Search

The roles played by Council presidencies are a pertinent area to study, yet it has been insufficiently explored. The Czech Republic has recently experienced its second presidency in the Council which ended in December 2022. It has followed the French presidency, the first state of the same trio. This gives us a unique occasion to study the prioritization of chairman's roles by comparing the behaviour of these two members of one trio presidency presidencies at all levels of the Council for Environment. The legislative files in environmental area were intensively negotiated during the French and Czech presidencies, especially the "Fit for 55" package. Based on the theories on specific activities connected to each role of presidency (political leader, mediator, manager and representant), we analyse these roles and the way by which the consecutive French and Czech presidencies have played them in environmental field. We compare the role prioritization of these chairmen based on the weight attached to individual roles (except for the representant role) by the presidencies. A complementary part of the thesis investigates diverse factors derived from the rationalist approach (the power of the country, the approach to environmental policy, French presidential elections) and sociological approach...

in English The waves of migration from Syria in 2015 and from Ukraine in 2022 significantly affected the number of people who applied for asylum or temporary protection in the EU. In this work, these migration waves are compared through a pre-selected framework of the so- called "neoclassical theory" which operates on the basis of rational decision-making about migration as an "economic" calculation of risks, advantages and disadvantages (so-called "push" and "pull" factors and "intervening obstacles"). Through comparison, the work tries to answer the questions of the similarity of the two migration waves and, through their analysis, at the same time, the question of whether these waves influenced the Migration and Asylum Policy of the EU as such. Despite certain similarities in the political aspects of the comparison, the similarity of the two waves was not confirmed, however, a shift in the creation of the EU migration policy framework after the migration wave in 2015 was also confirmed.

This diploma thesis examines the theoretical concept of Europeanization in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The ambition of this thesis is to compare the relative levels of Europeanisation in the field of justice and home affairs in Moldova and Ukraine and then place it in the context of the Russian aggression. The aim of this thesis is to determine whether both countries were sufficiently Europeanised prior to receiving candidate status, or whether this EU move was solely a reaction to Russian aggression. Europeanisation theory was chosen because it examines a process that is crucial for EU accession. In this case, it was defined as the degree of approximation of national legislations to the EU acquis in the field of justice and home affairs. The integration process is a natural response of states to external threats, but also an opportunity for economic integration and shared prosperity. This thesis therefore examines the motivations, but also the obstacles, that shape the bilateral relations between the EU and the countries aspiring to EU membership. Last but not least, it places the results of the analytical part of the thesis in a broader context and subjects them to a critical discussion in order to determine whether the granting of candidate status to...

This diploma thesis deals with the topic, whether European union is a world power or not at all. The aim of this diploma thesis was to find out if European union is a world power in hard power or soft power, alternatively what is stopping EU from becoming world power in those phenomenas. Futhermore thesis is working with the hypothesis, that EU is world power and in its foreign policy uses primarily soft power tools. Within qualitative research was used method of comparative analysis. EU was compared with United states, China and Russia. In the summary are results of observation from which emerged, that EU is world power mainly in soft power. Even through the fact, that according to realism as a theory of international relantions it possess all capabilities needed to be a world power in hard power. The main obstacle to become a world power in the field of hard power is mainly the lack of political will or decades long underfundation of member states armies.

This bachelor's thesis is dedicated to the topic of agenda-setting of the European Commission. The studied agenda is the women's participation in the labour market. The primary purpose of this bachelor's thesis is to make clear what are the tools of the European Commission used for agenda-setting and what is the current situation regarding women's participation in the labour market. Both topics are connected in the research part of this thesis which examines how the European Commission set the agenda in the field of women's participation in the labour market and how was this topic framed. This thesis uses theoretical assumptions implied from the new institutionalism and there are two hypotheses introduced in this thesis. The first one stems from the racional institutionalism, the second one originates in sociologist institutionalism. This bachelor's thesis contributes to debates on the status and agenda-setting capabilities of the European Commission. The thesis also describes the issues connected to women's labour market participation in the EU and how these issues are addressed by the European Commission. The outcomes of this thesis revealed that the European Commission used both normative and economic frames for setting the agenda of women's participation in the labour market.

