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Pandering to Pan-Slavism: How Russian Influence Thrives in Europeanised Slovakia
Šufliarská, Petra ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (advisor) ; Kofroň, Jan (referee)
This thesis looks at how Slovakia, a member state of the EU, but representing a country on the 'periphery', became susceptible to Russian influence through pro-Kremlin narratives. To do so, it has looked at how particularly the historical legacy and rising anti-Western sentiment contributed to the revival of Pan-Slavism, a pan-national movement calling for Slavic reciprocity and closer cooperation of Slavic nation. The work aims to contribute to the to the academically scarcely explored topic of contemporary state of Pan-Slavism, particularly from the perspective of it serving as a political tool. The paper's research question is "What factors and tools explain the success of Russian political influence in Slovakia?" To find evidence of how pro-Kremlin narratives find support in contemporary Slovak society, this thesis relies on primary and secondary sources regarding the shared history of Slovakia and Russia, but also Slovak national identity. This can provide a deeper insight into why a country that is arguably Europeanized - as a member state of the EU, still regards its Slavic legacy as an important component not only of its foreign policy, but as a core of its identity. Furthermore, it provides with analysis of the types of narratives and the vulnerabilities exploited in the spread of the...
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Fighting disinformation in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Čevela, Tomáš ; Handl, Vladimír (advisor) ; Lizcová, Zuzana (referee)
The presented work deals with the struggle of the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany with disinformation. It arises against the background of a conventional war conflict, the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. At the same time, the Russian Federation is using the information space to expand its influence in Europe as part of the hybrid war. The work compares the means and procedure of both states in combating disinformation, specifically compares the legislative framework of both states, their institutions and their international cooperation. The work came to the conclusion that in many aspects the Czech Republic lags behind Germany. Although both states have a similar approach in establishing or empowering state institutions to combat disinformation and in international cooperation. However, unlike Germany, the Czech Republic does not yet have effective legislation to combat disinformation and does not invest funds in civic education and research projects.
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Hybrid war concept in the context of Israeli state activities
Wildová, Tereza ; Horák, Slavomír (advisor) ; Kalhousová, Irena (referee)
The bachelor's thesis focuses on Israel's involvement in the Syrian Arab Republic in the context of the concept of hybrid warfare.The text of the thesis is divided into three parts. The first part outlines the theoretical grasp of the concept of hybrid warfare, and how the concept is treated, scholarly discussion about the concept, and which tools and actors are considered relevant. The second part traces the Israeli engagement in Syria itself, in terms of the various methods employed, as well as the motives and interrelationships, and the legislative anchoring of Israeli activities. The third part attempts to answer the research question : "Why does Israel resort to the use of hybrid warfare against the Syrian Arab Republic and what tools does it use to do so?" with the following sub-questions "To what extent is this use offensive or defensive?", "What does Israel use to justify its actions in Syria in the context of international law?". Using theoretical analysis and a single case study as methods to develop the thesis, it was found that Israel resorts to its actions for several reasons, the main one being the issue of its security. Israel fears the deeper involvement of Iran and its allies and seeks to maintain its regional hegemony. Israel's actions in Syria can be seen as both offensive and...
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Fake news in the hybrid war - case study of the conflict in Ukraine in the year 2014
Samseli, Andrea ; Köpplová, Barbara (advisor) ; Křeček, Jan (referee)
1 UNIVERZITA KARLOVA FAKULTA SOCIÁLNÍCH VĚD Institut komunikačních studií a žurnalistiky Katedra mediálních studií Diplomová práce 2022 Andrea Kačírová 2 UNIVERZITA KARLOVA FAKULTA SOCIÁLNÍCH VĚD Institut komunikačních studií a žurnalistiky Katedra mediálních studií Fake news v hybridní válce - případová studie konfliktu na Ukrajině v roce 2014 (Fake news v hybridnej vojne - prípadová štúdia konfliktu na Ukrajine v roku 2014) Diplomová práce Autor práce: Andrea Kačírová Studijní program: Mediální studia (Distanční) Vedoucí práce: PhDr. Jan Cebe, Ph.D. Rok obhajoby: 2022 3 Prohlášení 1. Prohlašuji, že jsem předkládanou práci zpracovala samostatně a použila jen uvedené prameny a literaturu. 2. Prohlašuji, že práce nebyla využita k získání jiného titulu. 3. Souhlasím s tím, aby práce byla zpřístupněna pro studijní a výzkumné účely. V Praze dne 2.8.2022 Andrea Kačírová 4 Bibliografický záznam KAČÍROVÁ, Andrea. Fake news v hybridnej vojne - prípadová štúdia konfliktu na Ukrajine v roku 2014. Praha, 2022. 73 s. Diplomová práce (Mgr.). Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta sociálních věd, Institut komunikačních studií a žurnalistiky, Katedra mediálních studií. Vedoucí diplomové práce PhDr. Jan Cebe, Ph.D. Rozsah práce: 121 409 znaků (včetně mezer) 5 Abstract This diploma thesis describes with fake news as one of the tools...
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Evolution of information warfare expert environment in Czechia
Čičmanec, Martin ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ludvík, Jan (referee)
As the tensions between Russia and the West had grown, so had the intensity of hybrid warfare operations, such as Russian disinformation campaigns. These campaigns have contributed to the current polarization of societies not only in the USA, but also in many EU countries and have prompted Western societies to seek appropriate ways to defend themselves against information warfare. Over the last decade, a colourful community of experts developed, empowered to identify specific threats and propose solutions. This study explores how the growing securitization of disinformation affects the development of security expertise in Czechia. Sociological methods, social network analysis, and social capital were applied to uncover and analyze a network of security experts focused on information warfare. SNA allowed mapping both networks of crucial organizers and experts, their social relations, and professional backgrounds. The analyses showed ongoing dynamic development of the network characterized by growing complexity and fragmentation. However, the network is united in its stance on opposing pro-Russian influences. As the network developed, new topics and experts with professional backgrounds emerged. Nevertheless, think tanks remain recognized as both key experts and organizers, drawing their expertise...
