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OSCE as a mediator of the conflict in Transnistria
Komárek, Pavel ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
The thesis deals with the mediation role of the OSCE in the conflict in Transnistria. The aim of the work is to assess success of the OSCE mission and analyse the main factors that influence the success. Contingency model is used for the analysis, based on an assumption that a conflict is a dynamic process, and during its analysis and search for a solution we have to view it as a complex, in as wide a context as possible. Via contingency model, it is possible to explain the success of the mediation mission on the basis of an analysis of two types of independent variables - contextual and process. Contingency model differs from other approaches in mediation, being specific because it does not automatically suppose certain success of mediator's work. Thanks to its complexity, it therefore offers a convenient analytical framework that makes it possible to study the success of mediation in various contexts. Although the OSCE has achieved a lot and has had a positive impact on the evolution of the conflict as well as the overall situation in the region, the main aim of the mission - i.e. the arrangement of finding a stable political settlement of the conflict - has not been reached yet. Also, the OSCE has not managed to accomplish another two very delicate goals: to contribute by its activities to the...
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Attitudes of the political parties to European integration in the Czech Republic
Kučerová, Babeta ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Jeřábek, Martin (referee)
This Master's Thesis focuses on the topic of the attitudes of the political parties to European integration in the Czech Republic. It does so by analyzing the impact of the European Union on the political parties, that is, it examines to what extent have the parties been Europeanized. The thesis discusses the concept of Europeanization and the mechanism, which is typically applied to explain the changes induced by the EU - the 'goodness of fit' or 'misfit' hypothesis. It proceeds with the discussion on Europeanization in the context of national party systems and political parties. The thesis also introduces the research on Europeanization of the Czech political parties. Based on the literature, it proposes one hypothesis. H1 assumes that the Europeanization of the political parties in the Czech Republic is low. The thesis applies quantitative and qualitative content analysis to programs of six political parties that were drafted for four general elections between 2006-2017. The thesis has come to the conclusion that the Europeanization of the Czech political parties is low as well. Thus, it argues that the hypothesis is confirmed.
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"Sinking Islands" and the United Nations Security Council
Bruner, Tomáš ; Hynek, Nikola (advisor) ; Bílková, Veronika (referee) ; Karlas, Jan (referee)
Certain Small Island Developing States (hereinafter the "SIDS") such as Kiribati or Tuvalu are often incorrectly called "sinking islands" because their highest points are located just a few meters above the sea level. Sea level rise may turn their territories to uninhabitable land gradually disappearing beneath the tide. Worsening of the environmental conditions causes internal displacement, migration and other problems. SIDS repeatedly brought their plight to the United Nations Security Council (the "UNSC") during its meetings in 2007, 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2019. They demanded that the UNSC should deal with their situation as a potential security issue and safeguard more equal distribution of environmental security risks and costs. During the UNSC negotiations, various states attempted to interpret and re-interpreted the UNSC mandate in order to suit their interests. The representatives of SIDS suggested that the UNSC should be a body based on the principles of distributive justice decision-making and thus safeguard fairer sharing of threats and burdens, including those of environmental character. The rapidly developing states strongly opposed; they implicitly claimed that the UNSC should be based rather on the principles of commutative justice, i.e. decide in strictly given situations of violations of...
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The relations between the European Union and Russia during the years 1994 - 2017
Leišová, Lucie ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Romancov, Michael (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with relations between Russia and the European Union between 1994-2017 and aims to identify and analyze the greatest milestones of cooperation or conflict between these two actors. It is divided into three chapters. The first chapter deals with foreign policies of the European Union and Russia. The second chapter contains three small case studies of the biggest milestones in terms of mutual cooperation between Russia and the European Union. The third chapter also contains three small case studies, but on the contrary solves the milestones in terms of mutual conflicts. This work concludes that the cooperation between the two actors is not satisfactory, as both actors pursue different goals and operate on completely different rules and thus have a rather conflicting atmosphere. The work also concludes that mutual means of communication between the two actors are often ineffective and do not help to solve mutual problems.
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Berlin Plus - Relevant or Obsolete Mechanism of EU-NATO relations?
Hložková, Veronika ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor) ; Karlas, Jan (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the verification of the relevance of the Berlin Plus Agreements, which became the official mechanism for the implementation of European Union- led operations using NATO's planning capabilities in 2003. To determine the relevance, I set out three aspects. The first assesses this mechanism by its use in practice in the form of military missions. The following perspective examines it from the perspective of involvement in planning and its occurrence in the key documents of both organizations. The last one looks for his presence in the professional discourse. I use assumptions based on historical institutionalism to determine the causes of the present state of relevance of these agreements. These include, in particular, an emphasis on historical and contextual assessment of the empirical survey, path- dependency, and unintended consequences. With this research set up, I have come to the conclusion that the Berlin Plus Agreement is partially relevant from today's perspective. I came up with the result after the Berlin Plus mechanism was not assessed positively by a single criterion. At the same time, however, it has proved that its existence has helped to maintain communication and a certain level of cooperation between the two organizations at times when there was no...
