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Armenia's accession to the Customs Union : gains of losses?
Ghazaryan, Sevan ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee) ; Manchin, Miriam (referee)
Armenia is going to join the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia (the Eurasian Customs Union) in the coming months. The author uses partial-equilibrium model to investigate and calculate trade diversion, trade creation and net welfare effects of accession on the Armenian economy. The thesis concludes that the membership in the customs union would lead to welfare losses and negative static effects. The main reason is the pure trade diversion effect on Armenia resulting from the increased external tariff rate. Adopting the common external tariff of the Eurasian Customs Union would raise the prices of those imported goods which flow from outside the customs union. As the majority of Armenian imports come from outside the Eurasian Customs Union, the increase in import prices would carry high social costs for the Armenian consumers. In addition, the absence of shared border with the customs union member-states substantially diminishes the potential benefits from possible non-tariff barrier facilitation. Therefore, the thesis strongly recommends against the accession.
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Selective adjustment to EU regulatory provisions in new member states : the case of electricity market liberalization in Bulgaria and Czech Republic
Neofitov, Alexander ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee)
The present work aspires to provide a comprehensive analysis of the policy developments through which European-level prescriptions regarding the liberalization of national electricity markets have been accommodated within the domestic policy contexts of two new member states of the European Union: Bulgaria and Czech Republic. Despite being subjected to uniform demands, adaptation to community regulatory provisions in the two countries has prompted divergent patterns of policy change, resulting in full compliance in the Czech Republic and a failure to meet EU objectives in Bulgaria. In order to address the observed inconsistency the envisaged research identifies a causal link between the outcomes of regulatory compliance and the influence of utility regulation as a sector-specific EU governance pattern on the dynamics of resource re-distribution at the domestic level. A major concern of the research is how contextual factors, such as incumbent power balances across actor populations in the target policy area condition the impacts of EU inputs on domestic policy decisions. In this respect the work hypothesizes that due to transition "sediments" in the new EU member states external rules may be selectively applied in order to match the existing realities and lead to outcomes that diverge from the...
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Cleavage politics and Europeanisation-induced transformation of the national political space - the case of the Czech Republic
Stahl, Cosimo ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee) ; Hanley, Seán (referee)
Bibliographic note STAHL, C. (2014): Cleavage Politics and Europeanisation-induced transformation of the national political space - The Case of the Czech Republic, 94 p. Master thesis, Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies. Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Jiří Vykoukal, CSc. Abstract This research seeks to map the national political space and assess the prevailing cleavage patterns in the Czech Republic. Processes of globalisation and Europeanisation have left their imprint in Western Europe - splitting the electorate into winners and losers of globalisation and denationalisation. This demarcation vs. integration magnet is also relevant in the CEE region - altering and reshuffling the underlying structure of party competition and EU contestation. By employing quantitative content analysis of print media the prevailing issue and cleavage dimensions will be reconstructed both during early stages of democratic transition (1996 Parliamentary elections) and after the 2004-EU-enlargement (2010 elections). While the political discourse and politics in the 1990s are primarily structured by issues of economic transition and post-communist transformation (underlying the classical socio-economic cleavage between market and state), in 2010 also cultural and post-materialist political...
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Defence cooperation in the small states of Central Europe : a discourse analysis of reality through the neorealist paradigm
Szentpetery, Dalma ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee)
In the following dissertation I seek to highlight some of the key aspects to defence cooperation in the region of Central Europe. The neorealist paradigm will be the guiding foundation through which I will explore the present circumstances and the potential for further alignment on cooperation. I aim to explore whether aspects of reality correspond to the expectations of neorealist paradigm in the small states of Central Europe. I have chosen to focus my dissertation on small state security because of its unique nature. Cooperation is a way for small states to be heard, and a way for them to shape policy. By working together, small states could increase the relative power they have within the system. They would also be able to avoid some of the expensive and potentially ineffective overlapping of military resources which exist in the European context. Budget cuts in the last few years have reduced the resources allocation of most military operations and therefore countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, already operating under limited resources, are faced with even more restrictions. Despite factors which encourage the creation of joint-military structures, the small states of Central Europe continue to maintain their own military presence. The sovereignty of the state is tied in...
