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This qualitative single case study examines the role of women in Saudi Arabia's ongoing reforms, employing the lenses of modernization theory and normative feminism to offer a comprehensive analysis of this socio-political and economic transformation. Considering the complexity of the topic and the uniqueness of the monarchical political and social system of Saudi Arabia, this thesis provides a nuanced understanding of the factors shaping women's participation and agency within the reform process. The thesis uncovers the complex interplay between modernization and gendered norms in Saudi Arabia through in-depth interviews, document analysis, and participant observation. The findings reveal that women's increased participation in the labor market, education, and political representation, contributed to the nation's broader developmental goals under Vision 2030. Finally, it offers valuable insights into the evolving roles of women within Saudi Arabia's reform process, illuminating the importance of addressing structural and normative barriers to gender equality. By highlighting the potential for change and the challenges, this thesis underscores the need for continued efforts to promote women's empowerment and dismantle patriarchal norms to foster sustainable development and inclusive growth....

Changing a country's image is a complex process requiring long-term strategic effort. Nation brands are influenced by a wide range of external influences possibly causing negative images or stereotyping. Thus, regarding states, rebranding is often used to redefine the generally perceived image. Nonetheless, the image of a state is deeply rooted and cannot be changed by marketing tools and communication alone. Noticeable changes and policy actions are needed to create a strong communication basis for the development of a nation branding strategy. Countries generally having reputation problems are often non-democratic and the growth of their brand tends to be limited. The Middle East frequently faces negative image and stereotyping. At the same time, nation branding receives vast attention, effort and budgets there. Saudi Arabia launched its nation rebranding strategy by presenting the Vision 2030 document. This paper aims to determine the extent of nation branding multidisciplinarity in the Saudi context. A combination of a quantitative analysis of national branding indexes and semi-structured expert interviews is chosen. Nation branding in Saudi Arabia has experienced moderate growth, considerable professionalization, and the first strategic achievements of the Vision 2030 plan. On the contrary,...

Comparison of Czech criminal law and Shari'a criminal law - a case study of Saudi Arabia Abstract The thesis provides a comprehensive comparison of the foundations and basic attributes of Czech and Shari'a criminal law. Its aim is to describe aspects of Islamic and continental legal culture in comparison. Due to the fact that Shari'a law is currently differentiated according to the individual Muslim country, apart from the classical Shari'a, the subject of this thesis is also the Saudi Arabian concept of criminal law. This is because Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country that largely retains the traditional Shari'a to this day. The introductory part of the thesis reflects the effort to break the tendency for skepticism regarding comparability of both cultures. Before the comparison of criminal law legislations itself, readers are presented with a historical excursion into the development of relations between the West and the Islamic world, which have remained far from immune to their mutual influences throughout history. In this part, the thesis deals mainly with the influence of the West on the political and legal order of Islamic countries, which can be considered significant and important in terms of shaping the legal framework of Muslim countries. In fact, we observe interactions between the two cultures not...

Labour legislations provide guidelines to prevent unfair labour practices and organizational injustice. All employment and labour laws propose standards regarding wages, wellbeing, safety, and equitable treatment, which reduces conflicts. However, informational imbalances between employers and employees prevent employees from having adequate knowledge about labour legislation. Consequently, some employers treat employees inconsistently and that could be detrimental to them. A practical solution to this problem is making employees aware of the provisions of labour laws. As an initial step towards this, there is a definite need to assess employees’ awareness regarding labour laws. Nevertheless, there is a lack of a standardized tool to measure the knowledge level of labour legislation, which has impaired empirical examinations. Using randomly collected 346 samples from two different types of industries, the present study constructed and validated a tool to measure labour law knowledge. The study has followed a simple scale development framework consisting of item generation, scale development, and psychometric evaluation. The measurement tool has been developed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The final questionnaire consists of 17 items under four factors, exhibited significant reliability and validity. The developed tool is expected to fill the gap in the literature and stimulate further empirical research. The study also examined the difference in the knowledge level based on the demographics of the sample. The results show a significant difference between the knowledge levels based on gender, citizenship, type of industry, and qualifications. Future research directions are proposed at the end of the paper, together with the limitations of this study.

