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This volume offers a profoundly new interpretation of the impact of modern diasporas on democracy, challenging the orthodox understanding that ties these two concepts to a bounded form of territory. Considering democracy and diaspora through a deterritorialised lens, it takes the post-Euromaidan Ukraine as a central case study to show how modern diasporas are actively involved in shaping democracy from a distance, and through their political activity are becoming increasingly democratised themselves. An examination of how power-sharing democracies function beyond the territorial state, Democracy, Diaspora, Territory: Europe and Cross-Border Politics compels us to reassess what we mean by democracy and diaspora today, and why we need to focus on the deterritorialised dimensions of these phenomena if we are to adequately address the crises confronting numerous democracies. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and politics with interests in migration and diaspora, political theory, citizenship and democracy.

Over the course of the twentieth century, Japan has experienced a radical shift in its self-perception. After World War II, Japan embraced a peaceful and anti-militarist identity, which was based on its war-prohibiting Constitution and the foreign policy of the Yoshida doctrine. For most of the twentieth century, this identity was unusually stable. In the last couple of decades, however, Japan’s self-perception and foreign policy seem to have changed. Tokyo has conducted a number of foreign policy actions as well as symbolic internal gestures that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago and that symbolize a new and more confident Japan. Japanese politicians – including Prime Minister Abe Shinzō – have adopted a new discourse depicting pacifism as a hindrance, rather than asset, to Japan’s foreign policy. Does that mean that “Japan is back”? In order to better understand the dynamics of contemporary Japan, Kolmaš joins up the dots between national identity theory and Japanese revisionism. The book shows that while political elites and a portion of the Japanese public call for re-articulation of Japan’s peaceful identity, there are still societal and institutional forces that prevent this change from entirely materializing.

Meet the world's most dangerous man. Or is he? Who is the real VladimirPutin? What does he want? And what will he do next? Despite the millions ofwords written on Putin's Russia, the West still fails to truly understand oneof the world's most powerful politicians, whose influence spans the globeand whose networks of power reach into the very heart of our daily lives. Inthis essential primer, Professor Mark Galeotti uncovers the man behind themyth, addressing the key misperceptions of Putin and explaining how wecan decipher his motivations and next moves. From Putin’s early life in theKGB and his real relationship with the USA to his vision for the future ofRussia – and the world – Galeotti draws on new Russian sources andexplosive unpublished accounts to give unparalleled insight into the man atthe heart of global politics.

The European Union (EU) is facing one of the rockiest periods in its existence. At no time in its history has it looked so economically fragile, so insecure about how to protect its borders, so divided over how to tackle the crisis of legitimacy facing its institutions, and so under assault by Eurosceptic parties. The unprecedented levels of integration in recent decades have led to increased public contestation, yet at the same the EU is more reliant on public support for its continued legitimacy than ever before. This book examines the role of public opinion in the European integration process. It develops a novel theory of public opinion that stresses the deep interconnectedness between people’s views about European and national politics. It suggests that public opinion cannot simply be characterized as either Eurosceptic or not, but rather that it consists of different types. This is important because these types coincide with fundamentally different views about the way the EU should be reformed and which policy priorities should be pursued. These types also have very different consequences for behaviour in elections and referendums. Euroscepticism is such a diverse phenomenon because the Eurozone crisis has exacerbated the structural imbalances within the EU. As the economic and political fates of member states have diverged, people’s experiences with and evaluations of the EU and national political systems have also grown further apart. The heterogeneity in public preferences that this book has uncovered makes a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing Euroscepticism unlikely to be successful.

Are United Nations peacekeeping missions effective at reducing violence in civil wars? Although UN peacekeeping is a notable intervention tool, the international community lacks systematic knowledge of how well it mitigates civil war violence. Given that UN peacekeeping is increasingly used in the midst of war, this is a significant research gap with direct policy relevance. This book systematically explores if and how the capacity and constitution of UN peacekeeping missions affect the amount of violence in civil conflicts. It argues that peacekeeping effectiveness needs to be assessed in relative terms, theorizing that more robust missions are increasingly capable of addressing combatant incentives for employing violence. The authors conduct large-n analyses of the number of combatants and civilians killed during each month for all civil wars globally from 1992 to 2014, measuring the capacity and constitution of UN missions with unique data on the number and type of peacekeeping personnel deployed. The analyses reveal that increasing UN military troop and police personnel deployed to a conflict significantly reduces violence against civilians, and increasing UN military troop personnel significantly mitigates battle-related violence. By contrast, smaller missions and missions composed of observers are not associated with reduced violence. The book complements the large-n analyses with qualitative explorations of peacekeeping mechanisms on violence in Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The authors conclude that while peacekeeping is not without detriments, it is an effective tool of violence reduction.

