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(Gender-Neutral) Conscription in the Nordic Countries' Armed Forces
Šťastníková, Štěpánka ; Plechanovová, Běla (advisor) ; Ludvík, Jan (referee)
While conscription has been experiencing a modest, albeit notable comeback in the past decade, the emergence of its gender-neutral variant is largely overlooked. Through a comparative case study of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, this thesis explores the reasons that led to or hindered the introduction of gender-neutral conscription in the three Nordic countries. Given the countries' similarities in many areas, the thesis aims to explain why Norway and Sweden introduced gender-neutral conscription, whereas Finland retained conscription only for men. To do that, the three cases are analysed using an original framework based on the surveyed literature, which features the following factors: national security situation, role and character of conscription, its legitimisation, integration of women into the military and thematization of gender equality in the military. On the one hand, the analysis identifies common patterns in the cases of Norway and Sweden across most of the factors. In the two countries, the security situation was perceived to be relatively favourable, conscription was used as a tool for the recruitment of future active-duty soldiers and thus the practice was considerably selective, conscription was reformulated to address changing circumstances, women were integrated into the military...
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Current party system of Iceland
Mergl, Tomáš ; Brunclík, Miloš (advisor) ; Perottino, Michel (referee)
The party system of Iceland was always well-known for its strong stability and moderate nature typical for its whole modern development. But since the 1999 parliamentary election the Icelandic party system has been going through several changes and it is not appropriate to consider it nowadays as a traditionally stable party system with, in the long term, the dominant Independence Party. The party system is splitting off and the new parties are found out. Although after the 2013 election the system returned to the pre-2009 model, there is still an important question whether it reflects repeated stabilization of the Iceland political and party system, or it is only a reaction to the left-wing government in the years of 2009 to 2013. The aim of this thesis is to answer the following questions: is the Icelandic party system going through some changes of its structure or inter-party competition, and if so, is this transformation caused by the financial and bank crisis in 2008, or does it concern long- term transformations? Did the electoral shock in 2009 result from the reaction of the Icelandic voters to the financial crisis, or the election results were only another validation of the long- term Icelandic party system trend, namely by erosion of its traditional adjustment? In the analysis of the...
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Estonia as a Nordic Country?
Vejmělek, Tomáš ; Švec, Luboš (advisor) ; Skálová, Barbora (referee)
The following thesis deals with two primary matters. The first being the effort of Estonian politicians to change how Estonia's regional belonging is viewed by other countries before the admission into the European Union. These efforts can be illustrated by political actions whose aim was to create the image of Estonia as a Nordic country. These efforts slightly diminished after the admission into the European Union although on some levels they can be still observed. Despite close cooperation Estonia isn't adequate member of Nordic countries to this day. This thesis aspires to explain reasons for these action of Estonian politicians and why they were left off after the admission into EU. The second matter being the region of Nordic countries. Collective Nordic identity helped establish transnational cooperation among involved nations which represents one of the essential characteristics of a Nordic country. The emphasis is on historical context of Nordic identity and the development of Nordic cooperation from its initiation until current state. First the thesis introduces a theoretical insight into the region matters. Consequently it deals with the first matter, the efforts to redefine Estonia as a Nordic country, which is followed by analysis of the concept of a Nordic country and Nordic...
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Local Political Systems in the Nordic Countries
Polinec, Martin ; Jüptner, Petr (advisor) ; Čmejrek, Jaroslav (referee)
Diploma thesis deals with local polity, politics and policies in the Nordic countries. The main aim of this thesis is to study local polity, politics and policies in the Nordic countries and then identify what are the most important common features of these countries and the most significant differences between them. The first chapter deals with known theoretical approaches to distinctions between local government systems. This chapter presents some typologies of local government systems. Another four chapters are dedicated to local politics in the Nordic countries. The second chapter is focused on Sweden. The third chapter deals with Denmark. The fourth chapter is focused on Norway, while the fifth chapter on Iceland. The each of these four chapters is split into several subchapters, which are focused especially on competencies, tasks and duties of municipalities, structure and functioning of municipal institutions, forms of intermunicipal cooperation, number and size of municipalities, structure of municipal earnings and expenditures and other financing matters, electoral and party systems at local level, neighborhood councils, user democracy and free commune experiments. The last chapter summarizes and compares findings. Conclusion presents the most evident common features of local polity, politics and...