Although most countries of the Western Balkans are in various stages of the EU accession, their progress is slow compared to that of the Central and Eastern European countries that have joined so far. Many indicators and authors point to the deteriorating state of democratic institutions in Montenegro and Serbia - the frontrunner candidate countries in the Western Balkans. This raises questions about the functionality of applying conditionality on these countries. The European Commission regularly evaluates the accession countries' advancement in Progress Reports. The aim of this work was to assess how the Commission evaluates the progress of Montenegro and Serbia in Chapters 23 and 24, which are closely linked to the issue of democratic institutions and the whole principle of conditionality. Using quantitative content analysis, individual pieces of information on the interannual progress of these countries in 2012- 2020 were coded and converted into corresponding positive (indicating improvement) and negative (indicating regression) values. Their averaging then resulted in a group of indexes for individual aspects described in the relevant Chapters as well as indexes for the Chapters as a whole. At the same time, a special Democratic Institutions Reform Index (DIRI) was calculated. The relevant...

This thesis is focused on the analysis of the Russian strategic narratives through the prism of two Russian energy projects - Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream. News from two Russian mass media (Channel One and RIA Novosti) is the object of analysis. With the help of this work, it can be answered what strategic narratives Russia was using from 2015 to 2021 and how Russia perceive itself internally. Moreover, this work can demonstrate how Russia sees its relationship with the EU as the end customer of Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream.

This diploma thesis deals with the trade policy of Spain in relation to other countries during the reign of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. It analyzes the changes in the position of strategic partners for Spain between 1936-1975, i.e., during the Franco era. The main variable in this process should be the change of the international political scene from the turbulent 1930s, through the Second World War, to the post-war period, i.e., the Cold War and the division of the world into "East" and "West" and the period of decolonization. Although General Franco's government could be described as totalitarian or clerical-fascist and suppressing any liberal- democratic tendencies on the domestic scene, especially in international politics, Franco was able to move very deftly and get the most out of most political negotiations with foreign partners for Spain. Therefore, even the Spaniards themselves are very contradictory in their assessment of the period of his reign. In analyzing Spain's developments on the international stage, many of the variables that have influenced Spain's direction, both directly and indirectly, must be taken into account. Among these variables we can include, for example, various contracts, agreements, but also sanctions or embargoes.

This thesis deals with the deepening of relations between the Czech Republic and its priority countries (for the period 2006-2010) within the framework of Czech bilateral development cooperation. The main research question of the thesis is the influence of development cooperation on the expansion of cooperation between the Czech Republic and its priority countries. In the theoretical part of the thesis, the main assumptions concerning the deepening of cooperation are presented. The main theoretical framework is the spillover theory. The main hypotheses of this theory are presented and applied to the selected case. The observed areas in which cooperation is expected to increase are the political sphere, the economic sphere, culture sphere and the military sphere. For every sphere was chosen measurable indicator. Paired countries with comparable conditions were selected as priority countries. The conditions on the basis of which the countries are paired are comparable history, GDP per capita, population size and trade with the Czech Republic before the period under review. The method used to answer the research question is regression analysis. In this case, the dependent variable is the growth of the selected indicators for the selected regions. The independent variable is development cooperation,...

This diploma thesis deals with the development of human capital in China, India, and South Africa. It focuses on the historical development and the main milestones in the development of education systems in individual countries and subsequently their current state. The aim is to compare individual countries in terms of human capital development and to figure out why South Africa is ranked worse than the other two countries in the World Bank's Human Capital Index, even though it is one of the upper middle-income countries along with China and India is a country with a lower middle income and yet it is ranked higher in this ranking. The work examines the history of the development of education systems in individual countries and describes their significant milestones that have influenced education to such an extent that the country is still struggling with the consequences. Firstly, this thesis describes the current state of education systems and gathers important characteristics and major problems. These problems stem mainly from historical developments, which have caused China to reform its education in order to get rid of the consequences of Soviet influence. India has been particularly influenced by British influence, which has changed its traditional education and is currently struggling with...