Representative democracy is beset by a crisis of legitimacy across the world,but in Europe this crisis is compounded by the inadequacy of nationalgovernments to address citizens’ frustrations and to achieve transnationalunity on common issues. How representative are national parliaments intheir decision-making on EU matters? This volume investigates therelationship between the democratic institutions of the member states andthose of the EU. With a focus on polity rather than policy, it looks at votingand decision-shaping mechanisms in selected member states, in particularthe ‘Europeanisation’ of representative democracy at national level. It alsoassesses the state of parliamentary democracy at the EU level. Expertanalysts share their insights into the changing nature of our political eco-systems and the (dis)connections within and between them.

Review of the book: Tomáš Dopita, Kateřina Kočí, Klára Čmolíková Cozlová: Uvnitř diplomacie. Jak na genderovou nerovnost v zahraniční službě. 1. vydání. Praha: Grada, 2020, 71 stran, 978-80-271-2428-2

Review of the book: Pavel Kreisinger: Češi a Slováci v Austrálii v 1. polovině 20. století a jejich účast ve světových válkách. 1. vydání. Praha: Academia, 2018, 400 stran, ISBN 978-80-200-2821-1.

Review of the book: Martin Petlach: Volby a demokracie v Malajsii. Politika kontrastů. 1. vydání. Praha: Togga, spol. s.r.o., 2019, 280 stran, ISBN 978-80-7476-163-8

At the root of inequality, unemployment, and populism are radical changes in the world economy. Digital technology is allowing talented foreigners to telecommute into our workplaces and compete for service and professional jobs. Instant machine translation is melting language barriers, so the ranks of these "tele-migrants" will soon include almost every educated person in the world. Computing power is dissolving humans' monopoly on thinking, enabling AI-trained computers to compete for many of the same white-collar jobs. The combination of globalization and robotics is creating the globotics upheaval, and it threatens the very foundations of the liberal welfare-state. Richard Baldwin, one of the world's leading globalization experts, argues that the inhuman speed of this transformation threatens to overwhelm our capacity to adapt. From computers in the office to automatic ordering systems in restaurants, we are familiar with the how digital technologies offer convenience while also eliminating jobs. Globotics will disrupt the lives of millions of white-collar workers much faster than automation, industrialization, and globalization disrupted the lives of factory workers in previous centuries. The result will be a backlash. Professional, white-collar, and service workers will agitate for a slowing of the unprecedented pace of disruption, as factory workers have done in years past. Baldwin argues that the globotics upheaval will be countered in the short run by "shelter-ism" - government policies that shelter some service jobs from tele-migrants and thinking computers. In the long run, people will work in more human jobs-activities that require real people to use the uniquely human ability of independent thought-and this will strengthen bonds in local communities. Offering effective strategies such as focusing on the social value of work, The Globotics Upheaval will help people prepare for the oncoming wave of an advanced robotic workforce.

Kniha se věnuje tematu, ktere je v oblasti politologickeho výzkumu do znacne miry marginalni. Nicmeně domnivame se, že studium politiky nejmensich evropských statů s demokratickými formami vladnuti ma potencial přinest výsledky, jež daji vyniknout některým skutecnostem ci vztahům, ktere zůstavaji při komparativni analýze politických systemů „standardnich“ statů nevýrazne ci bez povsimnuti. Při studiu politiky malých statů je pozornost nutně věnovana prvkům a rysům charakteristickým pro suverenni staty (vnitřni i zahranicni politika) a zaroveň atributům typickým spise pro politiku na komunalni ci regionalni urovni. Pravě popsane propojeni několika rovin v prostředi nejmensich evropských demokratických statů cini jejich komparativni analýzu nosnou a zajimavou. Publikace je primarně urcena akademicke veřejnosti se zajmem o komparativni politologii, politickou geografii ci postaveni urcitým způsobem netypických akterů v mezinarodnim systemu. Vzhledem k bohate faktograficke strance jednotlivých připadových studii je knihu možne doporucit i ctenařům, kteři se zajimaji o historii, kulturu a politiku nejmensich evropských statů, tj. zemi, ktere jsou zajimave i proto, že se do jejich historickeho a politickeho formovani promital vývoj celeho evropskeho kontinentu – existence velmi malých statů je ostatně umožněna pouze shodou přihodných historických okolnosti a politicke instituce a procesy v některých z nich představuji unikatni relikty. To cini nejmensi evropske staty pozoruhodnými nejen z perspektivy politicke vědy.

