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International Monetary Fund: Trends in the Scope of Activity in 1989-2014
Szabo, Jakub ; Parízek, Michal (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
The main goal of this bachelor thesis is to evaluate possible ideological changes inside the IMF in the time period from 1989 to 2014. This goal is achieved by examining annual reports published by the IMF, with attention on the most important tools of the IMF. Issues discussed through the IMF's surveillance and conditionality are the main indicator of possible reforms and changes. Based on the existent literature and example of the reform of the World Bank four hypotheses are formulated. Those hypotheses are dedicated to monitoring changes in perceived importance of welfare state, small government, good governance and fiscal policy. Firstly, current literature is presented with definition of the main concepts used in this thesis. Secondly, important tools of the IMF are described. Thirdly, collected data is described and this thesis concludes with data evaluation. With application of the methods of descriptive statistics and content analysis this thesis concludes with statement, that important shift from emphasis on weak state to strong state occurred and good governance became important theme of IMF's interest. However importance of the theme fiscal policy persisted.
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Constructing Participatory Spaces: Involving Citizens into the Urban Development Planning from the View of Planners
Beránková, Petra Alexandra ; Mička, Pavel (advisor) ; Veselý, Arnošt (referee)
The work deals with constructing of participatory spaces in the process of urban development planning. The topic of involving citizens into planning is viewed from the point of planners. A concept of participation in this text is conceived in the sense of invented spaces built from above. The research perspective is an interpretative one, anchored in the constructivist epistemology. Therefore the main question is: How do planners reflect involving citizens in the planning? Firstly, the authoress demonstrates the importance of her topic by putting it into the context of wider social dynamics related to the crises of representative democracy and emerging of sub-politics. She reveals that the trend of building participatory opportunities is strengthening. The important question is formulated: How is the role of public in the strategic planning constructed? On the base of analytical induction of semi-structured interviews with planners, the authoress creates her own typology of ideal-type approaches to participation. These types of approaches came out from a distinction of the extent and the aim of spaces of participation. The involvement of citizens can be seen either as building of community, activation of elites, mapping of public preferences or as consultation with local experts.
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Good Governance in Theory and Practice
Vošahlíková, Radka ; Ochrana, František (advisor) ; Půček, Milan Jan (referee)
This master's thesis offers comprehensive perspective of good governance concept in a theoretical level as well as from a practical point of view with emphasis on the Czech Republic. The objective of the thesis is to investigate the theoretical background of the good governance concept and its basic principles, focused on dealing with the concept in the Czech Republic. The work also provides the assessment of the critical points associated with the good governance concept implementation and attempts to provide the possible solutions to eliminate these points. Thirteen research interviews were conducted with the public administration staff members and the leading experts in the field to analyze the current state of good governance in the Czech Republic. Thematic analysis was utilized for this purpose and results have shown that good governance is not broadly applied yet. Besides the apparent issues such as problems with human resources, communication, politicization of public administration, departmentalism or absence of long-term vision, the key obstacle to implementation of the good governance concept in the Czech Republic seems to be low level of cultural and social standards.
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Sport as a Public Service: Equity and Efficiency of Local Sport Facilities
Popelka, Jakub ; Slepičková, Irena (advisor) ; Novotný, Jiří (referee) ; Ochrana, František (referee)
Title: Sport as a Public Service: Equity and Efficiency of Local Sport Facilities In the Czech Republic, clubs traditionally played a key role in providing sport facilities. In recent years, the role of local authorities in sport has strengthened. Hence, there have been changes in the management of sport facilities in the context of new trends in public administration and sport participation. The thesis analyzes and evaluates current modes of provision of public sport facilities as the consequence of these changes. The examined issue is narrowed down to the two theoretical concepts - sport equity and efficiency of sport facilities. These are perceived as a part of the performance of sport facilities (see Liu et al., 2009 or Kung and Taylor, 2010). The first part of the thesis aims to test the effect of different forms of management of sports facilities on the sport equity score in the framework of institutional analysis (Houlihan, 2005). On the basis of the original instrument for measuring of sport equity, the survey is carried out. The research sample (N = 193) is made up by the municipalities with extended powers, except for regional cities and Prague. The second part of the thesis has the character of an action research. The author evaluates the application of the NBS: Financial questionnaire...
