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"Vítání občánků": Social Analysis of a Czech Baby-Welcoming Ceremony
Švábová, Kristina ; Testa, Alessandro (advisor) ; Wirthová, Jitka (referee)
Vítání občánků which translates to "Welcoming of Little Citizens" is a rite of passage celebrated by Czech parents with newborns at their local town or city council. It was invented during the Communist era with the aim of replacing baptism. A reason for its continued popularity even after the shift to democracy is its function as a rite of passage at a difficult life situation but also its successful re-invention. Transition to parenthood is difficult in contemporary society due to high societal expectations of parents as well as contradictory ideals. Rite of passage helps ease the transition for the parents, but it also involves the broader community and the newborn. In addition, it puts one's life journey into a bigger perspective and provides a platform for a family gathering and for using symbolic language. Both its invention and re-invention were done by inducing a sense of continuity via elements invoking past traditions and universal values. Thanks to that, the desired new meanings and values have been accepted by the public. A crucial role in the (re)inventing process has been played by a so-called institutional entrepreneur, an actor who has the skills, resources and motivation to achieve it. Originally, it was the Communist Party who played the part, while in the re-inventing process it...
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The Fall of Ferdinand Marcos and the Transition to Democracy in the Philippines
Husáková, Barbora ; Mlejnek, Josef (advisor) ; Novák, Miroslav (referee)
The master thesis "The Fall of Ferdinand Marcos and the Transition to Democracy in the Philippines" deals with the analysis of politico-historical development of the Philippines and the aim is describe the fall of nondemocratic regime and the subseguent transition do democracy. The attention is paid to the role and tactics of opposition groups among which leadership stakes took place during democratic consolidation. To be place into the context the master thesis deals as well with historical development of political system and its practise.
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Ion Iliescu and his role in the forming of the modern romanian democracy
Kocian, Jiří ; Tejchman, Miroslav (advisor) ; Šístek, František (referee)
The problems of Romanian transition to democracy after the year 1989 were in large part determined by the form of previous regime. Because of the extreme pressure and control exercised on the opposition and personal dictatorship of the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, no major dissent groups or opposition centers possessing the potential to take part in the overthrow of the regime existed. In the swift and still unclear events of December 1989, National Salvation Front rose to hold the power, being directed by Ion Iliescu at the same time. As a formerly top positioned communist apparatchik, who had been swept out from his status after several conflicts with Ceausescu, he transferred almost complete communist structure under the newly formed regime, including Securitate, the secret service. Deconstruction of the former regime was actually performed by the execution of the former president and his wife and by trials of several Securitate generals. Iliescu concentrated overwhelming majority of the state power around NSF and in contradiction with his original proclamations postponed transition to democracy. New regime, which was led by Ion Iliescu demonstrated in its ideological presentation and exercise of power apparent similarities with the era of communist rule, nevertheless, it worked under formal...
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Democratization of Portugal and Romania: is it possible to study transitions to democracy by unified models?
Kasper, Petr ; Kučera, Rudolf (advisor) ; Šušlíková, Lada (referee)
In my paper, I will attempt to answer the question "Is it possible to study transitions to democracy by unified models?" I will seek for an answer using cases of Romania and Portugal, the two states where authoritarian rule had the form of personal dictatorship and was overthrown without government cooperation. My assumption is that studying by unified model is not possible and I will try to find evidence for this statement. In my paper I use theoretical work of Samuel P. Huntington, Vladimíra Dvořáková and Jiří Kunc who study types of transitions to democracy. Dvořáková and Kunc also describe phases of these transitions. From work of Adam Przeworski I use the view of democratization causes. Using these theoretical concepts I will study specific cases of democratization in Romania and Portugal. I will use works of Miroslav Tejchman, Kurt W. Treptow and Jiří Kocian in case of Romania and Jan Klíma, Simona Binková, Zuzana Budinová and Kenneth Maxwell in case of Portugal.
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Transylvanian Regional Identity after 1989: Political Reflection
Kocián, Jiří ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Rosůlek, Přemysl (referee) ; Stojarová, Věra (referee)
KOCIÁN, Jiří. Transylvanian regional identity and its political reflection after 1989. The thesis deals with the question of reviving Transylvanian regional identity and its political use in Romania after 1989. It demonstrates that regional identity has gradually grown in political importance, and represents the content, actors and typology of models of its reflection. The Romanian Communist regime under Nicolae Ceaușescu followed longer-term centralizing tendencies that did not favor maintaining regional specificities. But regional identity, like other collective identities, is the result of a continuous process of daily interactions between its bearers and external actors, all of whom are involved in its construction. Because of that, it survived a period of suppression in its vernacular form. Contributing to its survival was the fact that the multi-ethnic region of Transylvania and its specificities, which represent the core of regional identity, have a thousand-year history. The thesis points, by applying a discourse analysis of the content of newspaper articles, to the fact that regional identity took the form of political discourse after 1989. This discourse rivaled the previous discursive hegemony of the country's centralist concept of state and nation in Romanian public sphere. At the same...