Po celé dějiny přicházeli ruští myslitelé, geografové a státníci s vizemi o rolia civilizační příslušnosti své velké země. Zároveň při tom odhalovalineujasněnost geografického i hodnotového rámce ruské státnosti i identityruské společnosti. Tápání mezi Východem, Západem a různými formamigeopolitického svébytnictví se vždy promítalo do praktické zahraniční ivnitřní politiky Ruska. Jaroslav Kurfürst nabízí pečlivý pohled do labyrinturuského geopolitického myšlení, který umožňuje pochopit jeho politickávýchodiska. Ukazuje, že hybridní válka, kterou Rusko vede proti světuliberální demokracie a institucí Západu, mobilizuje hlubinné motivace amýty carské i sovětské. Vztah Ruska a Západu je v této mimořádněargumentačně přesvědčivé monografii pojednán jako stálé střetávání sedvou odlišných geopolitických kultur.

As demonstrated in any conflict, war is violent and causes grave harms toinnocent persons, even when fought in compliance with just war criteria. Inthis book, Rosemary Kellison presents a feminist critique of just warreasoning, with particular focus on the issue of responsibility for harm tononcombatants. Contemporary just war reasoning denies the violence ofwar by suggesting that many of the harms caused by war are necessary,though regrettable, injuries for which inflicting agents bear noresponsibility. She challenges this narrow understanding of responsibilitythrough a feminist ethical approach that emphasizes the relationality ofhumans and the resulting asymmetries in their relative power andvulnerability. According to this approach, the powerful individual andcollective agents who inflict harm during war are responsible forrecognizing and responding to the vulnerable persons they harm, andthereby reducing the likelihood of future violence. Kellison's volume goesbeyond abstract theoretical work to consider the real implications of animportant ethical problem.

Around the world, people who are angry at stagnant wages and growinginequality have rebelled against established governments and turned topolitical extremes. Liberal democracy, history's greatest engine of growth,now struggles to overcome unprecedented economic headwinds--fromaging populations to scarce resources to unsustainable debt burdens.Hobbled by short-term thinking and ideological dogma, democracies riskfalling prey to nationalism and protectionism that will deliver decliningliving standards. In Edge of Chaos, Dambisa Moyo shows why economicgrowth is essential to global stability, and why liberal democracies arefailing to produce it today. Rather than turning away from democracy, sheargues, we must fundamentally reform it. Edge of Chaos presents a radicalblueprint for change in order to galvanize growth and ensure the survival ofdemocracy in the twenty-first century.

The phenomenal story of China’s ‘unprecedented disposition to engage the international legal order’ has been primarily told and examined by political scientists and economists. Since China adopted its ‘open door’ policy in 1978, which altered its development strategy from self-sufficiency to active participation in the world market and aimed at attracting foreign investment to fuel its economic development, the underlying policy for mobilizing inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) remains unchanged to date. With the 1997 launch of the ‘Going Global’ policy, an outward focus regarding foreign investment has been added, to circumvent trade barriers and improve the competitiveness of Chinese firms, typically its state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In order to accommodate inward and outward FDI, China’s participation in the international investment regime has underpinned its efforts to join multi-lateral investment-related legal instruments and conclude international investment agreements (IIAs). China began by selectively concluding bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with developed countries (major capital exporting states to China at that time), signing its first BIT with Sweden in 1982. Despite being a latecomer, over time China’s experience and practice with the international investment regime have allowed it to evolve towards liberalizing its IIAs regime and balancing the duties and benefits associated with IIAs. The book spans a broad spectrum of China’s contemporary international investment law and policy: domestic foreign investment law and reforms, tax policy, bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements, G20 initiatives, the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, international dispute resolution, and inter-regime coordination.

