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Africa: clash of two hegemons?
Dunajová, Alžběta ; Werkman, Kateřina (advisor) ; Oklešťková, Ivana (referee)
On the base of the theoretical concept of hegemony, the work tries to discover whether the United States and China can be considered a leaving, respectively rising hegemonic power in Africa. The theoretical part is based on the conception of hegemony by Immanuel Wallerstein and Robert Gilpin and sets an analytic framework for the identification of four groups of indicators - political, economic, military and cultural ones. The results of the research confirmed China as a rising hegemon and United States as an actual hegemonic power in Africa.
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The pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong: A visual-sociological analysis of contemporary journalistic materials
Macháčková, Kristýna ; Hrůzová, Andrea (advisor) ; Láb, Filip (referee)
The thesis aims to describe how was the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, which began in June 2019 in response to the proposed extradition law, perceived. In its theoretical part, the thesis will focus on a detailed description of the historical development of Hong Kong and the formation of an independent Hong Kong identity. Major events will be presented, from the times of colonial administration to the description of pro-democracy protests in 2019, which affected the current state of Hong Kong. Subsequently the theoretical framework of the processes of hegemony and visual representation will be introduced, which will be further presented in the context of Hong Kong. Last but not least, the topic of journalistic photography and its significance in the current journalistic field will be defined. The practical part of the thesis will offer an analysis of how the direct participants perceived the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and whether their perceptions of events correspond not only with each other but also with the journalistic visual material that mapped four months of protests. A photo essay from the author's set of photographs was created to be also analysed in this work, part of which was subjected to a socio-semiotic analysis. Last but not least, there will be a comparison of results...
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The role of the Western media in counterbalancing the revolutionary potential of the OWS and Los Indignados
Moreira Vieira, Gabriel ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Záhora, Jakub (referee)
Anti-hegemonic social movements have historically had a complicated and conflicting relationship with mainstream media, as it consistently undermines the emancipatory potential of these grassroots revolutionary movements, hence serving the interests of the dominant social forces of the hegemonic order. This work develops a comprehensive and critical analysis of the agency of mainstream media throughout the coverage of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) to understand how and why it consciously and relentlessly worked to neutralize the true dimension of the movement and its occupations, and thus to preserve the neoliberal capitalist world order from the ideological threat and the revolutionary challenge that OWS posed to it. Employing a historical materialist approach based on Gramsci's theory of hegemony - and the emphasis in the consensual aspect of power in the production of the hegemony that it entails - and its use in the study of world orders grounded in social relations, this work aims to investigate the mainstream media's active role in the building of the current neoliberal capitalist historic bloc, and its subservience to the hegemonic social forces throughout every stage of the coverage of OWS and its occupations: from the deliberate lack of interest and the total indifference in the movement to the...
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Russia-China relations within the framework of BRICS and their international significance in terms of neo-marxist theory and neoliberal institutionalism
Rybachenko, Diana ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Parízek, Michal (referee)
Neo-Marxism and neoliberal institutionalism are applied to investigate which factors determine the cooperation of emerging powers and what consequences it may have globally within the case of Russia-China relations in BRICS. To this end, congruence analysis is applied. Based on available data, comparison of predictions with observations reveals that the majority of evidences accord with neo-Marxism. Russia and China affirm their position against the predominance of one center in the international arena and emphasize common commitment to a more equitable multipolar world order that is permanently reflected in the statements of Russian and Chinese leadership. The trade war between the US and China since 2018 is one of the evidence of the growing disintegration of the existing world order. Building a new order is based on the creation of regional coalitions of the countries that share common views on specific issues. Within the framework of BRICS, Russia and China have already taken measures towards own financial institutions as an alternative source of funding. The leaderships of both countries believe that emerging economies should have a greater voice and representation in international financial institutions. Their primary interest is the reform of the International Monetary Fund so that it...
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The implications of China's activities in Latin America on the hegemonic position of the US in the region in the early 21st century
Sánchez, Eugenio ; Hornát, Jan (advisor) ; Perutka, Lukáš (referee)
The implications of China's activities in Latin America on the hegemonic position of the US in the region in the early 21st century Eugenio Sánchez Abstract In the last two decades, China has significantly changed the balance of power in international relations. The question is whether a similar pattern can be observed in the context of Latin America, which would imply a disruption of the US hegemony in the region. This thesis seeks to answer this question by assessing the Chinese involvement in Latin America in the period between 2000-2019 in three areas - economic, military and cultural. Special focus is given to the definition of the concept of hegemony and the identification of the basic features of the US hegemony in Latin America. This thesis concludes that China has become an important economic player in the Latin American region, however its influence in the two other fields (military and cultural) has not been so significant. Also, China's economic impact is limited to a few South American countries and does not threaten the overall hegemonic position of the United States in Latin America.
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The world of work through the perspective of state, labour unions and employers. Building a hegemony.
