutter. However, the natural-law current has never become as dominant as the positive-law one in the 19th century, and as shown in Grutter's companion case of Gratz...
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Political Orientation and Continuity of Foreign Policy in Brazil: A Comparison of the Foreign Policies under Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Lula da Silva towards the USA
Chmelíková, Julie ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
This bachelor thesis is concerned with the foreign policy of Brazil towards the USA during the administrations of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Lula da Silva. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether the election of the leftist president Lula had an impact on the continuity of the Brazilian foreign policy towards the USA. Firstly, the concept of autonomy in foreign relations is introduced and subsequently put into context of South America and eventually into the context of Brazil itself. The second part offers an insight into some aspects of the political system of Brazil such as the presidential diplomacy and coalitional presidentialism. The third and the fourth parts are the core of the thesis and examine the cooperation between Brazil and the USA at the political and economic levels. In the framework of both the political and economic cooperation specific topics are identified, which are then analyzed with the objective of comparing Cardoso's and Lula's foreign policy. The thesis as a whole concludes that while the political cooperation between the USA and Brazil after the Lula's election demonstrates continuity, discontinuity prevails in the economic cooperation.
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Historie nerovných příležitostí v USA: Segregace hispánských dětí ve školách
Veselková, Eva ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
A History of Unequal Opportunity in the U.S. Segregation of Latino School Children Half a century has passed since the U.S. Supreme Court famously stated that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. After all this time, separate facilities are still the reality and they are still unequal. This thesis examines the educational experience of Latino children in the United States from the twentieth century up to the present, with the main focus on the area of the American Southwest. The history of Latino school segregation is examined from the legal perspective, focusing on the significant court cases in which Latinos fought against segregation and for equal educational opportunities. A special attention is paid to Mendez v. Westminster federal court case, which has ended de jure segregation of Latinos after the World War II. While the topic of school segregation in relation to Latinos is often overlooked by professional literature and little known to the public, it is very important as Latinos represent one fourth of all public school children in the United States today. This paper concludes that, because of school segregation, the educational history of Latinos in the United States is one of unequal opportunity. Moreover, the educational opportunities of Latino children remain...
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American DREAM Act: Final Solution?
Toloch, Jan ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
This thesis describes DREAM Act, a legislative proposal discussed in the US Congress between 2001 and 2011. The Act proposes a pathway to legal citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. The thesis aims to find whether the children of illegal immigrants should be held accountable and face deportations, even though they were not responsible for entering the U.S. illegally? It also discusses whether implementation of the DREAM Act is a convenient solution of governmental reform of the broken immigration system. The first chapter describes the DREAM Act in greater detail and compares it to the presidential executive order DAPA, a similar program to DREAM Act providing deferred action on deportation for these children. The second chapter focuses on impact of immigrants, their legal consciousness and tells stories of undocumented children who crossed the U.S. border and describes their lives in the U.S. The third chapter's focus is on impact on the U.S. society, mainly discusses the economic potential of the DREAM Act implementation. Last chapter provides an analysis of DREAM Act in the State of New York and activities of undocumented students fighting for its enactment. The thesis concludes that the children should not be punished for decisions of their parents as they bring many benefits for...
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Motivation of the Hispanic immigrants for their immigration as one of the possible determining factors of the heterogeneity of this minority in the USA
Holubová, Eliška ; Bečka, Jan (advisor) ; Kozák, Kryštof (referee)
Due to certain cultural similarities, the immigrants from Latin America and the Hispanic minority in the USA are often regarded as a compact and homogenous group, but in fact they are not. The differences within the Hispanic minority have been traced in many ways. This Bachelor's thesis Motivation of the Hispanic immigrants for their immigration as one of the possible determining factors of the heterogeneity of this minority in the USA surveys the initiatives and the main reasons of the Hispanic immigrants for their immigration to the United States as one of the criteria for assessing the diversity within the Hispanic minority. On the sample of numerically prominent ethnic subgroups (Mexican, Cuban and Salvadoran), which represent the Hispanic minority, there are analyzed the main push and pull factors motivating them for immigration to the USA. On the example of Mexican, Cuban and Salvadoran immigration the author in her thesis responds the question whether there really are different motives for Hispanic immigrants for immigration to the United States and if there are some in which way they differ. The author concludes that despite some analogies, groups are motivated by different combinations of push and pull factors. Similarly looking motives or reasons for their immigration are moreover...
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