The topic of this master thesis are the EU FDI policies and their development specifically in the period 1999 - 2019. The aim of this master thesis is to answer the research question: "Why the European FDI policies have changed during 1999-2019?" In April 2019, a new regulation regarding a framework for screening of foreign direct investment in the European Union has passed. The process of screening should be applied in case a foreign direct investment would pose a threat to security or public order. The EU has been traditionally a promoter of the liberal trade and free movement of capital. Yet, the proposal presents a new tool in the FDI policy that can be seen as restrictive. In this thesis author analyzes what processes led to the introduction of this new framework. Following the theoretical framework regarding security concepts and evolution of new threats, the author elaborates on the first hypothesis that "It is possible to identify strengthening of the concept of security and more restrictive approach in the FDI policies of EU member states during 1999-2019" by analyzing the evolution of EU FDI policy and policies of Germany and France as ones of the biggest recipients of FDI in the EU. Furthermore, the author uses the theoretical framework of realism and international political economy to...

In recent years, while China has become one of the global power in the world, it has also been accused of its activities, and some of them have been referred to bear neocolonial intention in Africa. While China has also increased its engagement in the South American and Asian countries in the last two decades, its engagement in Africa has led to more concerns in the world due to the claims on China's neocolonial activities and exploitation of African resources. On the other hand, African countries have also started to form a much deeper relationship with China, especially after 2000. One of the main reasons for the development of this relationship has been China's non-interference principle within its 'Soft Power' policy and its emphasis on 'South-South' solidarity against the EU's 'North-South' relationship in Africa. Consequently, China has increased its development policy with no-strings-attached aids and loans to Africa. However, this increasing engagement raised a serious question as to whether China's activities purely target African countries' improvement or those are self- interested activities. As a result, in light of these arguments, this thesis attempts to analyze China's development policy and shed light on the claims of neocolonialism with the comparison of the EU's development policy...

This thesis seeks to analyze the process of adoption and implementation of anti-corruption and judicial reforms in Ukraine that were demanded by the European Union between 2014 and 2019 from the perspectives of rational institutionalism and constructivist institutionalism, on the basis of the Schimmelfennig and Sedelmeier's direct, top-down model of Europeanization. The thesis is conducted as a congruence analysis by creating ex-ante predictions to each of the factors connected to either perspective. Specifically, the anti-corruption institutional framework, the asset declarations system, the political party financing reform, and the High Anti-Corruption Court are analyzed to demonstrate the limited progress. Subsequent empirical analysis of the aforementioned factors suggests that the rationalist approach offers a better explanation for the stalling reforms - the exceedingly high domestic costs, followed by the lacking credibility. The constructivist approach shows a lesser ability to explain the limited progress of reform adoption and implementation.

The goal of this research is to shed light on the impact of European foreign direct investment and growing Chinese foreign direct investment in Sub-Saharan Africa through lenses of neocolonialism and orientalism. A case study analysis is utilized to grasp the topic appropriately. Two case studies were set - Senegal and Zambia case study. While Senegal serves predominantly as a case study for the impact of EU foreign direct investments, The case study of Zambia helps to understand how Chinese FDI inflow affects Sub-Saharan countries. Therefore, six hypotheses were outlined. This work researches the impact of FDI on the level of democracy represented by the democratic index of The Economist Intelligence Unit, business freedom embodied in The Heritage Foundation's economic freedom index, and stability of state symbolised by the fragile state index studied by The Fund for Peace. All three indexes above are available for free online. The correlation between EU FDI and level of democracy was confirmed while Chinese FDI negatively affects democratic development in studied countries. Next, European FDI positively affects the level of economic freedom in Senegal as well as Zambia. Nevertheless, increased Chinese FDI inflow to the countries deteriorated their economic freedom. Lastly, there is no clear...

The aim of this thesis was to examine the extent to which the European Union can be considered a normative power in relation to the Russian Federation. The European Union has evolved into one of the most important global actors in the international arena and this development has, consequently, sparked series of debates trying to define the role of its actorness in relation to third parties. On one hand, scholars have emphasized the normative and value-driven features of the European Union as a whole, especially in the area of foreign policy cooperation where there exists enhanced emphasis on the importance of values and norms in comparison to other traditional actors in international relations. On the other hand, structural realists provided alternative interest-driven vision under which the member states are expected to follow common approach of the European Union only in cases that do not conflict with their national interests that are claimed to always prevail. These two alternative perspectives to the research have provided thesis with criteria of expected behaviour that the thesis examined on the specific case of the visa policy of the European Union towards Russia. The accuracy of the two theoretical frameworks was analysed by following three criteria - development of the policy over time,...