The main topic of the thesis Breaking Free from the Dominance and Establishing Independent Policy: The Analysis of Saudi-Qatari Relations and its Implications on the Region of the Persian Gulf is a thorough analysis of the historical developments of bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Qatar. This hierarchical relationship between the two states is analysed according to the theories of alliance formation, MENA foreign policy analyses and international hierarchy. The aim of the thesis is to ascertain how Qatar was able to break free from the subordinate position within the hierarchical relationship with Saudi Arabia. Contrary to other existing research within the field which explains the end of subordination mostly with the crisis in the dominant state, the present thesis addresses other possible factors in the subordinate state that ultimately cause the evasion of the subordination with particular emphasis on the case study in question. The thesis proposes a classification of several distinct eras in Saudi - Qatari relations and verifies them against the theories described above. The thesis' findings support the hypothesis that subordinate states can evade the subordination without a crisis in the dominant, but only in a very specific set of circumstances, which...

This master's thesis analyses the different narratives constructed by three actors, towards the war in Yemen. The thesis will draw on the constructivist theory to answer the question: how do different actors construct the war in Yemen and the humanitarian crisis in their discourses and narratives? To answer this question, the theoretical part defines different concepts, such as identity, norms, national interest, strategic narrative and discourse. It presents the constructivist understanding of identity as a social construction, shaped by collective components of knowledge, symbols, language and norms. The empirical part attempts to identify the narratives constructed by the Houthis, Saudi Arabia and the EU towards the war in Yemen, which provoked a Saudi-led military intervention when the Houthis seized the capital and declared the establishment of a new government in March 2015. The Houthis consider the intervention as an aggression to Yemen and as the main cause of suffering of the Yemeni people. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia presents the crisis as Iran's attempt to control the country and spread its influence throughout the region. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia argues that it intervened only as a response to the demands of the internationally recognized government under president Hadi. Finally, the EU...

The bachelor thesis deals with the development of the status of women in Iran and Saudi Arabia. The work familiarises readers with the historical background and the position of women during the Arab Spring. The role of women in family life, women's movements and feminism are analysed. Furthermore, the most recent cases related to women's rights are presented. In addition, Muslim women in Europe are characterized, follow the possible development of women's status in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

This thesis applies the concept of religious (national) identity to the cases of Saudi Arabia, Iran and their proxy allies - state and non-state actors - in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. The aim was to show that in the Middle East, Sunni and Shiite affiliations matter in the relationship between the regional powers and respective proxies, as opposing to realist statement that alliances, conflicts and political developments are only governed by pragmatic power interests. Additionally, the work examines whether religious national identities have impact on the dynamics of proxy conflicts. Overall, the objective was to establish comprehensive image of how ideational/constructivist and pragmatic/realist factors work in combination to influence alliances, enmities and conflicts in the Middle East. Using qualitative methods of research, religious (national) identities of Saudi Arabia, Iran and their allies in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen were constructed so as to create ideational and realist points of departure, and then interlinked to show how convergence of religious identities helps in creating durable alliances if used in targeted manner as a strategic tool which can help safeguard national interests. The work shows notable differences in the use of this tool between Saudi Arabia and Iran, suggesting that it...

Bachelor thesis Success Factors of the British Arms Industry in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s and 1990s deals with two tranches of the giant arms trade known as Al-Yamamah, whose memorandum of understanding was signed in the 1980s. From a methodological point of view, the thesis could be considered a case study that analyzes key contracts over a given period of time. It is divided into three main chapters, each representing one factor examined. The thesis tries to answer whether the established hypotheses - that the factors of success were trust, corruption and a higher degree of interconnection between the private and public spheres - are correct. Text first describes relations between the two countries since the First World War until normalization of relations in 1963 after the Suez crisis and first major arms contracts in the 1960s and 1970s. Thesis mentions the situation after Operation Desert Shield, when ongoing contracts were in jeopardy, and also covers the ethical side of arms trades. Text deals with the foundation of corrupt practices and, consequently, with corruption in the Al-Yamamah trade itself. Finally, it deals with the degree of interconnection of the private and public spheres, the role of prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the export organizations DSO/DESO and shortly also with Her...