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Nordic Cooperation. Its Transformation in the Second Half of the 20th Century and its Current Shape
Viktorová, Iva ; Rovná, Lenka (advisor) ; Hořejšová, Tereza (referee)
Diploma thesis "Nordic Cooperation. Its Transformation in the Second Half of the 20th Century and Its Current Shape" deals with the Nordic cooperation among Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden from the second half of the 20th century with the focus on the period from the 1990s till 2008. At the beginning, there is an introduction to the history of cooperation in Scandinavia till the 1990s and a description of two main institutions of the Nordic cooperation: the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. The main chapter analyses the Nordic cooperation from the 1990s, it focuses on areas and intensity of the cooperation and describes concrete programmes, projects, institutions, targets and results of the cooperation. The thesis also deals with the question of the impact of the three Baltic States involvement in the Nordic cooperation in the 1990s. The answer is that the internal Nordic cooperation has been developing very intensively - it was demonstrated by the analysis of the Nordic cooperation in the 1990s in the main chapter - without any affecting of the Baltic States involvement in the main. On the contrary, the Baltic States involvement has brouhgt the external opportunity for the Nordic countries to integrate into the cooperation in the Baltic Sea region.
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Nordic states and their support of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on their way to european structures
Lukeš, Pavel ; Rovná, Lenka (advisor) ; Hořejšová, Tereza (referee)
Diploma thesis "Nordic countries and their support of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on their way to European structures" deals with foreign policies of Denmark, Sweden and Finland towards three Baltic countries in the 1990s. The paper is focused on Danish, Swedish and Finnish bilateral support of three Baltic countries on their way to European structures, particularly to the EU. The thesis strives to explain a rationale and motives which were behind decisions of Nordic countries to help Baltic countries in the 1990s. Although the thesis is primarily focused on a development in the 1990s, a short part is also devoted to a historical development of the relations between Nordic and Baltic countries. This historical excursion helps to identify changes of Nordic foreign policies (Baltic policies) which occurred in the 1990s. The main proposition of this thesis is a statement that though there were several motives behind decisions of Nordic states to help Baltic countries, the main factor which caused high involvement of Denmark, Sweden and Finland in the Baltic Sea area were security related factors. The thesis also offers a summary of some motives which were behind high involvement of Nordic countries in the region and provides some similarities and differences in Baltic policies of Denmark, Sweden and...
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Transformations of the Nordic Model of Peace Operations
Jašová, Lucie ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with cooperation of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in the area of peace operations from the beginning of Cold War till today on the background of a new institutionalism theory a small countries concept. Its goal is to find how the Nordic participation in peace operations developed in United Nations, NATO and in the European Union. First this study introduces theoretical basis; the main focus is on analysis of the Nordic peace operations model and on its gradual transformation. In the course of solution there were used qualitative and quantitative data from professional texts and available statistics. On the basis of the results it was found that Nordic participation from the second half of 1990s was rapidly reducing mostly on account of institutional changes in the peace operations concept itself and disparate national interests of individual states.
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Security Integration of the Nordic Countries after the Second World War: More than a Security Community
Pazderník, Martin ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor) ; Smetana, Michal (referee)
This thesis deals primarily with the security integration of the Nordic countries after the end of World War II. It uses the constructivist concept of security community by Karl Deutsch and his revised version by authors Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett. It tries to apply the proposed concept to the case of emerging and evolving of the security community in the Nordic region. Additionally, it attempts to deep analysis of the institutionalization of the security cooperation, which came after the end of the Cold War, and describes its limits and potential for the future. Finally, it examines the motives of the Nordic countries' joint participation in the international peacekeeping operations and the potential impact of such participation in shaping and strengthening the Nordic collective identity, which is a cornerstone for such communities.
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