This master's thesis aims to provide an outlook on the diffusion of circular economy (CE) awareness across the world and reveal the factors influencing its intensity. The awareness is assessed for a group of 122 countries by using their media data acquired from the Factiva database for the period 2000 - 2019. From the theoretical point of view, the work is framed by the Diffusion of innovation and Transnational diffusion of norms, ideas and policies' theories. According to the results of descriptive analysis, a cumulative distribution of aware countries has followed the S-shaped curve over time traditionally associated with the diffusion processes. Among the leaders in the CE awareness are China, Italy, Japan, and Spain for example. During the later years, however, one of the highest values were also measured for Rwanda or Eswatini. On the other hand, Russia was identified as the biggest laggard from the group. Regarding the individual factors whose effect was assessed via the OLS method, it is argued that the CE awareness is higher in the countries which are more embedded in the networks of intergovernmental organizations. Contrary to the expectations the systematic influence of the other economic, political or environmental factors was not proved. This idiosyncrasy could be caused by the novelty...

Trade relations between Japan and the European Union have undergone dynamic development since the end of World War II, which has not provided the desired results for many decades. Most of the negotiations that took place during the 60 years after the war failed on the demands and conditions of both parties, from which they did not want to withdraw. It was in the case of Japan that there was always a problem in the protection policy of the domestic market, the reduced competitiveness of foreign companies and the protection of domestic products through high tariffs, which always prevented the realization of mutual trade. In 2012, after the new LDP government took office, Japan's position changed, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began negotiations with the European Union on new trade cooperation. These negotiations were part of Abe's plan to rebuild the Japanese economy, which was in recession after a poor economic strategy in the 1980s and global financial crises followed by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. In response, Abe introduced the so-called three arrows - a set of domestic and foreign economic measures to kick-start the Japanese economy. Negotiations with the EU then took place together with other countries, however, these trade meetings were among the most important in terms of world...

Integration in the European Union (EU) in terms of the legal as well as economic spheres has grown in depth, scope and speed since its establishment. The EU has significantly affected various fields of policies within its member states, including the environment. This is understood as the 'Europeanisation process'. The Netherlands, considered one of the pioneering countries to establish environmental measures, has approximately 80% of its legislation in the environmental field derived from European legislation. The thesis seeks to answer how Dutch environmental policy has been affected by the EU over the past twenty years. The implementation process of three environmental directives is analysed concerning water, biodiversity and air, to understand this process. The concept of Europeanisation and the related theory of goodness of fit is applied to argue that the implementation process of European environmental directives in the Netherlands is effective if there are no major adjustments necessary in the national setting, i.e. there is no policy or institutional misfit between domestic and European legislation, and no veto players impede the process. On the other hand, the implementation process is significantly more complicated if the directive needs extensive transformations. It is concluded that...

The main aim of this thesis is to provide an overview of Chinese domestic political discourse through an analysis of the Chinese domestic media narrative surrounding the recent trade war with the United States. Using a mixed method of quantitative analysis of keywords and qualitative analysis of headline emotivity from media articles published by three big Chinese domestic news outlets, we were able to explore the language and emotions of their narrative. The results of keyword analysis identified the prevalence of politically motivated discourse, which was dominant throughout majority of this conflict. Themes such as strong self- identification, Chinese victim self-portrayal and American aggression were very strongly mentioned in the discourse of this population. Meanwhile, the interest of Chinese media in global economy and multilateral trading system was very little, with only few mentions in comparison to the political aspects of the discourse. Additionally, publishing volumes over the course of the conflict showed that despite the Chinese media reporting escalatory developments of the trade conflict more, the qualitative headline emotivity analysis discovered a general preference for the usage of rather neutral language and appeasing rhetoric.

