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Analysis of the geopolitical relationships between Iraqi Kurdistan, regional and global actors
Sommer, Filip ; Jelen, Libor (advisor) ; Lepič, Martin (referee)
Iraqi Kurdistan represents an entity capable of acting independently in international relations. This thesis evaluates its geopolitical position based on an analysis of relations with regional and global actors operating in the region. Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria are considered as regional actors because they are inhabited by a significant Kurdish population and can thus influence the possible formation of Iraqi Kurdistan. United States and the Russian Federation are considered as global players. The analysis examines the statements of the top representatives of all these entities and is carried out in the period from 2013 to 2017. Its aim is to find out how the geopolitical situation of Kurdistan in Iraq has changed as to the major events that have taken place in these years. These include the arrival of the Islamic State in the region in June 2014 or the declaration of the Kurdish referendum on independence in September 2017.
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Comparison of formation and activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan
Jelínek, Antonín ; Lepič, Martin (advisor) ; Jelen, Libor (referee)
Muslim Brotherhood is transnational Islamic movement that operates in the countries of northern Africa and the Middle East. Originally it used to be a charity organization focused on various social issues and it only later entered the political scene as well. The main goal of this bachelor thesis is to analyze and compare its activities and achievements within the political systems of Egypt and Jordan. The thesis also aims at verifying explanatory power of the institutionalization theory within the regimes with limited democratic functioning. More specifically, the thesis discusses possible influences of the Muslim Brotherhood's level of institutionalization onto its mobilization potential. The movement originates in Egypt, where it experienced many ups and downs in term of its access to the political arena. In contrast, the position of the Brotherhood was more stable in Jordan, mainly due to the cooperation with the king of Jordan. From the beginning of 90s the movement have participated in the political life of both analyzed countries mentioned above. Getting a presidency seat and majority in parliament in Egypt after the Arab Spring events is considered as the biggest success of the movement so far. Meanwhile in Jordan, the changes after the Arab Spring were not as significant. Nowadays, the...
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Nonstationarity of nation-construction in contemporary Europe: Time-space differentiation in support for and factors behind regional nationalism in Catalonia
Lepič, Martin ; Tomeš, Jiří (advisor) ; Havlíček, Tomáš (referee) ; Kopeček, Vincenc (referee)
Regional nationalism and consequent separatist tendencies have a significant impact on the territorial (dis)integration of many countries across the globe, and Europe is no exception. These processes contributed to changes in the traditional academic understanding of states as uniform, cohesive, and continuous political entities. Nevertheless, research on territorial and societal cohesion and continuity within regional nationalist movements has so far been neglected, even though this aspect seems to be key to the successful mobilization and goal achievement of separatist movements in heterogeneous democratic societies. This thesis aims to examine the limits of uniformity and continuity, that is, a time-space differentiation in political affiliations to secessionist regional nationalism in Catalonia, including the explanation of a time-space nonstationarity in the effects of factors behind the affiliations. Catalonia is an example of region with intense cultural and inclusive-assimilationist nationalism which proliferates within an ethno-culturally heterogeneous and segregated society. In the last decade, the region has shifted from a phase of everyday, "banal" nationalism to an explicit and dynamic nationalist mobilization, which has been brought about by (and further intensified) the deterioration...
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Formation and delimitation of the Bosnian Serbs' ethno-national identity vis-à-vis Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Žemličková, Jana ; Lepič, Martin (advisor) ; Bořil, Vít (referee)
Formation and delimitation of the Bosnian Serbs' ethno-national identity vis-à- vis Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina Abstract: The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine the concept of ethno-national identity of Bosnian Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the Dayton Agreement in 1995 to the present. The work seeks to synthesize and integrate the prior research works from the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is done through a method of systematic review in order to serve as a basis for subsequent research on the current issues. In addition to the basic cultural and ethnic elements defining the Bosnian Serb nation, it is found that the "ethnically cleansed" area of the Republika Srpska plays an important role in self-determination. Exclusive and inclusive elements of a nationalist nature are also examined, which within Bosnia and Herzegovina are mainly produced by institutions that thus strengthen national identity and nationalize society. They are thus central to the formation and delimitation of the ethno-nation of Bosnian Serbs in contrast to other constitutive nations, especially Bosniaks. From the studied articles, it was found that one of the essential elements of the ethno-nation is the Serbian Cyrillic and a certain symbol also represents the whole territory of the Republika Srpska. The...
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Spatial analysis of election support for ODS, ČSSD and ANO 2011 in the 2013 and 2017 Czech general elections
Charvát, Dominik ; Lepič, Martin (advisor) ; Mikešová, Renáta (referee)
The party replacement theory is a relevant research topic that this thesis is based on. This diploma thesis focuses on a spatial analysis of election support for ODS, ČSSD, and ANO 2011 in the 2013 and 2017 Czech general elections. The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the replacement of traditional political parties - ODS and ČSSD - by the newly established ANO. The 2013 Czech general election suggest the replacement of ODS by ANO, owing to the considerable decline in election support for ODS between 2010 - 2013 and the success of ANO in this election. In 2017, the replacement of ČSSD by ANO is examined because the election decrease of ČSSD was noticed in that year, and ANO reinforced its support base even more. The main raison d'être for this research is the considerable decrease of election support for the traditional political parties ODS and ČSSD and, contrarily, the success in these elections of newly established ANO led by Andrej Babiš. Data from the Czech statistical office was used in this thesis. The data were delimited at a municipal level. Spatial differentiation of election support was measured using the method of spatial autocorrelation. Change of the election support for individual parties across municipalities and over several elections was described using spatiotemporal...
