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Revivals of Forms and Styles in Visual Art: Current Hyperrealism as Product of Postproduction or a Commentary on the Advent of New Media
Hrnčířová, Markéta ; Borecký, Felix (advisor) ; Šafaříková, Radana (referee)
The book Postproduction: Culture as Screenplay, written by French aesthetician Nicolas Bourriaud is going to be initial text for my diploma thesis. Bourriaud claims, that contemporary art is mostly made by the principle of assemblage; art works are made by reinterpretation, reproducing or by new exhibiting of artefacts or forms of past. The assumption of the original concept in artworks of contemporary artists - semionauts (travelers in the worlds of signs) has been allready completely ineffective. Through the example of hyperrealistic paintings, which has lately reappeared in portfolios of international and czech artists, I will try to show whether its revilal is based on the emergence of new medias, that even more than in the seventies simulate reality or whether they deal with the concept of postpostprodution - the artists lend only formal, in this case, hyperrealistic, signs. This diploma thesis will be completed by the case study of paintings of czech hyperrealist painter Jan Mikulka.
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Secularization in Italy in the post-war-era: literature in the social context
Olša, Michal ; Pullmann, Michal (advisor) ; Jiroušek, Bohumil (referee)
EN The purpose of my thesis is to analyse the process of secularization in the post-war era in Italy. The study is focused on lower social classes. The aim of my thesis is to show the complexity of the process such as secularization; on the one hand there are statistic numbers showing the trend of falling religiosity, on the other hand we know Italians as believers in God and Italy as a country with catholic symbols appearing openly in public. To understand this ambivalence, it is necessary to distinguish church, religion and faith. As a primary source for my thesis I have chosen novels of the neorealist writers. As neorealism tries to capture predominantly the social reality and the writers show greater capability of uncovering the motivation of historical figure than any other possible sources, selecting the works of the neorealist writers proves to be more than suitable. The main methodology chosen for my thesis is typification, through which I tried to define the social stereotypes. The thesis is composed of nine chapters. Chapters one to three describe the political, economic and social situation of post-war Italy and define the social segment on which the thesis is focused. Presented is a characterization of neorealism and the authors as well as the most important theories of secularization...
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NATO Transformation and the Capability Gap
Ruml, Ken ; Plechanovová, Běla (advisor) ; Karlas, Jan (referee)
The present Master Thesis is a macro-level comparative case study that addresses the problem of most member states' lack of adequate motivation to acquire innovative military capabilities and contribute them to the North Atlantic Alliance. There has been a significant gap between NATO's ambition and its military capability since at least the 1999 Kosovo Crisis. Even today, a couple of years after the adoption of the longawaited new Strategic Concept, which confirmed NATO's role in crisis management beyond its borders, the evaluations of the recent NATO operation in Libya hint to fact that the gap persists. The question is: what factors play the most significant role in shaping state behaviour within NATO and what can be done to stimulate the member states' proactive attitude? The problem is addressed through the prism of Neorealism, which emphasizes structural constraints of state behaviour, and Constructivism, which, for its part, highlights the importance of domestic factors, namely state identity. Based on the results of the fuzzy-set analysis, it is argued that the harmonization of NATO's and EU's capability development initiatives, as well as the eventual military integration of lower-capability NATO member states is most likely to reset the balance between the Alliance's ambition and available...
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Geopolitics of Oil
Odintsov, Nikita ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Binhack, Petr (referee)
The aim of the Geopolitics of Oil is to find a theoretical conceptualization of oil trade regime evolution and its changes during the period between the end of the World War II and 2011. This thesis builds on the two major theories of international relations: neorealism and interdependence theory. The theoretical part of the paper analyzes their main contributions and weaknesses. This enables to formulate the new approach to political economy of oil with a special emphasis on geo-economics. This thesis seeks to answer two main research questions: 1) "Under which conditions do oil exporters consolidate their energy sector?" and 1) "What is the reason for engagement of foreign powers in the oil regions?" This thesis examines relations between exporters from the Persian Gulf and the United States. Interdependence theory is tested by a calculation of symmetry or asymmetry in interdependent relationship between importers and exporters, which is done by a comparison of the market shares between the two during the period of changes in the oil trade regimes. Neorealist theory and political economy of oil approach are examined through detailed case studies that inquire how oil importers and exporters have tried to use oil to pursue their own power interests. This thesis concludes that the geopolitics of oil...
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Testing selected theoretical approaches concerning the building of a US radar base in the Czech Republic
Holý, Petr ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Drulák, Petr (referee)
The aim of this work is to test the ability of three selected theoretical approaches to explain the response of the Czech Republic to the American offer to build the ABM radar device on the Czech soil. These theories are: neorealism, utilitarian liberalism and constructivism. Each of these approaches looks at the social reality from a different perspective which allows us to view the issue in its complexity and diversity. Each theory also uses a different set of independent variables to explain the behavior of the Czech government in this case (these variables are: autonomy and influence for neorealism; domestic interests for liberalism and international and domestic norms for constructivism). Thanks to this variety of variables we are enabled to critically evaluate which key factors played the crucial role in the Czech decision-making process in this particular issue and possibly also to point out some assumed regularities which might play an important role in forming of the Czech security policy as such. The main task of the first chapter is to provide some broader historical and political context of the case. Next three chapters are then dedicated to testing of the theories by comparing their deductively phrased hypothesis with the value of dependent variable, which for our work is represented...
