|
|
Europeanisation of political system of a federal state: the case of Belgium
Pluhařová, Jana ; Drulák, Petr (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
The Master thesis "The Europeanization of a political system of a federal state: the case of Belgium" investigates the Europeanization effect on a federal polity in Belgium. It discusses the relations between the federal government and the federated entities in Belgium. It addresses two questions. Firstly, what is the impact of European integration on the relations between the federal government and the federated entities in Belgium and secondly, does European integration strengthen or rather weaken the role of federal government towards regions and communities. In particular, it argues that the combination of two parallel processes - on the one hand, the deepening of European integration and on the other hand, the domestic devolution of powers in Belgium - resulted in a situation where the position of the federal government is strengthened despite the constant pressure of federated units on decentralization. Using Germany and Austria as typical cases of federations to compare, the thesis assumes that Belgium is an exceptional case of federation. While in Austria and Germany the European integration consolidates the existing relations between federal government and federated entities, in Belgium it completely changes them. It also argues that European integration shapes the dual nature of Belgian...
|
|
|
Character and development of Gender Impact Assessment on the background of the framework of the gender mainstreaming concept
Hondlíková, Kristýna ; Hejzlarová, Eva (advisor) ; Vítek, Leoš (referee)
The thesis is aimed at - previously not researched - Gender Impact Assessment in the Czech Republic. It analysis, evaluates and interprets the character and development of the assessment process applied by three ministries in 2007-2014. A total of 236 outputs from the assessment were studied through the qualitative content analysis and the created analytical tool. The results were both explored with statistical methods and evaluated and interpreted simultaneously. The conceptual and theoretical part of the thesis explains the gender mainstreaming concept, the Czech legislative framework of Regulatory Impact Assessment and the theories of gender equality, public policy evaluation and Europeanization. The research is supported by the data obtained from interviews with expert which both describe and evaluate the assessment process and suggest recommendations for its improvement. It has been proved that primarily the assessment deals with some obstacles mainly caused by its authors who may put less emphasis on impact on equality between men and women, downplay it, do not respect the rules, do not have wide range of formulations, copy the formulations, assess more different impacts at the same time or do not have sufficient knowledge of the gender issue. Secondarily some systemic obstacles - the...
|
|
|
The policy of European Union Member States Towards Immigration from Third Countries after Year 2000: The Case of Germany, Sweden and Italy
Sladičeková, Eva ; Šánová, Lucie (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
The thesis deals with immigration policies of EU member states, specifically Germany, Sweden and Italy, after year 2000. Using the method of comparative case study its goal is to identify factors that affect immigration policy of a state based on comparison of immigration policies of three examined countries. Another objective is to find out, what determines the success of a particular immigration policy. In this context, the work tries to verify the following two hypotheses: (1) The Europeanization of immigration policy leads to national policies getting more similar to each other, yet still differences persist that are caused by the particularities of each country. The way a state approaches the issue of immigration is to a substantial degree influenced by non-material factors, especially its understanding of the definition of its own national identity and citizenship. and (2) Success of an immigration policy largely depends on whether its objectives take into account the limits of liberal democracy and liberal state in general. Nowadays the nation-state is not able to control all the movement on its territory and thus significantly affect such a global phenomenon as migration. Moreover, status of a liberal state implies certain commitments and expected behaviour, particularly in relation to...
|
|
|
The First and Second Referendum on the Treaty of Lisabon
Kašpar, Mirko ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
Master thesis "The First and Second Referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon in Ireland" is a comparative case study, which - using the concept of europeanization - analyses causes, which led to the opinion shift of Irish citizens on the Treaty of Lisbon between years 2008 and 2009. Whereas during the first poll in June 2008 Irish rejected the Treaty, 16 months later it was accepted by an expressive majority, when almost half a million people more voted for it. The thesis clarifies, which elements caused a totally different course and result, explores opinions of individual players such as political parties, government, trade unions, associations of interest or significant companies, observes course of the campaign before the referendum, summarizes and analyses outcomes and subsequent reactions both on national and Union level. From the discovered facts the thesis concludes, that behind the change of attitude of the Irish stood especially external effects. On one side pressure of the other member states of the Union and even the EU as a whole to finalize the process of institutional reform and also explicit refusal of repeating the scenario from 2005, when ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was terminated after disagreement of France and the Netherlands. On the other side acceptance...