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The spatial analysis of the 2018 Czech presidential election results in the capital city of Prague
Vratný, Radek ; Lepič, Martin (advisor) ; Šimon, Martin (referee)
The 2018 Czech presidential election were profoundly controversial and polarising event. One of the polarising factors was a perception that the voting behaviour in the capital city of Prague is significantly different compared to the voting behaviour in the rest of Czechia. Therefore, the primary objective of this thesis is to examine the electoral support of both runoff voting candidates across the territory of the capital city of Prague. The main part of the analysis focuses on the spatial differentiation of the election results of both candidates at the level of Prague's polling districts and on searching for the spatial clusters of electoral support. For the purpose of the study the methods of the exploratory spatial data analysis were used, specifically the global and local statistics of spatial autocorrelation. Subsequently, the thesis attempts to clarify which factors determined the voting behaviour through testing the socio-economic and demographic indicators using the method of multinomial linear regression. The analysis proved that the spatial differentiation of the election results of both candidates is significant across the territory of Prague and detected the spatial clusters of electoral support. The analysis also clarified that this voting behaviour can be explained particularly by...
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Rhetorics and determinants of support for populist radical right parties in different socio-cultural environments: a comparison of the Czech Republic and Denmark
Koníček, Michal ; Lepič, Martin (advisor) ; Maškarinec, Pavel (referee)
This diploma thesis examines the suitability of generalization of the populist radical right parties (PRRP). In recent years, these parties have succeeded on the political scene of many European countries. Using the example of "new" Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD) political party and the established Danish People's Party (DF) it shows the differences in the party pre-election rhetoric and program, which are brought about by parties' age as well as by different historical developments in the respective countries. The historical context has affected contemporary political environment and, therefore, there are reasonable doubts about the generalization of the PRRPs. This is especially the case of post-communist countries, which, after years of oppression, had to go through a process of transformation that involved not only economic issues. This thesis is based on the Lipset's and Rokkan's cleavages theory, while it tries to confirm its existence in the given states, namely the economical, the religious, the center - periphery and the urban - rural cleavage. The inclusion of six tested factors in the analysis helps to do this. The multiple linear regression analysis tested which factors (the factors are socio-cultural, socio-economic, and demographic factors) have a statistically significant...
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Analysis of the geopolitical relationships between Iraqi Kurdistan, regional and global actors
Sommer, Filip ; Jelen, Libor (advisor) ; Lepič, Martin (referee)
Iraqi Kurdistan represents an entity capable of acting independently in international relations. This thesis evaluates its geopolitical position based on an analysis of relations with regional and global actors operating in the region. Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria are considered as regional actors because they are inhabited by a significant Kurdish population and can thus influence the possible formation of Iraqi Kurdistan. United States and the Russian Federation are considered as global players. The analysis examines the statements of the top representatives of all these entities and is carried out in the period from 2013 to 2017. Its aim is to find out how the geopolitical situation of Kurdistan in Iraq has changed as to the major events that have taken place in these years. These include the arrival of the Islamic State in the region in June 2014 or the declaration of the Kurdish referendum on independence in September 2017.
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Comparison of Albanian and Serbian Pan-Nationalisms
Volný, Vít ; Jelen, Libor (advisor) ; Lepič, Martin (referee)
The main goal of this work is to examine the thoughts of "Great Serbia" and "Great Albania", find their roots, to describe their historical development and their current popularity in a Serbian and Albanian environment. The first part focuses on the main texts that are the core of both pan-nationalisms and their historical context. Later names other alternatives of ideas of big Serbian and Albanian states and describes how the pan-nationalistic concepts developed regarding internal foreign-policy effects. In the end of the first chapter, the work concludes what concepts are relevant now. The second part characterises popularity of pan-nationalistic ideas in Serbia, Albania and Kosovo. The work looks at the political scene of all the three states with a focus on the pan-nationalistic programme of the parties. Based on that the work judges the popularity of the "Great Albania" and "Great Serbia" according to the results of the parliament elections. Moreover, the work analyses the atmosphere in the society according to the human research surveys. In the end, marks distribution of the popularity of pan-nationalism in space based on the detailed results of the ultra-nationalistic parties.
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Geopolitics of global and regional actors in the South China Sea
Lochman, Josef ; Lepič, Martin (advisor) ; Jelen, Libor (referee)
GEOPOLITICS OF GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ACTORS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA Abstract This bachelor thesis focuses on territorial disputes in the South China Sea as well as on the geopolitical conditions of such occurence. The aim of the thesis is to answer the following research questions: Which contested terrains are the primary sources of tension in the area? Which factors can possibly cause a military conflict? And what are the reasons for increasing Chinese claims in the region? The method of systematic review of scholarly literature is used to collect the evidence and answer the research questions. Theoretical framework of the thesis i based on the disputes between classical and critical geopolitics. While the stae-led hegemonic politics is usually based on the former approach, the critical geopolitice is especially useful for critical insight made by researcher. As the evidence shows, he most contested terrains in the South China Sea are Spratly and Paracel Islands, because the sovereignty upon them is claimed by most of the countries. Large reserves of energy resources can be found within the island's adjacent waters. These are required by China as well as other countries in the region in order to facilitate an economic growth. Since 2010, China, strenghtened by its economic and military progrese, has appointed...
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