|
|
Gibridnaya Voyna in Light of the War in Ukraine: Analysing Changes in Russian Interpretations and the Use of Hybrid Warfare Concept.
Filina, Anastasia ; Bahenský, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
After military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian Hybrid Warfare went from being a convenient 'bogeyman' of Russian military strategy interpretation, to a conceptual pariah of Western political and strategic discourse. This was not, however the case in Russia, where, admittedly, gibridnaya voyna transformed into the phase of 'rationalisation propaganda' in an attempt justify Kremlin's self-made threat perception. This study aims to fill the research gap in Western contemporary analysis of gibridnaya voyna by conducting an exploratory research to see if there have been any changes in the interpretation and the use of gibridnaya voyna in Russian military scholarship after Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. The study will demonstrate that although conceptual understanding of the term remains the same, its interpretation in military and linguistic (buzzwords) domains experienced significant changes. Keywords Hybird warfare; Russia; West Title Gibridnaya Voyna in Light of the War in Ukraine: Analysing Changes in Russian Interpretations and the Use of Hybrid Warfare Concept.
|
|
|
Strategické cíle Ruska v pásmech otřesu v Africe a středním východě: soupeřen se Západem
Schwarzer, Jiří ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Weinfurter, Jaroslav (referee)
This thesis focuses on Russia's strategic goals in Africa and the Middle East. To help gain deeper understanding of Russia's behaviour in these two regions, the author utilizes the concept of shatterbelts developed by Saul B. Cohen. Shatterbelts are regions that are highly fragmented by civil wars and other internal issues while also at the same time destabilized by two or more competing great powers. Africa and the Middle East both fit the definition of a shatterbelt. Apart from the research question concerning Russia's strategic goals, two hypotheses are presented. The first one asks whether Russia is currently reviving the Soviet Union's Cold War strategy for the two shatterbelts in order to restore its first-power status. The second hypothesis questions whether Russia utilizes military power as a main tool to achieve its objectives in both shatterbelts. In order to answer the research question, a qualitative approach is utilized, and two case studies are selected, each concerning the country of one of the shatterbelts where Russia has seen the most success: the Central African Republic and Syria. This study concludes that Russia mostly targets states that face dire security issues and are largely dysfunctional. Moscow's goals are grouped into four main categories: geostrategic, economic,...
|
|
|
The West Through the Eyes of Russian Elite: Evolution of Its Perception in Modern Russian History
Moskovenko, Arsenii ; Földes, Kristián (advisor) ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (referee)
In this thesis I'm going to introduce the process of how the perception of the Western world has been changing in the eyes of the Russian political elites through their discourse since the establishment of a new Russian state. The results of this research may help to fill an important gap, as previously there was no similar research conducted that would try to track the same process. We may find some works which analyze the reaction of Russia to some political events at one exact point in time. However, none of the researchers have been trying to analyze at which point the perception of the West began to turn to a more negative side and what were the main factors for that, taking into account how friendly the relations between Russian and the West seemed to be in the 1990s and how they are heated up nowadays. The research is completed by the method of discourse analysis where I presented relevant quotations of political elites produced in the times of the most crucial historical events with regard to Russia- West relations. In each of the quotations, I was looking for different discursive strategies, such as metaphors, hyperboles or rhetorical questions, which helped us to create a broader picture of how the elites saw the West in their speeches in one or another period of history. The results of the...
|
|
|
Detection of the Border between West and East Europe by using Mental Maps
ZAJÍČKOVÁ, Aneta
The bachelor´s thesis deals with the topics of European duality and the subconscious perception of this phenomen by students of geography from selected European coutries. The aim of the thesis is to discover, where respondents, in the most cases university student of geography, from selected European countries define the border of duality by using mental maps. Another goal is the subsequent comparison of individual national perspectives. The research is focused mainly on Central European countries, of which the survey took place in Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Part of the research took place before of the creation of this bachelor´s thesis and the author of this research RNDr. et PhDr. Aleš Nováček, Ph. D. provided data for this thesis. Another part of the research is a part of this thesis. Results are analysed in the analytical and synthetic part. In the analytical part of the thesis is a space for individual national views separately, in the synthetic part are then compared national views and the similarities and differences between nationals views are identified and interpreted.
|
|
|
East and West and Cognition
Koláček, Luboš
of rigorous work Mgr. Luboš Koláček, Ph. D. The work is a specific approximation of the European author to the thought of the West with the East, based on the thinkers he selected on both sides. It presents a reflection of ontological, epistemological, ethical and psychological, sociological and other questions and answers to the problem, indicated by the name itself. It is a kaleidoscopic thinking that, by multiplying the contents in the reflections of the others and the others in the third thinkers, intertwines and unfolds into a huge breadth of ideas. In the work, intentionality is contained in the appropriate network of connections, which represents the West as thinking of explicit meanings and the East as thinking of implicit meanings. The point is to present to the reader not only ready-made statements, but the reader is invited by questions to cooperate in uncovering the unconcealed, i.e. aletheia. It is a hermeneutic method that starts from ready-made answers and only then comes to the questions that are at the same time the background from which the answer arose. It is a special dialogical method that does not want to juxtapose ready-made judgments, but requires the reader to go through this challenge as a co-solver of the question that is to come to the difference between the West and the...