This thesis compares Norway, Botswana and Venezuela and their sovereign wealth funds. The first two countries are referred to as exceptions to the theory of the resource curse, which explains the phenomenon that shows that countries with a high dependence on income from the export of natural resources have a slower rate of economic, political and institutional development. On the contrary, Venezuela (although it was considered an exception in the past) is severely affected by this phenomenon and thus serves as a negative example in this thesis. The thesis focuses on state sovereign wealth funds and examines whether and under what conditions these funds have an effect on reversing the resource curse. Based on the theoretical part, five key characteristics are identified that the fund must meet in order to function against the negative manifestations of the curse of natural resources - (1) offsetting the effects of volatility, (2) diversifying the economy, (3) budgetary policy, (4) controlling the allocation of expenditure, (5) transparency of funds. Based on these characteristics, it is possible to observe that the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund works best from selected funds as a defense against the resource curse, followed by the Botswana fund and third by the Venezuelan fund. Norway and Botswana...

This study looks at the evolution of the management of the biofuel energy in the transport sector in the European Union. This sector represents a big challenge for environmentally friendly and sustainable production and consumption of energy. In the past ten years biofuels have emerged as a burgeoning solution but have also received criticism from some quarters. The study analysis the European Commission's functions in the management of the biofuel market in Czech Republic through a single case study. The research is based on the Principal-Agent theory elaborated by the broader theory of rational-choice institutionalism. It argues that Czech Republic biofuel market may be driven by the European Commission if functions that enhance credible commitment, higher efficiency and information were delegated to it by the member states. Through the congruence method the study compares the expectations of the Principal- Agent theory with the real case situation. Under the European legislation, between the Directive 2009/28/EC and the Directive (EU) 2018/2001, the study finds that the European Commission has some significant function in the management of the sustainability of biofuels in the Czech Republic but has very limited power to directly influence the evolution of Czech biofuel production. The European...

This thesis deals with the question of how the changes in the European Neighbourhood Policy and especially the newly proposed NDICI affect its relations and those of the Member states to Israel. It emphasises the effects of the NDICI's changes in policy settings towards the Palestinian Authority and how those indirectly affect Israel. It concludes that the four main changes, flexibility, development aid, blending and a performance-based approach may have unintended impact on the relations with Israel, especially in regard to security and the political atmosphere. They can damage Israeli relations with some of the Member states or escalate violence in Gaza. The conclusions are reached through ENP related document analysis. It is a single case study.

In my thesis, I will answer question of what is sharp power, how China use sharp power and then on 4 cases illustrate that China has different strategies of influence operations. In Japan, respectively Okinawa, China is focusing on their common history and trying to lure Okinawans away from Japan. In South Korea, China exploit Korean economic dependence during the THAAD dispute to their advantage. In Taiwan, thanks to common cultural ties China wants to change everybody mind about Taiwanese "status-quo". In New Zealand, China utilize overseas Chinese community to spread Chinese propaganda. In the end, I will compare each country situation and find out where China's sharp power was effective and where it wasn't.

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...

Michaela Löfflerová Comparison of China-Angola and China-Nigeria relations in regards to energy security and Chinese investments Abstract The master thesis "Comparison of China-Angola and China-Nigeria relations in regards to energy security and Chinese investment" focuses on the analysis of Chinese activities towards Angola and Nigeria as representatives of Subsaharan oil-rich countries. The thesis aims to test two hypotheses about China's approach to Angola and Nigeria in the period 2000-2007 and 2008-2018. The first hypothesis, based on the concept of energy security, tests whether China's approach to oil-rich countries has changed over the period under review as a result of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent global trends. The second hypothesis, based on the concept of neocolonialism, tests whether Chinese activities have expanded into other sectors through oil extraction, which in turn has led to a significant dependence of states on China. The diploma thesis aims to focus on economical, security, and political aspects using quantitative and qualitative analyzes. Monitoring China's activities in these countries serve as a case study of the impact of Chinese foreign policy on resource-rich countries in the second and third world. In the last chapters, the thesis will focus on the analysis of the...

This master thesis is focused on decreasing levels of vaccination as a new health risk. In recent years it has become a new trend that we can observe in European countries. Low vaccination levels amongst population are one of the reasons for new epidemics or pandemics happening. When immunization rises above 95 % then a collective immunization comes into effect. Collective immunization lowers the chances of diseases spreading. For this reason, World health organization supports immunization and tries to make immunization affordable reachable for everyone everywhere. This these analyses measles which can be stopped by vaccinating the population. Therefore, the World health organization prepares strategic plans aimed at eradication of this disease. Each member state has a task to apply these plans in their specific environment. This thesis focuses on the Czech Republic and its implementation of strategic plans happening 2005-2010 and 2011-2020. This thesis is structured into 5 chapters focused on theory of international relations, hesitancy to vaccinate, strategic plans of World health organization and the Czech Republic.

