Search

Russia as a rising power in multilateral institutions looks at the Russian attitude towards all institutions this country participated in 2001-2015. I address the questions of what is the attitude of Moscow and what determines the country's choice of attitude patterns. Drawing from the works of those specializing in rising powers and Russian foreign policy, I seek answers to my research questions and contribute to both strings of literature. The parsimonious hypothesis suggests that Russia's attitude depends on its position within the institution. In cases when Moscow holds a strong position in an institution, the country develops a supportive attitude; Russia's weak position within an institution translates into a challenger attitude. I endorse the existing studies by arguing and further supporting with data that Russia tends to be a revisionist in West-led hard-issue institutions it joined after the end of the Cold War. The data points at the supportive attitude pattern also in situations when Russia holds a strong position in institutions it co-founded as a rising power status in the last two decades. The primary data source for the dissertation is the recently released online archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Analyzed with the sentiment analysis software, the...

Neo-Marxism and neoliberal institutionalism are applied to investigate which factors determine the cooperation of emerging powers and what consequences it may have globally within the case of Russia-China relations in BRICS. To this end, congruence analysis is applied. Based on available data, comparison of predictions with observations reveals that the majority of evidences accord with neo-Marxism. Russia and China affirm their position against the predominance of one center in the international arena and emphasize common commitment to a more equitable multipolar world order that is permanently reflected in the statements of Russian and Chinese leadership. The trade war between the US and China since 2018 is one of the evidence of the growing disintegration of the existing world order. Building a new order is based on the creation of regional coalitions of the countries that share common views on specific issues. Within the framework of BRICS, Russia and China have already taken measures towards own financial institutions as an alternative source of funding. The leaderships of both countries believe that emerging economies should have a greater voice and representation in international financial institutions. Their primary interest is the reform of the International Monetary Fund so that it...

This thesis focuses on analyzing the themes that arise from the Finnish energy discourse between the years of 2009-2018. Finland is completely dependent on Russian gas, but as a member state of the European Union (EU), it should consider reducing this dependence and moving towards a common energy policy as a key objective. The EU has struggled to project itself as a unified whole to the global community owing to the fragmented nature of its decision-making regarding the use and procurement of energy. This results in EU member states having bilateral energy relations with Russia. Energy policies differ depending on the member state, also the geographical location of a state plays a significant role. As energy consumption rapidly rises and climate change becomes increasingly evident, non-fossil sources of energy must be taken into use. The development of technology along with the use of renewable forms of energy will further facilitate the battle against climate change. In order for the EU to succeed in one of its major objectives becoming independent in energy matters, it requires to further increase the internal cooperation between member states and to develop an even further consistent energy strategy. With the combination of the chosen theories together with examining the collected research data...

New financial institutions of BRICS are a new phenomenon in the context of international global finances. Since the beginning of the debate about creation of the BRICS financial institutions, a wide debate has emerged around the phenomenon, both in the academic and political spheres. The key element of the debate was the question, what role can BRICS play in the system of global governance. This thesis analyzes the phenomenon of the New Financial Institutions BRICS through the theoretical concept of the contested multilateralism and emphasizes that the new practices and rules of the given institutions lead to the creation of a regime complex in the field of international finance. Subsequently, the work through the method of content analysis of selected media explores the motivation of one of the BRICS member states, specifically Russia, to create these institutions. During the process of institution-building, motivations and objectives of Russia were not clear. This work aims to identify this motivation, which should contribute to a deeper understanding of possibilities for future development of the New Development Bank and The BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) emerged more than one year ago but so far there has been no consensus on the nature and the main aspects of the cooperation. Whereas some observers underline pure economic incentives of the integration, others see the regional organization as a tool for increasing the power of the strongest members, and especially Russia. Strongly echoed in public discourse is a comparison to the former Soviet Union. To tackle the issue, the thesis asks: What are the main motives for participation in the project? Which main benefits are expected by the members to be gained? These questions are answered through a content analysis of verbal expressions of five presidents who hold the main decision-making powers in EEU's member states. Based on theoretically generated analytical categories, the thesis conducts a quantitative analysis of the discourse, which is then discussed in the context of the post-Soviet space. The findings reveal the motives which the presidents use to legitimize the membership and show the main cleavages that threaten to undermine the development of the organization.

Why have Russia been accessing the World Trade Organization for 19 years? What were the main preconditions for hard negotiation, that took almost two full decades? The diploma thesis is written as a case study, analysing Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization from the economical point of view and political aspects of the negotiations. The data about new members after 1995 of the organization are used to verify the hypothesis. ! First part of the thesis is the analysis of the rules of the World Trade Organization for new members acceptance. The rules and processes strongly influence the final outcome of the negotiation. The economic indicators which are not set, the right of each member to veto and the operations of the working group on both bilateral and multilateral level are crucial. ! The second part is focused on the Russian accession to the organization itself. First is (being) researched the impact of applicant's economical influence based on the GDP. According to data about 30 applicants, which entered the World Trade Organization, there is no straight relation to the lenght of the process. Then the nine Schelling's categories of the negotiations were analysed. The most important is the continuos negotiation, defined as a parallel negotiation or a conflict between an applicant...