This thesis is focusing on counterterrorism policies that are used in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Because of the limited research on the counterterrorism in non-Western world, this thesis decided to contribute to this research and widen literature on this issue. It first introduces the term terrorism and analyses the counterterrorism models (criminal, war and disease models), which can be found mostly in Western literature. It includes critique of these models and attempt to create an alternative one, because it finds the current models unsuitable even for the Western counterterrorism policies. Besides that there is also introduction to other counterterrorism strategies such as terrorist financing and a subsection on deradicalization that is important part of counterterrorism as well. Then the thesis focuses on two parallel case studies of Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. It examines counterterrorism policies of both of them. The thesis first introduces the countries character, threats they are facing and attacks they have experienced and then analyses what measures are used to fight terrorism. After analysing all aspects of their counterterrorism efforts - legislature, cooperation, deradicalization, military methods etc., the alternative model is applied on each case to see if it is suitable for...

The aim of this master thesis is to find out what the drivers of Chinese oil imports are. Also, it highlights an oil demand from three Middle Eastern countries. The reason for the topic was a rising Chinese oil demand and its interest in investments in oil industry. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part describes development of mutual relations with the Middle East and a Chinese economy development. The second chapter introduces an economic development of Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates and explains their dependency on oil exports. Next part identifies internal and external oil trade drivers and highlights various investment projects. Then, the last chapter presents the perspectives of the New Silk Road and highlights projects with an impact on oil trade.

This bachelor thesis aims at describing impact of energy policy of Barack Obama during his two terms as american president on US-Saudi relations. Concretely reactions from Saudi Arabia on these policy decisions with chronologic analysis and emphasis on movement of world oil prices. Core of these thesis could be divided into three parts. First on eis fall of oil prices which took place against the backdrop of the Global Financial Crisis. Second is period of stable oil prices between 2009-2014 with huge tight oil development. Last one is fall of oil prices after June 2014. Each of these periods had its own impact on US-Saudi relations. This analysis shows change in Saudi traditional role as swing producer between 2008 and 2014. Main reasons were behaviour of producents like Ira nor Russia in 2008 downcycle and mentioned development of tight oil production in US, which both were perceived as a threat by Saudi Arabia. Analysis also shows that although president Obama to some extend managed to achieve american energy independence on imported oil it does not solve american energy security issue. Main security threat stays american incapability of controling world oil prices.

This diploma thesis deals with the influence of changing nature of the terrorist threat on the foreign policy of the United States during the presidency of Barack Obama in the region of Middle East, together with the impact of changes in this foreign policy on the cooperation and relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The changing nature of the terrorist threat is analyzed primarily on the example of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and analyzed are also the circumstances of its rise, the events of the Arab Spring. The course of these events is shown in the cases of countries important for the current U.S. foreign policy in the region, therefore in the cases of Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen and the U.S. foreign policy is analyzed in relation with its reaction on these events. Shown is the shift in this foreign policy, tied with the changes in the counterterrorism policy due to the changes in the nature of the terrorist threat. Resulting foreign policy is analyzed using the Foreign Policy Analysis and its models, which helps to explain the apparent rift in the Obama administration in relation to Middle East. The last chapter focuses primarily on the cooperation of the United States with Saudi Arabia and the Saudi relation with terrorism. Shown are Saudi counterterrorism...

This bachelor thesis is focused on foreign policy of Saudi Arabia and on analysis of military operations in Yemen. First the thesis concentrates on the fundaments of Saudi Arabian policy and the attitude of Saudi Arabia to regional events connected to Arab spring. The second part of the thesis describes the importance of this topic and focuses on Saudi Arabian military operation in Yemen.There are also explained main reasons and causes of this military operation. The aim of the thesis is to explain the progress of foreign policy of Saudi Arabia and its regional influence.

This bachelor thesis deals with the influence, which the events of the Arab Spring had on the relations between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It examines the events of the Arab Spring in four countries, which are important both for the Arab Spring itself and thanks to their specific relations to both observed states. The countries are Tunisia (where the events of the Arab Spring first started and from where they began to spread to other countries of the Arab world), Egypt (long-time partner of both the United States and Saudi Arabia in the region), Libya (first country, where was undertaken a foreign military intervention with the participation of the United States regarding the Arab spring) and Saudi Arabia itself (where the protests were appeased, but from where a military intervention against neighboring Bahrain was launched). Apart from a chronological account of the events, part of the thesis is also an analysis of the stances of both observed states on these events. Comparing these stances, the thesis aims to show how big an influence the potential differences in stance had on mutual relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia. In the case of the stances of the United States, the thesis uses the freely accessible press statements and speeches of the...