This Bachelor thesis is focused on the comparation of current political regimes in Venezuela and Cuba and on their mutual relations. In the comparation there is a specific attention paid to several chosen aspects that are key for the character of the regimes. These aspects are the causes and circumstances of the regimes' establishments, the personalities of their main leaders, the formation of the regimes during the first years in office, main political events and the official ideologies, foreign policies and their international positions and last but not least the economic situation of both countries. The contents of the thesis is divided into four main sections. The first section contains a thorough analysis of the regime in Venezuela that has existed from the year 1999 and also includes a short analysis of the events that lead to its establishment. The second section analyses the situation in Cuba since Fidel Castro came to power and it also pays a short attention to the circumstances that preceded that. The third extensive part analyses relations between Venezuela and Cuba since the year 1999 and it also summarizes the relations between these states from the beginning of Fidel Castro's government in 1958 to the year 1999. The fourth section compares both regimes with specific attention to the spheres...

This master thesis research deals with the process of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (further referred to as "SDGs") in Czech Republic. The aim of the research is to map a process of the implementation of SDGs in the country, to analyse to what extent Czech Republic behaves independently of international organizations (further referred to as "IOs") in the question of implementing the SDGs. The analysis is built upon two theories - neoliberal institutionalism and constructivism. Based on these theories two hypotheses are suggested. The first hypothesis, based on the neoliberal institutionalist theory, is as following: The way of implementation of SDGs is determined mainly by the state government and its preferences. The IOs and their bureaucracies are in the implementation involved in a rather passive and indirect way (in particular by monitoring and information gathering). The way of implementation is, therefore, dependent mainly on the state. The second hypothesis, based on the constructivist perspective is that the IOs and their bureaucracies tend to infer in the process of implementation of SDGs on the domestic level, primarily by setting the priorities, and actively communicating about the implementation of the SDG related policies with the affected states. The way of...

This diploma thesis deals with the rise of China in the context of its behavior in the South China Sea over the past decade. The significant economic growth of the People's Republic of China over the last few decades is expected to affect not only the regional balance of powers, but also its position within the international system. There is a wide-ranging debate in academia about how China will grow and how it will affect the international community. As a reaction, in order to explain its growth, China has introduced the concept of "peaceful development", according to which its growth should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat to the international community. An offensive realism approach was chosen for this work and the ideas of its main advocate John Mearsheimer will be applied to the specific behavior of China in the region. The role of the United States, which influences China's behavior, will also be discussed. The diploma thesis will further deal with the increased Chinese assertiveness in the area of South China Sea and the means it uses in it to enforce its claims. The basic aim of this work is to underscore the contrast between the declared official policy of China and its actual behavior.

The diploma thesis Brexit and its implications for European integration uses the method of explanatory case study in an effort to analyze the causes and impacts of the Great Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. The thesis therefore examines the historical context of the complicated relations between Great Britain and the European Communities from their formation in the 1950s to the present, which ultimately led to the historic step of United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020. The thesis then maps the negotiations regarding the Withdrawal Agreement and the future arrangement of mutual relations, which took place between 2016 - 2020. The effects of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on the composition and functioning of the European institutions and the impact of the changes on the remaining member states are also analyzed. In addition, the work presents possible arrangements of economic relations between the two parties, which are currently the subject of negotiations between the UK and the EU during the transitional period from 1 February 2020 to 31 December 2020. Lastly, the thesis works with the White Paper presented by the European Commission in 2017 in order to analyze five possible scenarios for the future development of European integration. For this, the thesis...

