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The role of private security companies in peace-building in Africa
Volencová, Ivana ; Werkman, Kateřina (advisor) ; Svitková, Katarína (referee)
This thesis concentrates on the topic of private military and security companies in the relation to their activities within peacebuilding efforts in three african countries - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. The main goal of this thesis is to chart their activities in these countries and evaluate the level of their influence on the quality of the security, and to draw the attention to risks related to their engagement. This paper postulates the thesis that after proper regulation of their activities, private military and security companies could play an important role in peacebuilding in Africa. This thesis tries to vindicate this claim by technical texts analysing along with collected data. Furthermore, this thesis evaluates the state of current research in this area and look on the opinions of specialists on the engagement of private military and security companies in peacebuilding efforts. Keywords security, private military and security companies, privatization, peacebuilding
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Growing Role of China in African Security
Květová, Lenka ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Werkman, Kateřina (referee)
Chinese economic expansion in Africa is a widely discussed topic, but less academic attention is being paid to the role China plays in African security. Since the late 1990s Chinese activity in Africa had been growing rapidly. Beijing's interests are predominantly economic, mostly represented by market seeking and foreign direct investments, and political, generally perceived as a mutual support in international organizations. The thesis focuses on the traditional principle of non-interference in how Chinese policy towards African security has been evolving together with growing Chinese interests on the continent. The People's Republic of China influences African security matters in four areas: diplomatic involvement, arms deals, support and financing, and military cooperation. By analyzing those areas with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, concrete cases have been identified, when China interfered in internal affairs of particular states, thus altering its policy of non- interference towards more pragmatic and case by case based approach.
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Political mobilization of ethnicity in Rwanda
Ducháč, Aleš ; Werkman, Kateřina (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
The master thesis Political mobilization of ethnicity in Rwanda examines the content of radio broadcasts that played an infamous role in spreading the hatred aimed against the Tutsi minority before and during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. For the purposes of this study, the method of thematic analysis was employed. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part of the thesis begins with the conceptualization of key terms including their theoretical underpinnings. Following the theoretical part, the next section contains historical analysis of Hutu-Tutsi relationship while mapping both its origins and subsequent development. The second, practical part of this work studies the discourse of Rwandan radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines that played an essential role in inciting hatred towards the Tutsi minority and subsequent Hutu mobilization during the genocide. The core of this part comprises thematic analysis of English radio broadcasts transcripts, which aired in the period of 1993-1994 when this radio existed. The aim of this work is to shed light on how ethnicity was mobilized before and during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Initial understanding of the historical development of a highly complex relationship between the Hutu and the Tutsi will help to explain what caused...
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The success or failure of integration in sub-Saharan Africa
Levchenko, Daria ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Werkman, Kateřina (referee)
CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Master's thesis in the programme..........IEPS....................................................... 1. Given name and Surname of author: Daria Levchenko 2. Title of the Thesis: "The success or failure of integration process in Sub-Saharan Africa" 3. Subordinate title: .......................................……………………………………………….. 4. Year of defence: 2014 5. Number of pages: 141 6. Summary of the Thesis: The Diploma thesis "The success or failure in Sub-Saharan Africa" deals with a topical issue of the integration process in Sub-Saharan Africa. For the last couple of decades, the whole world was under the influence of the integration. The popularity of such economic blocks as the European Union, NAFTA, ASEAN and others lead to further interest in this field. Therefore, it is quite obvious that other countries and regions started to think about similar way of the development, and Sub-Saharan Africa is also among them. The process of integration has started at this continent long time ago, half a century. Ever since countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa gained independence, they started to build their own blocks (communities). Decades of colonial periods, struggle for freedom, the final gain of the independence, and now fight for building united and strong...
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Causes of conflict in Africa. The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Hanková, Barbora ; Werkman, Kateřina (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
This thesis aims to explore selected theoretical approaches investigating the causes of conflicts on the African continent and then try to apply it to the particular case of the Democratic Republic of Congo and its second war, running from 1998-2003, and then assess the impact of each selected causes of this particular Congolese conflict. This Work in the first chapters outlines the chosen theories related to the causes of armed conflicts in Africa, focusing on three selected causes of conflict: natural resources, ethnicity and weak state. These chapters are theoretical basis for the analysis found in the final chapter. It then evaluates the impact of chosen variables on the outbreak of the Congolese war. Based on the analysis the author draws the following conclusions: 1st the main cause of the second war in the DRC, running in the years 1998 - 2003, can be considered as raw materials, or the efforts of rebel groups and neighboring countries to control and subsequent illegal mining of mineral wealth of The Congo; 2nd although ethnic factors are not the main cause of the second Congolese war, their impact on the conflict, especially in the early days of the conflict is obvious; 3rd nature of the State, namely the weakness of the Government of DRC, ranked according to key indicators, turns out to be the most...