The main aim of this bachelor thesis is to make the reader aware of the history, culture, and economy of the three countries: Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia. The thesis is divided into three parts, dedicated to the topics mentioned above. There is a conclusion presented at the end of each chapter that explains and compares the three countries. Before entering a foreign market, one must learn and become aware of these three main areas, as it (the knowledge) can be used as a helpful and informative aid when doing business in these countries that have a very high potential, interesting history, complex culture, and economy.

This bachelor thesis deals with the business and cultural specifics of Saudi Arabia. The main objective of my bachelor thesis is to characterize economic, cultural and business aspects of Saudi Arabia. The first chapter is devoted to the basic characteristics of Saudi Arabia, specifically to geographic conditions, demographic data, political system, legal system of the country, national emblems, membership in major international organizations and practical information. In the second chapter I deal with the economic characteristics of Saudi Arabia. It includes an analysis of the basic macroeconomic indicators and economic sectors. This part of the thesis also focuses on Saudi Arabia's foreign trade, including the trade with the Czech Republic. The third chapter is devoted to the culture of Saudi Arabia, its most significant features and business negotiations. It also includes the cultural dimensions by Geert Hofstede, the Islamic religion, the way of life and the position of women in the Arab world. The fourth chapter contains the interviews with the representatives of the Czech companies, which have already entered the Saudi Arabian market.

The bachelor thesis deals with decline of Salafi and Wahhabi Islamic radicalism in the Bosniak ethnic space in 90s and in the beginning of 21st century. The area of interest in this thesis will be the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Brčko District, which is administrated by the Federation and Republika Srbska and Sandžak, which lies within the territory of Montenegro and Serbia. After brief introduction of theological basis and spreading mechanisms of analyzed radical movements, the author gives a detailed description of the boom of the Salafi movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war (1992-1995). The emphasis is put on the crucial role of foreign Islamic charities and Arabic warriors in spreading Islamic radicalism, whose controversial activities led to a mostly negative reaction of Bosniak citizens. The beginning of the decline of Islamic radicalism could be dated from 1995, when the Dayton Accords were signed and most of Salafi promoters left the country. The tragedy of 9/11 is considered to be a turning point, which caught not only Bosniaks' but also foreign writers' attention to Islamic radicalism. Event of paramount importance was an election victory of Turkish political party AKP in 2002, which led to a radical change of Turkish foreign policy, which began to aim its attention...

The paper "External influences on Bulgarian Muslims" describes what affects the belief of Pomaks (Bulgarian-speaking Muslims) and Bulgarian Turks; first, the assimilation campaigns during the 20th century, second, the new foreign policy of Turkey and third, the work of charity organizations connected with Saudi Arabia. The objective of this paper is to explain, why the Pomaks lean towards a fundamentalist form of Islam - Wahhabism - in some towns and villages. In order to do that the text describes bulgarization campaigns aimed at the Pomaks and Turks and introduces both of these ethnic groups that together form 13 % of the Bulgarian population. The paper then describes the Turkish influence in the Balkans, especially the work of the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (the so called Diyanet). The second foreign influence that is described in this text are the activities of Saudi Arabian organizations which are explained at large, including the connection of some of these organizations with terrorists and the ways in which they try to spread the fundamentalist Islam. These three influences are shortly compared. Based on this comparison the text concludes that the Pomaks accept Wahhabism, because they face long term questioning of their ethnic identity and because the political situation in...

In my diploma thesis I focused on human rights in Islam from the universal and the culture comparative point of view. A goal of my work was to find out, whether it is possible to justify the human rights abuses under the terms of concept of cultural relativism in the Islamic civilisation. The thesis should answer a question if it is possible to apply the principles of cultural relativism in case of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. This was achieved by analyzing the most important international and regional tools for human rights protection. The thesis is divided into three chapters, which are dedicating to this issue.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between a possible shortage of oil in Saudi Arabia and access to drinking water. The work is based on the hypothesis that in this area peak oil has taken place. Through method of disciplined interpretive study we focus on the influence of both sources in Saudi Arabia from the theory of sustainable development and conclusion are dealing with a scenario of possible solutions.