|
|
|
Europeanization of the selected actors of the Czech social policy
Nigová, Eva ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
This thesis deals with the Europeanization of the selected Czech social policy actors, among them some trade unions and non-governmental organizations. It examines their changes in some particular areas: in an organizational structure, in financial resources, in activities, in interests, in the used argumentation towards representatives of state power and in attitudes to the cooperation with partners from the other EU countries. These changes are observed thanks to the country's accession to the EU and/or thanks to the actors' membership in the European interest groups. The thesis tries to prove that these changes have been caused, at first, by the misfit among the Czech actors and their counterparts from the other EU member states. In the latter case it assesses if it is possible to attribute changes to socialization into the European interest groups. It also focuses on the fact whether there have been suitable conditions for the social learning of the observed actors. The questionnaire and secondary literature have been used for the evaluation. It has been proved that the concept of misfit is not suitable for these cases and thus the observed changes cannot be ascribed to this concept. Another situation occurs when evaluating changes resulting from socialization. There has been shown that the...
|
|
|
Development of Czech social inclusion policies
Šálková, Eva ; Drhová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Navrátil, Martin (referee)
The thesis "Development of Czech social inclusion policies" looks at what factors influenced the development of social inclusion policy, focusing primarily on socially excluded Roma since 1989. In the period after 1989 Czech public and social policy was under influence of many factor including both external ones, resulting from the efforts of the Czech Republic to join the European Union, or later from the membership itself, as well as internal ones, arising from the need to ensure the functioning of the system in a rapidly changing socio-economic conditions. When mapping the development of the policy attention is paid particular to the impacts of the process of European integration and institutional changes that are reflected in the implementation of social inclusion policies. Furthermore, the text seeks to uncover the causes and effects of changes in development of examined policy. Those identifying factors that may be considered essential for the development of Czech social inclusion policies, went from thematic analysis of interviews with experts. Data obtained from respondents are then often supplemented by more detailed information from literature and public policy documents. Changes in the Czech social inclusion policies since 1989 are explained also using theories of Europeanization and the...
|
|
|
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...
|
|
|
Europeanization of Political Parties in Bulgaria
Bursová, Denisa ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (advisor) ; Pikal, Kamil (referee)
The thesis aims to analyze Europeanisation of party system in Bulgaria. In the introduction are presented the basic definitions and approaches to Europeanisation, which are used in the thesis as a theoretical basis. The basis for this analysis derives from the theory of Robert Ladrech, which examines the party programs, organizational structure, party system, relations between political party and government and reflects political parties beyond the party competition. The first part of thesis deals with the transition process and shows the development of party system since the fall of communism, including characteristics of various political parties that established themselves in democracy. The second part focuses on the relation between the European Union and Bulgaria. Main focus of this chapter is to present a short exposure of Bulgaria in the EU, an election to the European parliament and an analysis of political parties in the context of their attitudes towards European integration and European issues in their program. Framing previous information into the theoretical framework of Robert Ladrech is the last - analytical - part of the work. According to the last part it can be proved or disproved whether it has been Europeanisation of party system in Bulgaria established or not.
|
|
|
Analysis of the Current Relationship of Civil society organizations and European Programmes in Prague
Svěchotová, Petra ; Hyánek, Vladimír (advisor) ; Pospíšilová, Tereza (referee)
The aim of this diploma thesis is to map out the possibilities of Prague civil society organizations regarding the drawing of EU funds. In the search I focused on mapping of current European programs for the Prague civil society organizations (programs provided for the programming period 2007 - 2013). I will also present opportunities compared with those in the previous programming period 2004 - 2006. Part of the search are chapters dedicated to the financing of civil society and the transformation of their organizational structure. In the empirical part I focused my on selected civil society organizations that administrated project under the Operational Programme Prague - Adaptability. The aim of the research were through semi-structured interviews to determine how individual civil society organizations look at the whole process of administration of European projects, whether they were faced with some problems or have comments on how the whole process. When analyzing the interviews and documents I have also monitored whether the selected civil society organizations in connection with the drawing of EU funds somehow transformed their organizational structure is concerned. Key words The European Union, European funds, civil society organizations, the Operational Programme Prague - Adaptability,...
|
|
|
Europeization of ODS and KSČM in the context of the party system of ČR
Jirota, Tomáš ; Bureš, Jan (advisor) ; Polášek, Martin (referee)
The thesis aims to analyze and explain the origin, development and manifestations of the process of Europeanization of two players of the Czech party system - the ODS and the KSČM. The thesis starts with a theoretical part, which summarizes the current debate in political science and Europeanization in the context of political parties. The main aim was to trace the changes that were seen among those due to the involvement of political parties in the debate over the meaning of European integration for Czech politics and the practical integration into EU institutions. The basic hypothesis, which is verified, aims to examine the correlation and negativistic relation ODS and KSČM on issues of European integration after twenty years of exposure in the Czech party system. At the same time an analysis of election results mentioned parties to the European Parliament, as well as the method of election campaigns of parties in the same institution. The analytical part of the work analyzes the ODS and KSČM in the line of the general impact of European policies, program outcomes of affected parties, as well as electoral competition in elections to the EP and Czech national assembly. Key words: Europeanization, political parties, ODS, KSČM, European Union
|
guest ::