|
|
|
Russian soft power towards Austria on the example of cultural and educational policy in the years 2014 to 2019
Jiříček, Dalibor ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Šír, Jan (referee)
The diploma thesis deals with the transformation of Russian soft power on the example of cultural and educational policy toward Austria in the years 2014 to 2019. The first chapter justifies the choice of topic and draws on the common history of Russia and Austria, economic, political and security relations. The area of tourism and culture of remembrance is also mentioned. The second chapter describes the theoretical discussion of the concept of soft power from the perspective of various authors. Starting from the general concept, the attention is further devoted to precisely focused definitions concerning education with an overlap in the field of culture. The third main chapter analyzes the examined policy in detail on the example of three key instruments. The greatest attention is paid to the "Russian Center" at the University of Salzburg and also to the "Russian Center" at the University of Innsbruck and the "Russian House in Vienna". The development of their programs, projects and other activities is discussed. At the same time, the fulfilment of goals and partnerships with other institutions and organizations in Austria, Germany and Russia are monitored. The activities of these three institutions are also viewed from the perspective of theory. Within their goals and program activities,...
|
|
|
East and West and Cognition
Koláček, Luboš ; Hogenová, Anna (advisor) ; Rybák, David (referee) ; Kalábová, Helena (referee)
The work is a philosophical and necessarily also historical-philosophical comparative analysis of mutually corresponding accents of the issue spanning the period from the 8th century BC to the present, with regard to the "axial period" of cultural "miracle" similarly prosperous cultures and philosophies in the relatively severed countries of East and West. It then deals in more detail with some important and fundamental philosophers and spiritual teachers, related scholars or artists of various disciplines, but also lesser-known personalities, based on general inputs into the deepest depths of thought of these thinkers, all in a relatively intuitive connection, because the scope of work does not allow for a more detailed continuous interpretation of such a wide range of issues. In the end, the author emphasizes, philosophically analyzes and evaluates the most pressing issues of contemporary society. The work should primarily show the Way, not lead, but it is up to the reader / researcher to decide how to approach the text. There is always "some" Enlightenment at the end.
|
|
|
Imaginary Elsewhere: The "West" in Czechoslovakian society in the time of Perestroika
Andělová, Kristina ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Randák, Jan (referee)
In societies of state socialism the image of West was usually characterized by high degree of ambivalence. On the one hand the West was a space where negative social and politic phenomena could be displaced - as negative film should the official image of evil West full of social insecurity, criminality and poverty, reassured Czechoslovakian citizens of rightness of building socialism. On the other hand entirely opposite scenes were part of the public meaning- unconcealed admiration of fashion trends inspired by western mass culture (films, music). There was not only the fascination with consumer commodities of the western World, but also an admiration of lot of nonmaterial aspects (freedom of press, traveling, ecologic, feministic, pacifistic movements etc.). The West became gradually something mystical- it was at the same time "familiar and inaccessible, real and abstract, mundane and exotic". This ambivalence and inaccessibility was transforming the West in some mysterious and dreamlike place where instead of evil, the promise of happiness could be projected. Despite the official ideology and censoring attempts that limited the information about life behind the Iron Curtain, citizens in Czechoslovakia had an opportunity to create their own, quite clear image of West. At the same time I am trying to...
|
|
|
The image of the world in journalistic photography (the comparetive analysis of international photography exhibitions Interpressfoto and World Press Photo)
Kolářová, Klára ; Lábová, Alena (advisor) ; Ždimera, Jan (referee)
Thesis The image of the world in journalistic photography (the comparative analysis of international photography exhibitions Interpressphoto and World Press Photo) deals with the comparison of both exhibitions before the fall of the Iron Curtain. World Press Photo was designed for photographers of the West, Interpressphoto for photographers of the East. The work focuses on the ideological aspects of both exhibitions and ask the question whether an image - that West (World Press Photo) and East (Interpressphoto) wanted to present - is suspended by ideological establishment, what level of manipulation both of exhibitions show and whether this manipulation in both cases is comparable to or significantly different. The work also focuses on comparing important aspects of the winning photos of both exhibitions: selected places from which the photos were brought, the level of drama, accessibility (how is the photographer of the country easy / difficult to get into the country) and importance (how much the photographers focus on countries that have a large size, wealth and military power). At the beginning, it is hypothesized that the level of ideology was comparable in both countries. This hypothesis is then verified using coding tables.
|
|
|
The American Hybrid War? Operation Enduring Freedom through the hybrid warfare lenses
Pinkas, Šimon ; Bahenský, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Karásek, Tomáš (referee)
This diploma thesis delves into the possibility of the Western democratic state waging hybrid warfare. The hybrid warfare has been throughout its existence almost exclusively attributed to undemocratic regimes, which often utilize it in an aggressive fashion. In order to challenge this notion, this thesis seeks to reinterpret the conduct of the USA during the opening stages of the Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan 2001, through the lenses of hybrid warfare. Since hybrid warfare is very wide, often poorly defined term, the author chose to conceptualize a well- known description of Russian hybrid warfare, created by András Rácz in 2015, through which the studied case is then reinterpreted. The possibility of the Western democratic state waging hybrid warfare is, as far as existing research goes, completely unexplored, this thesis is hence delving into a completely new research area. This thesis also ponders on how this realization of Western ability to wage hybrid war can influence our outlook on the phenomenon itself. With this thesis, the author seeks to offer a new, factual outlook on hybrid warfare, unhindered by biases and emotional undertone which sadly mires many contributions to the academic debate on the topic. This new perspective on hybrid warfare, in authors personal opinion, can...
|
guest ::