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Ghana - a way to democracy
Zhelyaskova, Marina ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Werkman, Kateřina (referee)
This bachelor's thesis deals with the changes in the Ghanaian political system after its independence in 1957, with an emphasis on the changes made in the 90s which paved the way for democracy in Ghana. The work studies the development of Ghana's transition to democracy, particularly the actors and circumstances that allowed transition that shift. Furthermore, this thesis is analyses if transition in Ghana might be considered as completed and also if Ghana established a system that can be classified as democratic. Right after achieving independence with Kwame Nkrumah at the helm, Ghana began a gradual descend into a totalitarian regime. He began dismantle institutions and curtailed political competition with his opponents being forced into exile. Due Nkrumah's Soviet Union leanings, the country embarked on socialist experiments and ideology which ultimately that led the country into a series of crisis. In a short period of time (1966 - 1979), the country faced several military coup d'états that brought the country to a near economic collapse. A significant change was brought by J. J. Rawlings in 1981 and during his leadership the country gradually worked its way to democracy. The beginning of the 90s saw J. J. Rawlings begin the process of political liberalization. A new liberal constitution...
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The concept of "Responsibility to Protect" and the international community. The case of Sudan
Linková, Zuzana ; Werkman, Kateřina (advisor) ; Hynek, Nikola (referee)
The thesis "Concept Responsibility to Protect Within International Community: Sudan Case Study" focuses on the R2P concept and its implications since its approval at the World Summit in 2005. The theoretical part of the thesis explains the R2P concept, its constitution, the three pillars and their main principles, and categories of crimes on which the concept can be applied. This section includes an analysis of attitudes, which the key international actors adopted towards the R2P. The last chapter of the theoretical part examines the main problems, challenges and difficulties of the concept which could the international community face when implementing the concept. The practical part of this thesis relates to the conflict in Darfur. Its first chapter deals with the evolution of tensions in Sudan, which had affected the current conflict. The second chapter focuses on the present conflict since its beginning in 2003, including the debate about the possibility of potential genocide committed by the Sudanese government. The involvement of the key international actors (the UNSC and AU) in the conflict is discussed in this part as well. Finally, the last part interconnects the concept through the three pillars with the conflict and; it evaluates functioning of the R2P in the case of Sudan. The evaluation...
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Seeking community reconciliation through traditional practice. The Sierra Leonean experience
Werkman, Kateřina ; Moravcová, Dagmar (advisor) ; Záhořík, Jan (referee) ; Kandert, Josef (referee)
Sierra Leone was torn apart by a violent conflict that lasted for over a decade between 1991 and 2002. The deep physical and emotional scars it left on the people and their communities and the destruction of the country's socio-economic and institutional foundations are still visible today. But Sierra Leoneans have also shown an extraordinary ability to deal with the painful and violent past and to move on. This does not mean that the victims would be able to easily forget the suffering they endured or that the return and (re)integration of the ex-combatants into the society would always go smoothly and effortlessly. Yet, if you ask around in the villages across the country, people almost always answer the same: "We have reconciled". What do they mean by that? And how have they achieved it? These questions form the core puzzle of the present thesis. It explores the process of reconciliation and restoration of relationships at village level in Sierra Leone, with a particular focus on the role of local ceremonies. While its main concern is with the specific circumstances in Sierra Leone, it also aims to contribute to the debates in transitional justice and peacebuilding fields regarding the 'local' practices of reconciliation in African post-conflict societies. The thesis argues that Sierra Leonean...
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Cooperation between the UN and regional African organizations phenomenon: Peacekeeping mission
Suchardová, Hana ; Bureš, Oldřich (advisor) ; Werkman, Kateřina (referee)
SUCHARODVA, Hana. Fenomén spolupráce OSN a regionálních afrických organizací: Evaluace peacekeepingových misí, Praha: Karlova universita, Fakulta sociálních věd, Ústav politologických studií, 2011. 138. Vedoucí diplomové práce Oldřich Bureš, PhD Summary Occurrence of conflict in unstable region is one of the biggest threats of current international system and states. One of the mechanism how to prevent the spread of the conflict is the system of multilateral cooperation. Peacekeeping operations are one of the instruments for conflict settlement. Beside the system of United Nations in past years occurs another structure that could be used for peacekeeping missions. For example we can use regional organizations. Many literatures is focused on UN system and its work, fewer of them are concerning the fact of regional organization and just few of them are related to the factor of cooperation between UN and regional organizations. This is the vacancy these papers want to address. Cooperation is the main factor studying in this thesis. To be able to analyze the factor of cooperation we have to take in consideration several different fields of international relations. First of all it is the theory of international relations. To facilitate the conclusions theories are divided into traditional and current theories...
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