Němec, Lukáš ; Lánský, Ondřej (advisor) ; Májíček, Jan (referee)
(in English): During adolescence, a person's value orientations towards society, employment, and the economy are being shaped significantly. The educational system plays an important role in this maturing of a person's values in that it provides key social orientation in the form of knowledge, consciousness, or opinions. The theory of cultural and social reproduction was among the first analyses of critical education that drew attention to the fact that this mediation of orientation serves for the maintaining (reproduction) of social inequalities in society. The basic question of education according to these analyses of critical education thus is not what knowledge we get at school, but rather whose knowledge. In the Czech Republic, ca. 73% of pupils go through secondary vocational training. After graduation, most of these pupils are the first to enter the world of paid labor at a relatively early age. Between 2004 and 2012, intermediate vocational training underwent a change of system in the form of the implementation of curriculum reform in connection with the adoption of Act No. 561 / 2004 Coll. on Preschool, Elementary, Secondary, Tertiary Vocational, and Other Education. Curriculum reform enabled various social agents to influence the goals and content of education at the national level...
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The role of the U.S. in Six-Party Talks
Čížek, Michael ; Dubský, Zbyněk (advisor) ; Stejskalová, Kristýna (referee)
This bachelor's thesis deals with multi-party negotiations about denuclearization of North Korea called Six-Party Talks. The negotiations took place from 2003 to 2009 during presidency of G. W. Bush. He was known for his hard-line policies towards enemies of the United States. The role of the U.S. is the main topic of the thesis. The first part analyzes the concept of hegemony and its historical development. The second part deals with the idea of identity of the U.S. through the theory of constructivism. The last part mentions the Six-party Talks itself. The American politics, strategy, main interests and aims of the negotiations are presented along with the form and evolution of the talks. Last but not least, the thesis portrays the main reasons of the discontinuation of negotiations. The main aim of the thesis is to find out the cause why the Six-party Talks crashed before they reached a solution.
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Controlling and managing a music production in the period of normalization on the example of rock music and its media portrayal
Husák, Martin ; Končelík, Jakub (advisor) ; Vaněk, Miroslav (referee) ; Stehlík, Michal (referee)
The thesis "Controlling and managing a music production in the period of normalization on the example of rock music and its media portrayal" describes and analyses the system of controlling and managing Czechoslovak music production in the period of normalization with a particular attention to the mechanisms that deployed socialist ideological and aesthetical standards in the area of rock music. Additionally, this included a prescriptive media coverage highlighting socialist values using coordinated and centralised management through state institutions. The goal of the thesis is then to reveal a modus operandi of communist cultural policy on the examples of media approach to the trials with leading underground music protagonists in 1976 as rock music was a vehicle for expression their dissent attitude toward the system in an artistic way.
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Inherent instability of financial markets
Hladík, Jan ; Buben, Radek (advisor) ; Znoj, Milan (referee)
The main aim of this presented diploma thesis is to help build a systematic understanding of the political and social foundations of global financial markets, their operations and impacts on the global power affairs. The thesis highlights the dynamic complexity of the post financial crisis state of the World with its itra- and inter-social features. It instrumentaly uses critique of a free market agenda and neo-classical economy which contrasts the Efficient Markets Hypothesis with Hyman Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis (FIH), taking into account the dynamic complexity of financial markets. This approach offers analytical tools that can account for crisis through processes endogenous to contemporary financial capitalism. I shall argue that a financially complex system is, according to the FIH, inherently flawed and unstable. After a theoretical and historical review, the thesis discusses various aspects of the process of austerity regime and its social consequences. This provides an opportunity for analyses of the ongoing existence of interstate competition, of militarised foreign policy, and of other international, at times violent conflicts. In an effort to make sense of some of these phenomena, I instrumentaly use the study of geoeconomics that builds on some fundamental assumptions...
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Printed DIY media in information age: how Web 2.0 influenced culture of fanzines
Hroch, Miloš ; Turek, Pavel (advisor) ; Švelch, Jaroslav (referee)
The thesis aims to explore changes in the production of music fanzines brought about by the advent of new media. Fanzines are defined as nonofficial magazines published independently in compliance with the code of DIY ethics. The theoretical part of this work focuses on the history of fanzine production as well as on concepts of alternative media, which is necessary in order to examine the current state of the aforementioned alternative media sphere. Furthermore, the theoretical part describes fans' behaviour, as they are the most prominent representatives of active audiences. This behaviour is a key to understanding the motivation behind fanzine production as well as the nature of media communication in the cyberspace, where boundaries between producers and consumers of media messages disappear. The main part of this work analyses interviews with ten figures from the Czech community of both pre-internet authors and those of post-internet era, the latter being used to internet communication. Described discursive patterns reveal the existence of two separate worlds: traditional fanzine community and online environment, coexisting in mutual awareness. Yet the former strives to guard its boundaries, protecting its products from the internet, albeit oftentimes entering the virtual space in search for...
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