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To what extent is Georgia free in shaping its geopolitical orientation: the case study of Russian hybrid war in Georgia
Kodua, Luka ; Brisku, Adrian (advisor) ; Horák, Slavomír (referee)
The paper examines the relationship between Russian influence in Georgia and the Georgian capability to freely orient itself geopolitically in the period from the Russo-Georgian war in 2008 to the present. The paper employs the concept of hybrid war in order to analyse Russian influence in Georgia. This concept is put into the Russian and Georgian context in the beginning of the introductory chapter. At the same time, Georgian European integration is taken into account as a central motive of Georgian politics and is often referred to when examining Russian influence. The first research chapter analyses in detail Russian military influence, economic influence, informational and political influence, and then the role of the media and Georgian Orthodox Church is highlighted. By these means, Russian influence is often aimed precisely at Georgian efforts to integrate into the Western structures. The second analytical chapter analyses the Georgian ruling party Georgian Dream, its recent stance towards Georgian European integration and its controversial relationship with Russia. The thesis concludes that Russian influence is significant in most of the above-mentioned areas, and therefore Russia has a great potential to influence Georgia's geopolitical orientation.
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The Relevance of Azerbaijan and Georgia in New Energy Geopolitics
Dvořáková, Tereza ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Plechanovová, Běla (referee)
The submitted thesis called "The Relevance of Azerbaijan and Georgia in New Energy Geopolitics" deals with the topic of perception of energy security from the perspective of the European Union with special emphasis put on two southern Caucasian countries - Azerbaijan and Georgia. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the topic by means of the constructivist approach. The theoretical framework is based on the redefined theory of securitization. The methodological basis is represented by the discursive analysis of the official documents issued by the European Union, embedded in the context of European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership initiative respectively whilst taking into consideration the external influence of the Russian Federation in the time period of approximately ten years, i.e. from 2003, when the European Neighbourhood was established, up to the present. The main objective of the submitted thesis is to assess the perception of energy security from the point of view of the European Union and to identify key contextual links and discursive themes that dominated the political discourse of the European Union in particular moments of the respective period.
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From Developmentalism to Mobilisation: The Case of Georgian Violent Transition
Střítecký, Vít ; Drulák, Petr (advisor) ; Plechanovová, Běla (referee) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
This thesis seeks to conceptualize a link between the phenomenona of developmentalist state and ethnopolitical mobilization while arguing that the study of post-developmental transition should be based on a complex framework involving crucial social, economic, and political processes. The argument begins with the overview of the approaches of the late/post-Soviet transition, which are critically assessed on the basis of their anchoring in the modernization paradigm. The thesis then turns to the formulation of the alternative theoretical explanation based on the sound theoretical observations from the field of historical sociology. The theoretical debate leads to the formulation of the model involving three causal mechanisms connecting the macro and micro levels. Empirically, the thesis argues that Georgian violent mobilization resulted from the processes that were determined by the functioning and decline of the Soviet developmentalist state. While accepting the dynamics of ethnopolitical mobilization it seeks to answer the question which socio-economic processes breed these mobilizations.
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Cinema as a Tool of Nation Branding Strategy: A Case Study of Georgia
Razinkova, Ekaterina ; Brisku, Adrian (advisor) ; Asavei, Maria Alina (referee)
In pursuit of a competitive advantage in a globalised world, the development of a credible and appealing country's image gathers momentum. In this regard, a pivotal role is assigned to nation branding, which is graduallybecoming a notable constituent of both foreignand domestic policies.In praxis,this concept incorporates different tools,one of the most potent being national cinema. Within the post-Soviet space, the implementation of nation branding strategies is relatively novel yet promising in terms of reputational enhancement. The submitted thesis examines the correlation between the concepts of nation branding and national cinema from the instrumentalist perspective appliedtothe case study of Georgia.Based on theoretical and methodological grounding, the study provides an analysis of selected pieces of contemporary Georgian national cinema in terms of their contributionto the development of the country's brand. It was found that in the context of nation branding Georgian national cinema revealed itself as an illustrative and accessible medium that covers and represents both Western-oriented and traditional aspects of the country's national brand. There was established a modest leaning towards the more frequent representation of the latter. However, to become a more solid instrument in terms of...
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Policy Design of the Unified National Examinations to Higher Education Institutions in Georgia
Gabunia, Mariam ; Kohoutek, Jan (advisor) ; Veselý, Arnošt (referee)
The Unified National Examination (UNE) is a policy, which regulates the students' admission procedure to higher education institutions in Georgia. The UNE is a special policy in terms of its design, which manages admission procedure with a centralized and standardized approach. The main goal of this thesis is to study the 'side-effects' and challenges of UNE policy, explore its organizational structure and understand the main design patterns in the policy process to find the optimal solutions for current challenges. The research problem is studied through policy design conceptual framework in order to understand how a specific instrument mix was chosen by the policy-makers and how particular redesigns of the system were made in the previous years. The thesis discusses the design process of UNE, its design types and spaces and identifies the levels of government capacities in this process and its impact on tool choices. The thesis highlights the following challenges of UNE policy: contested testing model, controversial design of reforms, 'black holes' for corruption, inequality of access to higher education and restricted autonomy of higher education institutions, which need to be addressed for system sophistication in the future. Keywords Education policy, higher education system, national...
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Design of a small hydroelectric power plant on the Askistskali River in Georgia
Mitrega, Stanislav ; Jobánek, Stanislav (referee) ; Šulc, Jan (advisor)
The main objective of the thesis is to develop a project for a small hydroelectric power plant on the Askistskali River in Georgia. The thesis includes a geodetic survey using drone photogrammetry and a visit of the site of interest. The thesis presents the documents supplied by Stream Ltd. and describes the procedure of geodetic surveying using a drone. In the next part, the new design of all the structures is described and the results of the economic analysis are presented. It is followed by the calculations part, which describe the design procedure for each structure. At the very end of the thesis, a photographic documentation of the area of interest is attached. Based on the economic analysis, the project was assessed as a profitable investment opportunity.
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Measuring the performance of Public Universities of Georgia: The Case of Social Sciences Faculties Problems of education quality and knowledge production
Shubitidze, Sopiko ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Senkova, Olga (referee)
In this research I investigate the problem of education quality at the faculties of Social Sciences at four Georgian Public Universities. The findings of research are derived through interviewing of professors and document analysis of Georgian legislation concerning higher education and European-level frameworks supporting the enhancement of education quality. I deal with the problem of quality using the mixture of theories. I divided researched topics in three parts: Ideological, Institutional and personal-level. The majority of theoretical claims were disproved in the local context of Georgia. Education quality and knowledge production are multi-faceted problems at Georgian Public Universities, Faculties of Social Sciences and it mainly is related to the scarce state resources allocated to HEIs in general in Georgia.
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