Author: Marie Vysoudilová Institution: Ústav sociálního lékařství LF UK Hradec Králové, Oddělení ošetřovatelství Title of the Thesis: Culture shock and its the impact on human Thesis supervisor: Doc. Jana Kutnohorská, Ph. D. The number of pages: 120 The number of attachments: 2 The year of defense: 2013 Keywords: the culture shock, the migration, the culture, the menthal health, the multicultural education, the transcultural psychology, Saudi Arabia, Egypt The submitted Bachelor's Thesis is focused on cultural shock, its experiencing and influences on humans during their stay abroad. Since the cultural shock affects the individual not only with the respect to personal and working activities, but first and foremost with the respect to health, I would like to inform you in this Thesis not only about individual experiences and sensations of ordinary people who stayed in the given country, but also about a possibility of an impact of cultural shock on the human health and on readiness of people to their exile stay. The theoretical part of my Thesis defines such concepts as the cultural shock, migration, mental health, transcultural psychology, as well as some facts about Saudi Arabia and Egypt. As the main part of the Thesis, there is a qualitative research dealing with influences of sensations and...

This thesis focuses on the religious and ideological aspects of the foreign policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It seeks to understand the dynamics of this foreign policy and its correlation with the state religion, Islam. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plays a highly significant role in the Islamic world. Two major factors that contribute to this situation are the presence of two major Muslim shrines (in Mecca and Medina), and the country's huge oil reserves. Saudi Arabia's religious stature and significant economic potential places it well and truly on the world stage. Saudi Arabia's foreign policy is based on historical, geographical, religious, economic, security, and political factors, and is activated in a number of geo-political circles, including the Gulf and wider Middle East, the 'Arab world', the 'Muslim world', and internationally. The Islamic circle is a very important arena in which the country exercises its foreign policy as it claims to be a leader in the Muslim world. The religious basis of Saudi politics is generally very stable and contributes to the perception of Saudi Arabia in parts of the Islamic world as a 'bearer of divine grace'. The Kingdom portrays itself as a conservative state guided by the ideological norms of Islam and promotes their proliferation and protection....

The main objective of this bachelors's thesis is to analyse the mutual business cooperation between Czech republic and Saudi Arabia. I want to find out, what was the development of this cooperation in the past, what trend is typical for the present and based on this information I am able to determine, what development will be typical for the future. Also, I am going to focus on Arabic culture and I am going to try to find out, how this culture affects business cooperation. The thesis is dividend into four chapters. The first chapter is some kind of introduction of Saudi Arabia and is devoted to geographical and demographical figures, politico-legal arrangement, history of Saudi Arabia and membership of the country in the international and in the regional organizations. The second chapter is devoted to analysis of the economic situation in Saudi Arabia. I focus on the analysis of the main macroeconomic indicators, analysis of the individual sectors of economy and analysis of the international trade of Saudi Arabia. The third chapter is focused on the analysis of the business cooperation between the Czech republic and Saudi Arabia. In this chapter I apply to the development of the mutual cooperation, after that the analysis of the balance of the mutual trade follows, including the analysis of the czech export to Saudi Arabia and the other way around. In this chapter is also the part that is focused on the description of Czech entities operating in the markets of Saudi Arabia. In the last chapter I focus on the cultural specifications of Saudi Arabia, on their religion and the way of their life. This chapter includes also the analysis of Saudi Arabia based on the dimensions of Geert Hofstede or it includes also the part, which is devoted to influence of cultural differences on business cooperation.

The issue of human rights - or rather women's rights - and their protection has become a very sensitive topic as of lately. Despite global efforts of upholding human rights we still encounter their violation and especially so in states where Islam is widespread. This work addresses the relation between Islam and human rights, especially women's rights, which tend to be suppressed in Islamic states. The work analyses basic international instruments for protection of human and women's rights in comparison to the Islamic conception. It most directly focuses on the example of Saudi Arabia, a state in which the violation of women's rights can be found most often.

The bachelor's thesis presents a comparison of business practices and mentality of Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Provides a description of the Arab mentality and subsequently characterizes the specifics of business negotiations in Morocco and Saudi Arabia. The thesis also evaluates the development of economy and foreing trade of Morocco and Saudi in recent years. Part of the work is devoted to the business cooperation of the both countries with the Czech Republic and the anticipated development of the Czech-Saudi and Czech-Moroccan trade relations.

This thesis follows up the description of selected Arab countries, their cultures, political situation and finally their economic situation. The aim is to demonstrate, if culture and political situation of the country have an impact on its economic situation. Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are examined in this thesis. The political development is emphasized in the first three countries mentioned above. It is mainly due to recent revolutionary events in the Arab world. The thesis deals with cultural specifics in the Saudi Arabia section. The last chapter focuses on the graphical analysis of economic indicators.

Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf oil monarchies, represents an original politico- economic system. Huge revenues in the form of oil rent, flowing to the Treasury since the oil boom in the early 70's, have fundamentally changed the socio-economic structure, which was in literature termed the rentier state. The origin, development and description of typical characteristics of rentier state are the main topic of this thesis. The first section discusses the theoretical foundations and approaches to the issue. The second chapter provides a historical background in order to position the study in the context of previous political, economic and ideological development. In an analysis of the formation of state structures, the work deals with the relationships between members of the ruling house of Saud, between the government and social elites, with functioning of clientelist structures and interactions within the bureaucratic apparatus. Based on the study of these relationships the thesis marks out particularities of the Saudi politico-economic system that distinguish it from the classical concept of rentier state model. The main distinctive feature is the diminished autonomous ability of state to regulate the functioning of state institutions and to encourage individual agencies to cooperate actively...

Diploma thesis "al Jazeera versus al Arabiya - Media Rivalry of Qatar and Saudi Ruling Families during the 2006 Lebanon War" deals with domestic Arab satellite channels - Qatar al Jazeera and Saudi al Arabiya - and their way of reporting about the war in Lebanon in 2006. Their news coverage is put into context of rivalry between Qatar and Saudi ruling families. The thesis focuses on wide range of issues including the role of media in foreign policy of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, use of media for securing stability of the ruling regimes and for pursuing their regional influence. Main theoretical concept of the thesis is the Arab media model which enables projection of interests of the ruling families in Qatar and Saudi Arabia into their media.

The main goal of this thesis is to characterize the position and significance of Saudi Arabia in current international relations on the grounds of the historical development analysis and aspects that influence both national and foreign policy; and to zoom in the background of strategic partnership with chosen countries as well as in their consequences. Four chapters make the reader familiar with the concept of islam, wahhabi orthodoxy, shari'a law and the reign of the Saudi dynasty monarchs. They depict the progress in the political sphere and the reforms of King Abdullah as well. The economic situation and orientation is presented briefly with the power structure. The principal part is formed by the analysis of foreign policy and characteristics of possible clashes of concerns in bilateral relations with neighbouring states and other strategic partners.

This thesis analyzes religious, social and cultural norms, describes economic and trade negotiations specifics of Saudi Arabia and provides advices in connection with business opportunities for potential business partners. In first part of the thesis I focus on general information about Saudi Arabia (geography, population, religion, education systém, role of media) and on constitutional origins, constitution, criminal proceedings and criminality in the Kingdom. In the second part I look at Saudi Arabia from an economic point of view and describe basic macroeconomical indicators, situation in various sectors of the Saudi economy, development of the Saudi state budget and national debts. I also analyze position of the country in international trade and its economic cooperation with the Czech Republic. The third part is devoted to the cultural specifics of Saudi Arabia, such as position of women in society, sexual segregation, way of dress, lifestyle or the Saudi approach to work. In the fourth part, I turned attention to the pitfalls of business negotiation with Saudi partners, focusing on the issue of donation etiquette, greetings and inappropriate conversational topics. The last part is devoted to the results of my research, which outline Saudi preferences for commercial negotiation, shopping or the best method of communication.

Main aim of the work is to describe what the crude oil is, where the biggest proven reserves in the world are located and who are the global market leaders in the area. As a very important substance that oil undoubtably is and that we are highly dependent on, it has to face to difficulties such as political situations, terrorist attacks or depletion of itself.

The aim of this thesis is to introduce the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as an important potential partner for the Czech business entities based on a comprehensive and objective analysis of factors that could affect the cooperation between these two countries. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one deals with the general characteristics of Saudi Arabia, particularly with demographic and geographic data, administrative structure, history and political-legal environment. The second chapter is about the economic characteristics of the country and it concentrates on the development of macroeconomic indicators, the various sectors of economy, finance, foreign trade and investment climate. The third section focuses on business cooperation between the Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia, with an emphasis on the development of mutual relations, trade balance and the specifics of the entry of Czech subjects on the Saudi market, including SWOT and PESTLE analysis and information about companies that have been already successful on the Saudi market. The last chapter is about cultural differences and I mention Hofstede's cultural dimensions, gender issues, values in society and the impact of cultural differences on the business negotiations.