The South China Sea has been already for several centuries the root of a dispute among states neighbouring along its borders, namely the People's Republic of China (China), Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia. Since the Sea is very geopolitically and geostrategically important, China attempts to claim itself to be a sovereign. However, its activities face the demands of other states, especially Vietnam and the Philippines, which are also interested in gaining control over the islands in the South China Sea. For that reason, the dispute still persists, and the continuous activities of all concerned countries have created an endless spiral of events in which it is difficult to distinguish between the action and the reaction of individual actors in the dispute. My diploma thesis therefore focuses on the analysis of actions of the three selected countries, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, from the perspective of structural realism that is split into two contradictory streams, defensive and offensive. Their different views on the world help me to clarify whether the behaviour of the chosen actors is defensive of offensive. For the analysis, the period from 2011 to 2018 was chosen. During that time, several major incidents have appeared between selected countries, especially...

This diploma thesis, entitled "The Geopolitical Importance of the South China Sea", deals with the issue of the South China Sea dispute in view of the economic and strategic importance of the region. The main goal is to analyze the claims of individual countries and to find out whether this dispute has the potential to grow into an armed conflict. The dispute arose from overlapping territorial claims that countries in the region began to make after the end of World War II. This is primarily the case of the various maritime features in the vicinity of which there are considerable reserves of natural resources. It is the interest in securing these resources that is the main issue of the dispute. To this day, this situation has not been resolved and on the contrary it has triggered a response from states outside the region, mainly the United States of America and Japan. In order to achieve the goal of this diploma thesis, the theoretical framework, which is geopolitics and critical geopolitics, is first introduced. Furthermore, the general meaning of seas and oceans with the current legislation is introduced. On this basis, country case studies are conducted with the aim of making a comparative analysis that should clarify the current form of the dispute and the potential of the dispute to grow into...

This thesis concentrates on the case of Russian economy and assessment of its dependence on oil. Russia is often cited as an example of country suffering from resource curse as its natural wealth forms significant share of country's exports and revenues. Thesis will first concentrate on factors determining current state of Russian economy. Presence of the symptoms of Dutch disease in the Russian economy will be studied using the Vector error correction model (VECM) applied on the real effective exchange rate of country (REER). Thesis will also contain an assessment of Russian institutional environment to check for other symptoms of resource curse theory. Analysis of latest federal budget will be used to evaluate the sustainability of Russian federal finances. The thesis is concluded by discussion of results and possible paths of future development of Russian economy.

Illegal immigration is one of the current problems that occupy the European agenda. With the beginning of the revolutionary movements called 'the Arab Spring' in the Middle East and North Africa, Europe has faced massive uncontrolled migration waves. In this period, the asylum applications in European countries have broken a record in the history of the EU. This situation has impelled the European Union and its member states to take certain measures. However, political disagreements were observed over some of the measures taken by the EU. In light of these developments, this thesis will focus on illegal immigration movements from the Middle East and North Africa region to Europe right after the beginning of the Arab Spring (in other words from at the end of 2010 to now). In this context, this master's thesis aims to give the immigration and asylum policies of the European Union aiming to prevent these illegal immigration waves and to evaluate the political positions of the Visegrad countries during this period.

The doctoral thesis focuses on the People's Republic of China's influence in international relations. It follows two main research objectives, a theoretical and an empirical one. The first goal is to more firmly establish the concept of influence and distinguish it from power, the second is to analyze China's influence in the Czech Republic before, during and after the 'restart' of Czech-China relations in 2012. The thesis rests on the idea of a conceptual 'filter' through which power (conceptualized as ability) passes on its way to becoming influence. As a result, the effects of policies implemented by an actor who aims to exert a power on another actor are co-dependent not only on its power, but also the perception of the actor which is being influenced. The thesis claims that in case of a significant distance (defined geographically or otherwise) between 'the sender' and 'the receiver', perception matters more as it has greater ability to amplify or decrease the effects of the sender's power - i.e. the influence. The latter objective aims at explaining the methods the People's Republic of China uses to impose its interests on others and the receivers' reactions to such efforts. The thesis uses a case study of the Czech Republic as a country where China's influence is just getting established and...