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Transition to Democracy in Czechoslovakia in 1989 from a Transition Theory Perspective
Mandíková, Darina ; Mlejnek, Josef (advisor) ; Novák, Miroslav (referee)
Diploma thesis "Transition to Democracy in Czechoslovakia in 1989 from a Transition Theory Perspective" is an analysis of the Czechoslovak transition to democracy in the year 1989. The author analyses the character of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and the further development of the country after the year 1989 dealing with some of the more general politological aspects such as the strategies of the participants, analyses of the most important agents and factors of the change, etc. Therefore, various politological theories are introduced in the theoretical part (theory of non-democratic regimes, theory of transition, used theories by Juan J. Linz, Carl J. Friedrich, Alfred Stepan, Samuel Huntington and of other relevant authors). The theories are later applied to the Czechoslovak communist regime and to its transition to democracy. The diploma thesis focuses on the application of the theories of transition on Czechoslovakia with regards to the number of transitions. The work aims at explaining that more transitions took place in Czechoslovakia - not only the political one, but also the economic and nationalist, the latter leading to the Czechoslovakian split. Therefore, the last part of the diploma thesis deals with the development of the Czech-Slovak relationship; the link between the...
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Transylvanian Regional Identity after 1989: Political Reflection
Kocián, Jiří ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Maslowski, Nicolas (referee) ; Tumis, Stanislav (referee)
The thesis presents an analysis of the discourse of Transylvanian regional identity in Romanian newspaper from 1989 to 2014, opposing the hegemonic political and societal discourse promoting nationalism. In doing so, it emphasized inter-ethnic tolerance as a key principle that distinguished regional discourse from its centralist counterpart. The fact that the most important historical peoples of Transylvania were understood by the regional discourse as carriers of regional identity in the spheres of daily and political life not only confirmed the trans-ethnic inclusiveness of this construct, but also became its diversification factor. In addition to tolerance and acceptance of multiethnicity, regional discourse in the examined media relied predominantly on ideas of the region's essential democratic character, its cultural, social or economic specificities, as well as considerations of possible autonomy. These narratives, whether abstract or more pragmatic, represented the content of a discoursively constructed regional identity, conveyed its sharing by different ethnic groups, and defined Transylvania in the context of an era within Romania as a whole. The internal thematic composition of Transylvanian regional identity discourse was not entirely constant during the period under review, its shape...
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Transylvanian Regional Identity after 1989: Political Reflection
Kocián, Jiří ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Rosůlek, Přemysl (referee) ; Stojarová, Věra (referee)
KOCIÁN, Jiří. Transylvanian regional identity and its political reflection after 1989. The thesis deals with the question of reviving Transylvanian regional identity and its political use in Romania after 1989. It demonstrates that regional identity has gradually grown in political importance, and represents the content, actors and typology of models of its reflection. The Romanian Communist regime under Nicolae Ceaușescu followed longer-term centralizing tendencies that did not favor maintaining regional specificities. But regional identity, like other collective identities, is the result of a continuous process of daily interactions between its bearers and external actors, all of whom are involved in its construction. Because of that, it survived a period of suppression in its vernacular form. Contributing to its survival was the fact that the multi-ethnic region of Transylvania and its specificities, which represent the core of regional identity, have a thousand-year history. The thesis points, by applying a discourse analysis of the content of newspaper articles, to the fact that regional identity took the form of political discourse after 1989. This discourse rivaled the previous discursive hegemony of the country's centralist concept of state and nation in Romanian public sphere. At the same...
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Ecological Issues in Czechoslovakia
Hrubeš, Jan ; Vaněk, Miroslav (advisor) ; Valeš, Lukáš (referee) ; Novák, Arnošt (referee)
Práce se zabývá vývojem ekologického hnutí v Československu. Svoji pozornost zaměřuje především k vývoji ekologických iniciativ a ekologického diskurzu v době komunistické nesvobody a v době celospolečenských změn v listopadu 1989 do období rozpadu Občanského fóra v roce 1991. Nedílnou součástí je rovněž analýza vzniku a vývoje Strany zelených, která se stala předmětem scénářů a pokusů o provedení politických reforem v rámci komunistického režimu. Cílem práce je zjistit, jak téma ochrany přírody rezonovalo především v oblasti opozičních a režimních struktur a jaký osud jej následoval v období porevolučního vývoje následovaný otázkou, proč došlo k postupnému úpadku ekologického povědomí ve společnosti. Ke splnění cíle práce byla využita metoda orální historie, jež zprostředkovává pohledy oslovených narátorů - pamětníků problematiky úlohy ekologické karty. Tímto přístupem se snaží nahradit především chybějící archivní materiály. Formou obsahové analýzy a komparace se práce pokouší srovnávat procesy probíhající v západní Evropě s ekologickou tématikou v Československu. Práce se oborově nachází na pomezí historie, politologie, ale také sociologie, přičemž zdůrazňuje akcent historicko-politologický. Ze závěru práce vyplývá, že ekologická karta v rámci československé společnosti získala silnou tradici,...
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