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Methodology for assessing social effectiveness of institutions executing public policies
Bohatá, Marie ; Putnová, A. ; Rašticová, M. ; Bédiová, M. ; Cebáková, A.
The methodology certified by the Technological Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR) is based on an original concept of social effectiveness of public administration reflecting modern trends in governance supporting the trustworthiness of the public service and emphasising the public interest, openness, participation, and integrity. The self-assessing methodology aimed at creating a self-learning organisation is developed for the internal needs of public administration. It has a modular character and encompasses such building blocks as strategic management and coordination, operational management and performance, external communication, ethics and integrity, and HR policy and social climate. It can be used at different organisational levels within the state administration and the self-government. It is user-friendly providing the user with an immediate feedback as well as a guidance in generating improvement actions. Simultaneously, the methodology is of inspiring nature, as it serves as a repository of good practices.
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Democracy assistance policies of the US and the EU: different approaches and their causes
Hornát, Jan ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; van Hüllen, Vera (referee) ; Fawn, Rick (referee)
The United States of America and the institutions of the European Union are the most prominent democracy assistance donors in third countries. Over the last two decades, they have spent tens of billions of dollars to support the formation and consolidation of democratic regimes around the world. In this sense, the US and the EU have seemingly shared interests - i.e. seeking to build democratic institutions in target countries so that these become part of the community of democracies and contribute to the stability of the world's economic and political system. However, if we look at the approaches and strategies used by the US and the EU to support democracy, we find that they are often quite different and, in some respects, clashing. Why are the approaches of both actors different if they strive to reach the same goal? Or - upon closer examination - are their goals indeed somewhat different? The key problem is that democracy as such is a contested concept, so it is necessary to ask the question: if we are promoting democracy, what kind of democracy do we mean? If we finance the development of one or the other institution, what model of democratic establishment will be created? The thesis takes a constructivist view of this issue and demonstrates how the different democratic identities of the two...
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The Influence of the Absence of Principals of Good Governance on the Development of Organized Crime
Bláhová, Pavlína ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Hynek, Nikola (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with relation between good governance and organized crime. The aim of this thesis is to test a theory claiming that level of democracy directly influences level of organized crime and then to test a hypothesis claiming that key factor for successful fight against organized crime is presence of principles of good governance. Existence and strength of the relation between democracy, good governance and organized crime is tested by statistical analysis on a wide range of states. Results of this analysis are then verified within frame of instrumental case studies of the states with low level of democracy, low level of good governance and high level of organized crime (states of Central Asia) and a state with low level of democracy, high level of good governance and low level of organized crime (Singapore).
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Constructing Participatory Spaces: Involving Citizens into the Urban Development Planning from the View of Planners
Beránková, Petra Alexandra ; Mička, Pavel (advisor) ; Veselý, Arnošt (referee)
The work deals with constructing of participatory spaces in the process of urban development planning. The topic of involving citizens into planning is viewed from the point of planners. A concept of participation in this text is conceived in the sense of invented spaces built from above. The research perspective is an interpretative one, anchored in the constructivist epistemology. Therefore the main question is: How do planners reflect involving citizens in the planning? Firstly, the authoress demonstrates the importance of her topic by putting it into the context of wider social dynamics related to the crises of representative democracy and emerging of sub-politics. She reveals that the trend of building participatory opportunities is strengthening. The important question is formulated: How is the role of public in the strategic planning constructed? On the base of analytical induction of semi-structured interviews with planners, the authoress creates her own typology of ideal-type approaches to participation. These types of approaches came out from a distinction of the extent and the aim of spaces of participation. The involvement of citizens can be seen either as building of community, activation of elites, mapping of public preferences or as consultation with local experts.
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