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Reform of the UN Security Council and the associated stumbling block
Jindřich, Petr ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Plechanovová, Běla (referee)
Reform of the UN Security Council and a stumbling block associated with it - abstract This thesis deals with matter of the Security Council reform, the most crucial body of the United Nations. It examines approaches of eleven specific countries which are divided into two groups. The first group is comprised by permanent members of the Security Council, the second one by states which, in case of their creation, could claim new permanent seats in this body. This thesis examines not only their real policies, but also their policies from theoretical - specifically neorealistic - point of view. Two different hypotheses were deduced from neorealism which were tested and subsequently evaluated as (in)valid. Hypothesis emerging from a standard neorealism put emphasis on policy whose goal is to maintain, alternatively to increase a state's autonomy (autonomy-seeking policy). International organizations are viewed as entity which limits, to some extent, this autonomy. On the other hand, hypothesis emerging from a modified neorealism put emphasis on policy whose goal is to gain, alternatively to increase influence on other actors (influence-seeking policy). On the contrary, within this policy international organizations are an useful entity because it is possible to achieve such an influence by means of them. In the...
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Realism and the Nixon Administration: Triangular Diplomacy as a Tool of US Foreign Policy
Moravčík, Vladimír ; Jeřábek, Martin (advisor) ; Kotvalová, Anna (referee)
Abstract The thesis deals with the US foreign policy under Richard Nixon. More specifically, it examines the US rapprochement with Communist China (PRC) and the triangular diplomatic relations between the US, USSR, and PRC. The thesis draws from the realist theories, particularly the offensive and defensive branches of neorealism represented by John Mearsheimer and Kenneth Waltz. The thesis applies the theoretical concept of wedging strategies as power-balancing tools on the selected US foreign policy. The thesis conducts a qualitative case study using the process-tracing method. A causal mechanism derived from the concept of wedging strategies is theorized and further applied in the analysis. The analysis of the US foreign policy towards China examines the individual traces in the theorized mechanisms. The results of the study show that the US broke the Sino-Soviet alliance using a defensive wedging strategy by exploiting the Sino-Soviet split, resulting in PRC's dealignment with the USSR. The US reapproached the PRC and swayed the Chinese leadership with strategic guarantees tacitly aimed against the USSR. These guarantees were ultimately projected into the Shanghai Communique of 1972.
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The Political and Economic Relations of Spain and Morocco: Interdependence or a Security Question?
Chmaitilliová, Dina ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Krausz Hladká, Malvína (referee)
Diploma thesis "The Political and Economic Relations of Spain and Morocco: interdependence or a security question? " deals with the political and economical relations of Spain and Morocco from the end of the 1950's to the present. The relationship between these two countries is based not only on mutual cooperation and support but also on mutual rivalry. The most sensitive area almost throughout the analyzed period is the fishing policy, and the territorial dispute over Western Sahara, Ceuta and Melilla, Sidi Ifni (Leila) and the island Isla de Perejil (arabic Leila). The main hypothesis of the thesis is that the relationship of Spain and Morocco corresponds to the neo-liberal theory and therefore a priority in their mutual relations is the economic objectives and to ensure the prosperity. The relation of these two countries doesn't correspond to the neo-realistic theory and the security objectives don't have high priority. We verified this hypothesis by using the Congruance Method, the comparative method of the study period and by the dependent and independent variables. Dependent variable include the political and economic relations and the independent variables include the economic reform in Morocco, mutual bilateral cooperation, fishing policy, the various Spanish governments' policies towards...
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Comparison of the attitudes of Brazil, India and South Africa towards the issue of humanitarian interventions
Jeřábek, David ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Vlček, Václav (referee)
This study deals with attitude of three states - Brazil, India, and South Africa, towards the issue of humanitarian interventions and the principle of the Responsibility to Protect. The aim of this study is to assess what is the real motivation of selected states in the process of creation of their attitudes. Based on three main theoretical approaches - neorealism, liberalism, and constructivism, particular hypotheses are created in order to help determine explanation value of selected theories. All three selected theoretical approaches deal with different sets of variables with different importance. The main focus of the first half of the study is on introduction of humanitarian intervention, the principle of Responsibility to Protect, and selected theoretical approaches. In this part individual hypotheses are defined, and the methodological framework is also introduced. Second part of the study deals with actual analysis of attitudes of selected states and their consequential categorization. The individual variables are assessed, and conclusions are established. Based on analysis Brazil and South Africa seem to be two cases with different understanding of security than India. These two states also have different perception of own state identity and thus their attitude toward intervention/R2P is...
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Russia's Syria policy: geopolitical interests or defense of great power identity?
Hirling, Marcel ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (advisor) ; Ananyeva, Ekaterina (referee)
of Master thesis Russia's Syria policy: geopolitical interests or defense of great power identity? Marcel Hirling Abstract: Russia has been the dominating actor in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. Researchers disagree what Russia motivates to block UN resolutions, support Assad, and intervene militarily in 2015. Academics have mainly focused on neorealist explanations. Constructivist arguments have been shortcoming so far as they miss a detailed theoretical justification and empirical evidence. This thesis aims to fill this gap by arguing that the objective utility of Syria is marginal. Instead, Syria provided Russia the opportunity to present itself as a global power, able to shape world affairs on eye level with the US. Therefore, this paper conducts a congruence analysis, which evaluates each theory's explanatory power. The analytical section is split into three parts. The first shows that events before Syria did not make a Russian intervention in Syria necessary, but that recognition of Russia's global power identity has been denied. That Russia's actions in Syria are not entirely congruent with neorealist expectations is shown by the second part. Finally, by conducting a content-analysis, several Russian narratives are evaluated that support the argument that Russia seeks...
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