Changing Attitudes towards Human Rights in Europe: Perceptions of Czech Non-Profit Organisations

• Název práce v češtině: Proměna postojů k lidským právům v Evropě: Pohled českých nevládních organizací
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Changing Attitudes towards Human Rights in Europe: Perceptions of Czech Non-Profit Organisations
• Klíčová slova: ľudské práva, neziskové organizácie, Západná spoločnosť, inštitúcia ľudských práv, legitimita ľudských práv
• Klíčová slova anglicky: human rights, non-profit organisations, Western society, the institution of human rights, legitimacy of human rights
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2015/2016
• Typ práce: diplomová práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra sociologie (23-KS)
• Vedoucí / školitel: prof. PhDr. Ing. Ondřej Císař, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 13.04.2016
• Datum zadání: 13.04.2016
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 19.06.2017 13:30
• Místo konání obhajoby: Jinonice - U Kříže 8, J3017, Jinonice - místn. č. 3017
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 18.05.2017
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 19.06.2017
• Oponenti: doc. Dr. Paulus Albertus Blokker

Seznam odborné literatury

•Bělohradský V, Příbáň J. et al. 2015. Lidská práva. (Ne)smysl české politiky?. Prague: Slon.
•Howard, Marc Morje. 2003. The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
•Petrova, Tsveta and Sidney Tarrow. 2007. “Transactional and Participatory Activism in the Emerging European Polity: The Puzzle of East Central Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 40(1).
•Císař, Ondřej and Navrátil, Jiří. 2015. “Promoting Competition or Cooperation? The Impact of EU Funding on Czech Advocacy Organizations.” Democratization 22(3).
•Císař, Ondřej. 2010. „Externally-Sponsored Contention: The Channelling of Environmental Movement Organisations in the Czech Republic after the Fall of Communism.“ Environmental Politics 19(5).
•Jacobsson, Kerstin and Steven Saxonberg, eds. 2013. Beyond NGO-ization: The Development of Social Movements in Central and Eastern Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.
•Císař, Ondřej. 2013. “The Diffusion of Public Interest Mobilization: A Historical Sociology View on the Advocates without Members in the Post-Communist Czech Republic.” East European Politics 29(1).
•Císař, Ondřej and Kateřina Vráblíková. 2013. „Transnational Activism of Social Movement Organizations: The Effect of European Union Funding on Local Groups in the Czech Republic.“ European Union Politics 14(1).
•Nákonečný M. 1997. Motivace lidského chování. Prague: Academia.
•Nákonečný M. 1999. Sociální psychologie. Prague: Academia.

Předběžná náplň práce

The world of the 21st century is remarkable for its easily changeable nature. This change is also present in the sphere of social life and the sphere of social movements as well. Not only economic changes but also current cultural challenges in Europe show the high level of responsiveness of the public towards new situations in the life of ordinary people. European social movements are not an exception in this trend.

In my thesis I am going to concentrate on how are they dealing with new challenges formed not only in the public but also in the political discourses. My main goal is to focus on the social movements dealing with the recently emerging perception of human rights and its possible crisis and new challenges to study these movements. When talking about the crisis of perception of human rightist, this could be described as a cleavage in the societal acceptation of these. People are mobilising themselves to answer the questions of inequality all around the world, in cases of sexism, sexual orientation, racism or any kinds of xenophobia. One of the possible ways to get deeper into the inner processes of this mobilisation is to focus on the causes of their development and how individual actors from these movements perceive their activities.
In my master thesis, I would like to concentrate on the ways how human rights activists do what they do and what are the forms of their civic engagement. Thus, the main research question would be: How do the human rights social movements react to the changes in the discourse on the human rights? Based on this question, in my thesis, I would research what strategies do they use and why these.

To study this, I am going to use qualitative interviews with actors from different human rights social movement in the Czech Republic. In spite of the fact, that such study will not be representative, it can provide a deeper view into the issue. Moreover, it can focus on the real perceptions of these actors and thus, not general but very specific and detailed analysis on perceptions and motivations of those, who are involved, can be done. Finally, such study can be useful for the activists themselves. When given information on nature and background of their own activities, they can do it more effectively and focus on some areas more or less.