The main goal of this bachelor thesis is to point out the main export opportunities of Czech entities on Saudi market with a view to the cultural diversity. I would like to find out which fields offer the best prospects for Czech - Saudi cooperation and how the cultural diversity affects the business world. The first chapter describes the basic information about Saudi Arabia, its geography, demographical figures, political system, brief history and its participation in international and regional organizations. The second chapter deals with foreign trade and economy of Saudi Arabia. It includes the analysis of sectors, main macro-economic indicators and territorial and commodity structures. The third part is concerned with relations between the Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia. I concentrate on balance of trade and the areas of possible cooperation between these two countries. Important parts of this chapter are also SWOT analysis and export strategy of the Czech Republic. The last chapter focuses on cultural differences, specifics of business negotiations and common life of Saudi inhabitants. I describe the Saudis in accordance with cultural dimension defined by Geert Hofstede.

This Bachelor Thesis is dealing with the six countries of The Persian Gulf (The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman). First of all I bring in some general characteristics of the states, including geographical, demographical, political and cultural information and last but not least features of the countries' economies. In the main part of the thesis I review the cooperation with The Czech Republic and I introduce the experience of two particular companies which have successfully done business in this part of the world. The aim of the final part is to show some sunrise industries in the Gulf states and to bring in some recommendations to entrepreneurs who would be interested in entering the Gulf market.

This thesis is focused on the influence of money, that comes from oil export, on economy, politics and society of selected oil exporting countries: Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Ira nand Equatorial Guinea. The first part characterizes oil, its extraction, reserves, flows, and consumption . The influence of oil on economy, politics and society is explained on the example of Venezuela in the second chapter. In the third part the effects in the other countries are compared. The key question is: Is the oil wealth advantage or disadvantage for the country?

The thesis studies the human rights in Islam and evaluates them in concrete comparison of Muslim women's position in two different Muslim countries. It approaches two main human rights concepts: universalism and cultural relativism and describes the system and structure of Islamic law which determine all Muslims and Muslim society and therefore human rights perception itself. The diploma work follows two main goals:1) analysis of human rights from Islamic perspective, namely by its confrontation with prevalent universal model of human rights and 2) comparison of the status of Muslim woman in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The thesis is logically divided into four consequential parts. First two chapters introduce to theoretical issues of human rights and Islamic religion, the two other pivotal parts are concentrated on the above mentioned set goals. The objectivity of the thesis should be ensured by using various foreign-language sources of information from which studies and reports of international organizations such as United Nations, Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International form a considerable part.

This bachelor thesis deals with Islam in the politics of Arabian countries and with its culturally historical context. A case study is concerned with Saudi Arabia. As far as historical context is concerned, the thesis focuses on the territory of The Arabian peninsula, especially. The aim of the thesis is to find out, how Islam influenced a political organization in the individual state units from the time of the prophet Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and how Islam influences a political organization of Saudi Arabia today. The thesis divides into three parts. The first part of the thesis devotes to historical context of Islam. A second part of the thesis deals with Islamic culture including its duties and practices, Islamic law sharia or cultural dimensions of Arabian world according to the studies of Geert Hofstede. The last part of the thesis is the case study.

The diploma thesis describes business and cultural environment in Saudi Arabia by PEST analysis. The second part of the thesis reflects my own research of experience of exporters to Saudi Arabia.

Práce obsahuje informace potřebné k vedení efektivního obchodního styku, a to zejména s arabskými obchodníky. Zkoumanými státy jsou Kuvajt, Egypt, SAE a Saudská Arábie. Informace jsou vhodné nejen pro obchodníky ale i pro turisty.

Střední východ je velice specifickou součástí světové ekonomiky. Jedná se o politicky nestabilní region, který je i hospodářsky a sociálně značně nestejnorodý. Nepříznivé přírodní podmínky jsou příčinou potravinové nesoběstačnosti a nutí většinu ekonomik zemědělské produkty a potraviny dovážet. Na druhou stranu disponuje oblast Perského zálivu ohromným ropným bohatstvím. Proto zde najdeme největší producenty a exportéry ropy na světě. "Černé zlato" se stalo nejvýznamnější vývozní komoditou těchto států a ropný průmysl představuje stěžejní odvětví jejich národního hospodářství. I v současné době si Střední východ stále udržuje pozici důležitého dodavatele ropy.