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The Rise of China and its Implications for Western Development Cooperation Policy
Ertürk, Saadet ; Parízek, Michal (advisor) ; Karlas, Jan (referee)
Bibliographic note Ertürk, Saadet (2019). The Rise of China and its Implications for Western Development Cooperation Policy. Master Thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies, Supervisors: Dr. Michal Parízek & Dr. Sebastian Ziaja. Abstract Recently new donors are beginning to challenge the international aid architecture of traditional Western donors by providing huge amounts of foreign aid to Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries without political conditions attached, thereby undermining the bargaining power and influence of OECD DAC donors. Especially Chinas new role as aid donor causes a lot of scepticism among researchers. This master thesis investigates whether OECD DAC donors changed their aid allocation policies and patterns in response to rising Chinese foreign aid activities in SSA countries. So far, the literature investigating the relationship between foreign aid provided by traditional Western donors and aid by the Chinese government has been limited mostly due to the lack of accurate data on Chinese foreign aid. This study makes use of a new dataset on Chinese foreign aid flows in order to examine the response of OECD DAC donors to Chinese foreign aid activities in SSA between 2000 to 2014. It finds that contrary to current assumptions OECD DAC donors do...
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The reform of the UN Security Council: possible reform steps from the perspective of legitimacy
Dorosh, Diana ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Ludvík, Jan (referee)
The UN Security Council has an irreplaceable position in the international system. However, its legitimacy has often been questioned after the Cold War. For this reason, the bachelor thesis tries to answer the question how possible reform steps can affect the legitimacy of the UNSC. I define concrete reform steps from the four reform proposals presented in the current debate on the Council's reform. With regard to that the examined proposals focus mainly on changing the SC's decision-making process, to assess the impact of reform steps on legitimacy, I evaluate whether they can meet procedural standards, which are considered to be sources of institutiona l legitimization. For my research, I choose the following procedural standards: representation, participation, transparency, accountability and avoiding the domination of the powers. Simultaneously, the analytical part of the thesis tries to consider in brief what influences the implementation of defined reform steps can have on the effectiveness of the Security Council, and whether political reform is possible at all. Thanks to this research,I conclude that only two of the five reform steps, I examined, have a chance to be implemented, and can contribute at least to a partial increase of Council's legitimacy.
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International environmental cooperation in the fields of ozone depletion and plastic pollution in the sea
Janečka, Michal ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Plechanovová, Běla (referee)
The thesis examines the nature of the international environmental cooperation in the regime of the ozone depletion and plastic pollution is the sea. While the international community has been able to attain a strong protection framework within a several years and currently the ozone regime constitutes an example among environmental regimes, the plastic pollution regime as a present and increasingly threatening issue to the environment encounters with an inability to find an effective solution and the international cooperation fails. The aim of the work is to put forward the main differences between the regimes and provide an explanation of the different strength within the international environmental cooperation. For this purpose, the paper initially performs the analysis of the main international contracts based on the several indicators in both regimes. Subsequently, applying the factor in the form of the interest and support of the industry and public, it identifies main aspects possessing the ability to influence the negotiation process and the resulting cooperation. Concurrently, in order to attain the necessary findings, the empirical part is placed under the theoretical framework of the Putnam's two-level game. As the thesis concludes, the established factor-based variables lead to the...
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Examining United States' Presidential Perception of the Energy Security in Period 2001-2017: A Content Analysis
Mazač, Jan ; Parízek, Michal (advisor) ; Karlas, Jan (referee)
Unprecedented expansion in U.S. shale oil and gas production since the mid-2000s, alias known as "shale revolution", has triggered a transformation of global energy markets and has altered many decades lasting geopolitical paradigms. However, whether and how such phenomenon affected U.S. governmental perception of energy security has not been addressed yet. With focus on the executive branch, this master's thesis attempts to do so and presents comprehensive and systematic descriptive account of perception of energy security and its evolution in 17-year period. Conceptualizing the perception of energy security in four measurable indicators, two quantitative methods, a humanly conducted and dictionary-based computer aided text analysis are exploited herein. Both analysis suggests that the U.S. presidential perception of energy security has been positively affected by this phenomenon and four decades long paradigm regarding the security of supply as a threat to national security has become obsolete. Furthermore, the number of statements, portraying the energy security negatively dropped by one fifth, and vice versa, the positive perception of the energy security augmented by factor four. The author anticipates that used methodological framework, especially the computer aided text analysis, serving as a useful...
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Polish Public Diplomacy and its Transformations
Straka, Daniel ; Knutelská, Viera (advisor) ; Karlas, Jan (referee)
This diploma thesis is a case study focused on Polish public diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy and its changes between 2005 and 2019. The way how public diplomacy is exercised in the Polish case is significantly influenced by two factors - the size of the country or rather its influence and its geographic location, which is closely connected with particular societal, political and economic features with relation to the country's history. The aim of the thesis is to find out what are the foundations of polish public diplomacy, how it has been changed within the studied period and what it tells us about public diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy and the possibility of domestic actors to influence it. There is a deep cleavage between the two main political parties, which have alternated in government since 2005, and their preferences in domestic and foreign policy. Based on the outputs of Polish public diplomacy in four spheres - nation branding, cultural diplomacy, historical diplomacy and communication channels - and in organizational framework, the thesis analyses the interconnection between public diplomacy and foreign policy and also the strategy of Polish public diplomacy, taking into account the alternation of governing parties.
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