The aim of the thesis is to analyse and interpret attitudes of presidents Miloš Zeman and Andrej Kiska towards the European migrant crisis between June 2015 and 2017.

Theoretical background of the thesis is set in the constructivist meta-theoretical framework, drawing upon Wendt’s accounts on agent-structure problem in particular, and role theory and its focus on leaders’ beliefs about the identity of the state and its conseqeuences on shaping the way states act in the international system, using primarily work of Aggestam, Holsti and Thies as literary sources for the thesis’ research.

By conducting a quantitative content analysis of selected presidential speeches and public statements from the period of mid-2015 to late 2017 and by using the operational code method of Walker, Schafer and Young, described in their 1998 article „Systematic Procedures for Operational Code Analysis: Measuring and Modeling Jimmy Carter's Operational Code“, the researcher identifies and evaluates actors’ philosofical and instrumental propensities and uses them to analyze the differences in the actors’ perception of the European migrant crisis.

The author therefore aims to answer following research questions: How do the actors perceive the European migrant crisis and its implications for the national security of their countries? How do the actors interpret their foreign policy roles to themselves? How do the actors perceive their ability to bring their perceptions into the domestic foreign policy debate? Consequently, the aim of the thesis is to explain the differences in the actors’ stances based on their ideological convictions and the perceived roles they play in the formulation of their countries’ foreign policies.