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Evolution of the Idea of the "Russian Threat" to the Security of the European Union and NATO
Peleshenko, Anastasiia ; Ditrych, Ondřej (advisor) ; Martinková, Viera (referee)
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the illegal annexation of Crimea, and the Russian proxy-war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the idea of the Russian threat to the West has emerged in the academia and political discourse. While generally accepted as a serious concern among both Western democracies and international organizations, its conceptual complexity increased with time, to the point that the understanding of which Russian capabilities and foreign activities had to be considered threatening became multifaceted and convoluted. In order to understand how the idea of the Russian threat has evolved over the years, a discourse analysis of the texts from the EU and NATO was conducted, examining how the factors of context, identity, and goals have affected the articulation of the discourse. Research has shown that even though Russia gained a status of an ideological Other to the West, it was not always considered a threat. Additionally, while the awareness and understanding of the threats it posed to Western democracies grew over time, the organization(s) could not always articulate a clear discourse of the Russian threat. The changing contexts, the identities of the organizations and the values they are based on, as well as the EU and NATO's goals pertaining to Russia, have both...
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Hybrid Warfare, Wars, and Threats: A Conceptual Analysis
Bahenský, Vojtěch ; Kofroň, Jan (advisor) ; Ludvík, Jan (referee)
This thesis strives to raise and answer three questions about the concept of hybrid warfare: What concepts of hybrid warfare exist so far? How similar or different are they? How useful are they from conceptual standpoint? The questions are answered by a conceptual analysis consisting of survey of existing concepts, their comparison and detailed evaluation of two of them on the basis of criteria of conceptualization. The answers revealed several important issues of the concept. Firstly, there are too many different concepts of hybrid warfare, often formulated with insufficient care for previous debates and already established concepts. Secondly, the formulated concepts of hybrid warfare are often different to a degree, which calls into question the claim, that all of them are trying to capture the same phenomenon. Lastly, even the better elaborated of the hybrid warfare concepts seem to be rather poorly conceptualized and not very useful. These three answers together cast shadow of doubt on the currently popular concept of hybrid warfare. The results of this work call for more careful thinking on whether and how the use of this concept is helping or hurting both our understanding of contemporary conflicts and our defence efforts against contemporary threats.
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An Interplay of Narratives: How Do the Czech Journalists Perceive Securitized Disinformation?
Hroch, Jaroslav ; Bahenský, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Střítecký, Vít (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to contribute to theoretically sound concept of Peace Journalism, which combines theoretical foundations from two spheres: conflict and peace studies and media studies. Influence of journalists as intervening force and explaining factor with regard to (violent) conflict is neglected. However, Peace Journalism is not theoretically strong and builds upon dualistic definition vis-á-vis so-called War Journalism. The concept of Peace Journalism has to overcome this delamination in order to reflect theoretical underpinnings of conflict transformation theory and conflict analysis. Moreover, Peace Journalism has to differentiate media according to an involvement of given societies in a conflict. This offers an opportunity to specifically and accurately analyse news coverage of conflicts. Case studies analysing Czech coverage of Cyprus and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts illustrates this approach. The coverage is essentially flat, distorts a reality of the conflict, pays attention to visual and physical aspects of the conflict and closes the conflicts in arbitrary time boundaries.
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Russian 'hybrid warfare': 1979-2014
Feryna, Jan ; Bahenský, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Kofroň, Jan (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with research question of whether so called Russian hybrid warfare is new or not. In the introduction chapter, a structure of this thesis is presented. After the introduction, Western and Russian views on hybrid warfare are discussed and used as a concept. The author assumes that hybrid warfare was used by Russia in Crimea and eastern Ukraine and therefore is this case considered as proven. Above mentioned Russian view on hybrid warfare is operationalized and then applied. There are two main cases which will be examined - Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in 1979 and Russian war with Georgia in 2008. Results chapter comprises of final table which sums up results of the research. In the conclusion chapter, there is a clear answer to the above-mentioned research question.
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Understanding Hybrid Warfare Constructivism and Ontological (in)Security
Ostreni, Bruss ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ludvík, Jan (referee)
This thesis aim is to investigate the propagation of the term 'Hybrid Warfare' in world politics, more specifically on NATO's discourses and official texts. Granted the argument that the term is unable to convey a concrete strategic doctrine or strategy due to its lack of conceptual fecundity, we argue that nonetheless, the usage of the term serves NATO as an Ontological Security exercise. The reasoning behind this argument is that Hybrid Threats (or war) have the capacity to make NATO ontologically (in)secure due to the latter's inability to respond efficiently. Thus, disrupting the alliance strategy of 'being' - that is a collective defense alliance in charge of security of all members via the Article V of the treaty - and at the same time its strategy of 'doing' which is the ability of the alliance to provide a peaceful and safe Euro-Atlantic region, inside and out. Following our attempted bridging on Hybrid War and NATO's Ontological Security, we then proceed to explicate policy changes influenced by the former. In order to do so, we chose to employ a three- layered model created by Jakub Eberle and Vladimir Handl which conceptualizes Ontological Security through narratives about the self, the other, and the overall international system. The argument is that when actors are threatened by a...
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