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Beyond Charlemagne's legacy: Normative Empire and the Independence of the Judiciary in Conditionality
Vienne, Cassiopee ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee)
Accession negotiations to the EU since 2004 brought significant changes to European enlargement customary law and exacerbated the reliance of the Commission on conditionality to impose its leverage on present and prospective member states. The subsequent development of European norms in the pre-accession phase was transposed onto current member states and led to the edification of a Normative Empire. This research reformulated the concept of Normative Empire while resting on factual and contemporary evidence. It investigated why the increasingly significant role in conditionality of the principle of independence of the judiciary contributed to the metamorphosis of the EU into a Normative Empire. The argumentation of this research rested on the study of Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. In addition to their geographical kinship, these three cases share issues of rampant corruption, notably in the political and judicial structures, which remain the main obstacles to their accession or full membership. The analysis of the Commission's influence in judicial reforms during the pre and post-accession phases was supported by a thorough study of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and the progress reports from 2004 till present. In conclusion, the Commission's post-accession monitoring in Bulgaria and...
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Ukraine's foreign policy orientation according to the presidential addresses and public preferences
Cibulková, Petra ; Zilynskyj, Bohdan (advisor) ; NÁHRADNÍ, OPONENT (referee)
Diploma thesis "Ukraine's foreign policy orientation according to the presidential addresses and public preferences" deals with the stability of Ukraine's foreign policy priorities in the period from independence until the year 2007. Through an analysis of presidential addresses the thesis concerns with Ukraine's definition towards its main foreign political partners - the EU, NATO, Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The thesis follows changes of Ukraine's definition in context of domestic and international political development. Foreign political preferences of Ukrainian citizens in the period from the year 2000, or 2002 respectively, to 2007 are a matter of concern because of their significance for an assessment of relevance of foreign policy priorities set by the president.
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The relationship between financial access and growth of SMEs in emerging markets
Zhao, Lulu ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Korosteleva, Julia (referee) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee)
By using the cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, this dissertation selects a sample of over 3000 firms from 16 Central and Eastern European countries during the 2008 financial crisis, to assess (1) How effective priori classifications are to identify financially constrained and unconstrained firms in times of economic recession (2) What the main robust determinants are at the firm and country-level that affect SMEs' degree of financing obstacles (3) What experiences and lessons we can learn from 2008 crisis to combat with 2020 and future emerging recession. Our evidence indicates that during the economic crisis happened in 2008, size, industry, ownership and EU dummy are useful priori classifications while distinguishing firms' different degree to financing troubles, although some of other priori classifications appeared on other literature are ineffective. Smaller firms, foreign-owned and firms in manufacturing are more likely to report the financing trouble and have less access to formal sources of finance. However, government-owned firms and firms with adequate educated workers are less likely to be financially constraint. The result confirms that economic freedom, financial market and trade integration all have a significant relationship with SMEs' access to finance. For...
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Enemies, Rivals or Friends - Chinese Economic Diplomacy in Visegrád countries since 2012
Zhao, Di ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee)
This dissertation aims to interpret Chinese economic diplomacy in Visegrád countries since 2012. An accurate cognition of China's political-economic stance towards Visegrád countries is vital for bilateral relations. Since 2012, China has promoted a series of economic policies, namely 16+1 and OBOR, to build a closer relationship with Visegrád countries. However, the Visegrád countries are not equivalent to China in the world economy. By combining Constructivist analysis, this article will explain China's motivation, and Visegrád countries' significance. Then, by examining data, this article attempts to demonstrate bilateral outcomes in politics, economics, and cultures. Two major research methods refer to (1) qualitative analysis of data and (2) theoretical approach. Data have been collected from books, journals, credible internet sources and authoritative media. Theory refers to Alexander Wendt's Constructivism. Through these analyses, a comprehensive examination of the causes behind Chinese economic diplomacy in Visegrád countries is achieved. Outcomes of cooperation are both positive and negative. The future relations between China and Visegrád countries depend on mutual interactions. Keywords China, Economic Diplomacy, Visegrád countries, Constructivism, International Relations Range of...
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