As the world's largest energy consumer and producer, China is the leading player of the international energy arena. Among other important achievements, China has become the world's largest wind power market as well as largest producer of hydroelectricity and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity. In recent years China has been at the centre of almost every work stream within the International Energy Agency (IEA), and many other international energy organizations. This thesis aims to understand what role China can and will play in global energy governance by examining how its domestic energy context shapes the country's attitudes toward the multilateral, market and climate change aspects of global energy governance. China's recent re-emergence has resulted in a significant increase in the global demand of commodities and is already having major impacts on the dynamics of global commodity markets. In the case of the global uranium market, we are at the very beginning of a new era in the global energy system. However, we can already observe interesting trends. My research question will be," How China's search for supplies changes and influences its role in the global energy governance? "

The thesis aims to unravel the relationship between the EU's enlargement strategies and democratization in the Western Balkan countries by looking on the impact of the strategies on changing democracy levels in two empirical cases: the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia. Over more than a decade, the effect of the conditionality tool on democratization has been curbed by an insufficient emphasis placed on pro-democratic reforms and by the role of security concerns which were often prioritized over aims directly linked to democracy promotion. Grounded in the conflicting objectives theory, the thesis demonstrates that the recently employed strategy appropriately sequencing goals while prioritizing democratic transition over security concerns is more effective in inflicting domestic democratic change. Subsequently, the following necessary and sufficient conditions for a successful sequencing strategy were defined: strong emphasis on democracy-related goals combined with clearly outlined temporal perspective, and corresponding action of international actors.

The topic of this thesis is the Irish issue in the light of the Brexit debates. British people decided to leave the European Union in referendum in June 2016. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty was activated 29th of March 2017. Two years long negotiating period started from that date. The withdrawal agreement proposal which was approved by all 27 members of the European Union was rejected three times by British parliament. Brexit was postponed until the end of October of 2019. Future relationship on the island of Ireland with Irish backstop became the main barrier of Brexit negotiations. Both sides of negotiations agree on no possibility of hard border between Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Both of them want to follow The Good Friday Agreement of 1998. On the other hand none of them is willing to step aside from their earlier requirements. Theresa May, British prime minister, decided to leave the EU Custom Union and the European Single Market resolutely. The EU rejected to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement proposal that includes the Irish backstop. The Irish backstop guarantee maintaining an open border on the island of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without securing an all-encompassing deal. Great Britain is afraid to lost control over its territory. Based on the...

Influence of non-state transnational actors on decision-making of sovereign states is one of the most important topics in the international relations discipline. Some academic approaches consider this influence as quite important. Others perceive it as only secondary. Economic actors are a specific case because they on one hand bring know-how, employment and economic growth. On the other hand, they decrease sovereignty of the host states. This thesis tries to uncover influence of the two strongest non-state transnational economic actors in the Czech Republic - German and Japanese Chambers of Commerce. The topic of lobbying of these actors in the case of lack of labor force in the Czech Republic was chosen because of its good empirics. The text also aims to test assumptions according to which bargaining power of such actors is influenced by geographical distance between the host state and home country of the transnational actor. This thesis also wants to address the general topic of influence of the transnational actors on states in the international relations, based on the findings of this case study.

The diploma thesis examines the effect of decommissioning of nuclear power plants on the energy security of two European countries - Germany and the Czech Republic. First, the author focuses on theoretical anchoring of energy security. The practical part then examines both countries from the perspective of their energy mixes and policies and infrastructure interconnection. This is the starting point for the comparison of the effects of the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. Second, the author presents three scenarios to replace nuclear energy, exploring how German and Czech energy security will change. The first scenario is the use of renewable energy only. The second option is a combination of renewable energy and coal. Finally, the third option is again a certain proportion of renewable energy along with natural gas. Last but not least, the author concludes in the presented paper that, despite the various possible combinations of how to replace nuclear energy, both countries would be worse off within the framework of energy security.

The thesis seeks to examine the underlying motivations behind the conclusion of the Stability and Association Agreement between European Union and Kosovo on the 27th of October 2015. To determine the role of material interests and shared ideas in the process of concluding the SAA the thesis discusses and applies rationalism and constructivism, both grand theories of international relations. To test the theories and their respective hypotheses identifying the role of the relevant concepts, the research employs a single case study method, using a congruence analysis approach. In conclusion, through the rationalist lens within the perspective of the EU, the thesis confirms the existence of material interest in the conclusion of the SAA, representing security, power and economic gains. To complement the analysis via a constructivist lens within the perspective of Kosovo, the thesis solely implies a limited role of identity and norms while it points out that such constructivist concepts rather impeded the reaching of the SAA, veiling the actual role of material interest.