Kniha posuzuje prizmatem mezinárodního měnového systému souborreforem, které byly přijaty v souvislosti s nedávnou globální finanční krizí.První část uvádí historický vývoj a dopad krizí na měnový systém, druhá částanalyzuje opatření, přijatá pro zlepšení fungování jednotlivých oblastísystému, hodnotí jejich účinnost i možné cesty dalšího zkvalitnění. Poprvé unás se tak mohou nejen profesionálové v oblasti státní správy i vsoukromých finančních institucích, ale i studenti vysokých škol seznámit saktuálními trendy reforem mezinárodního měnového systému a jejichdopadem na Českou republiku.

Kniha není jen popisem profese diplomata, ale ukazuje, jak diplomat vidí„divadlo světa“, bez kterého jeho práce nemá smysl. Autor vychází z vlastnízkušenosti, ze zkušeností a vzpomínek kolegů i předchůdců. Životdiplomata je blízký každodenní realitě „obyčejných lidí“, a současně je od nívzdálený tak, že nikdo mimo diplomatů nemá dobrou představu o tom, jakývlastně je.

Po svržení Saddáma Husajna v roce 2003 kontrolovaly americké a britskéjednotky velkou část Iráku. Zatímco v sunnitských oblastech čelily sílícímuodporu, v regionech obývaných šíity se Američané i další zahraniční vojácidlouho těšili když ne přízni, tak alespoň toleranci – toleranci, k níž šíityvyzval jejich duchovní vůdce ájatolláh Sístání. Zanedlouho tento kleriknaopak americkým elitám překazil úmysly. Namísto jejich plánu, aby bylnový irácký parlament vybrán prověřeným sborem volitelů, prosadil Sístánískutečně demokratický princip: jeden volič – jeden hlas. Už jen tyto epizodydokládají význam často opomíjené politicko-společenské síly Blízkéhovýchodu – šíitského duchovenstva. Monografie Lucie Jírů shrnuje postaveníšíitského kléru v novodobé historii regionu, a usnadňuje tak rovněžpochopení nynějšího dění.

From slut-shaming to the allegedly shrill voices of female politicians, fromvocal fry to online misogyny, the language women use (and the languageused about them) is as controversial as it has ever been. Our language useand our gender have an enormous impact on the way we understandourselves and the world around us, and the way we are treated by society.Using the latest academic research, Allyson Jule tackles some of the mostpressing issues facing feminism today, including how language use andrelated ideas about gender play out in the home, workplace and online. Itturns out that many popular ideas about gender and language are morecomplicated than they first appear. This book will change the way you thinkabout language, and give you the tools to challenge the world around you.

Feminism’s origins have often been framed around a limited cast of mostly white and educated foremothers, but the truth is that feminism has been and continues to be a global movement. For centuries, women from all walks of life have been mobilizing for gender justice. As the last decade has reminded even the most powerful women, there is nothing “post-feminist” about our world. And there is much to be learned from the passion and protests of the past.

The diploma thesis Critical Reflexion of Alena Mornstajnova's Novels in the Czech Media analyses book reviews of the first four novels written by Alena Mornštajnová: Slepá mapa, Hotýlek, Hana and Tiché roky. This thesis aims to document how her work has been perceived by professional literary critics and reviewers. The analysis examines 27 articles from Czech literary magazines, portals (Host, Tvar, A2, iLiteratura.cz, Bubínek Revolveru) and generally focused newspapers and magazines (Mladá fronta DNES, Právo, Deník N, Respekt, Týdeník Rozhlas, Literární noviny). The period of analysis for this study begins in 2013 when her first novel was published and covers all relevant material up to the present. In the theoretical part of this thesis, firstly the following terms are defined - interpretation, art valuation, critique, review and interview. Thereafter, the biography of Alena Mornštajnová is summarized. Finally, literary media, which published crucial critiques and reviews for the analysis, are introduced. The practical part of this thesis focuses on interpreting particular novels and an on analysis and evaluation of critical reflections. The analysis examines the opinions and conclusions of literary critics and reviewers, and also the standards and professionalism of their articles. Finally, in...