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The Effects of US Sanctions in Venezuela
Brown, Carter Sumner Thompson ; Krausz Hladká, Malvína (vedoucí práce) ; Riegl, Martin (oponent)
Since 2014, the United States has been imposing sanctions on the Venezuelan government in an attempt to accomplish foreign policy goals that would be beneficial to its geopolitical interests in the region and help the Venezuelan people in the process. This research offers a comprehensive empirical analysis of these sanctions. It aims to identify the effects of US sanctions in Venezuela, as intended by the foreign policy goals of the United States, and to measure the effectiveness of sanctions in accomplishing these goals. Additionally, this research seeks to explain the geopolitical strategy of US sanctions as seen through the lens of geoeconomic theory. It will detail the US intensions of generating regime change, restoring democracy, and improving human rights in Venezuela. More specifically, it will reveal the role of sanctions in acting as a geopolitical tool to fulfill these intentions. Ultimately, the research will show how sanctions and companion policies are intended to improve the US-Venezuela relationship that has declined since the time of Hugo Chavez.
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The Impact of Cyber Capabilities on the Israeli - Iranian Relationship
Losa, Luca ; Doboš, Bohumil (vedoucí práce) ; Riegl, Martin (oponent)
In the last decade or so, Iran and Israel have found a new domain where to translate and protract their conflictual relationship: the cyberspace. Since the discovery of Stuxnet both countries have embarked on a significant cyber capabilities build-up, in accordance with their resources, and driven as well by mutual threat and perception of threat they pose to each other. Following their own cyber strategies embedded in their respective broader foreign policy agendas, the two foes confronted each other several times in a cyber feud which lasts to present days. Through the use of Event Data methodology, it is examined quantitatively the impact of cyber conflict on the Iranian- Israeli relationship, when cyber capabilities are utilized as a foreign policy tool vis-à-vis each other. The results of the quantitative study show no significant alteration of the conflict-cooperation dynamics between the dyad of interest due to the utilization of cyber capabilities. Furthermore, the qualitative assessment of the cyber feud shows that the balance of power between the two sides is not affected by increasing cyber capabilities, since Israel has the clear upper hand in the cyberspace. Keywords Iran, Israel, Foreign Policy, Cyber Capabilities, Cyber Conflict, Event Data
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Egyptian foreign policy and The "Arab spring": A Case study of Egyptian policy before and after Arab Spring toward Turkey and Palestine.
Salaheldin, Abderahman ; Riegl, Martin (vedoucí práce) ; Gombár, Eduard (oponent) ; Hesová, Zora (oponent)
Hlavním cílem disertační práce je analyzovat interakce mezi egyptskou zahraniční politikou a dramatickými změnami na domácí, regionální a mezinárodní úrovni, které utvářely prostředí, ve kterém byla tato zahraniční politika formulována a implementována v období během arabského jara od ledna 2011 do června 2013. Autor se v této práci snaží prozkoumat, zda domácí, regionální a mezinárodní změny v průběhu arabského jara vedly v těchto třech letech k podstatné změně jednotlivých aspektů egyptské zahraniční politiky, a to zejména vůči Turecku a Palestině. Provedená analýza v předložené disertační práci, ač spíše kvalitativního a induktivního charakteru, je teoreticky ukotvena v neoklasickém realismu. To autorovi umožnilo identifikovat hlavní domácí hráče aktéry a problémy, jako je ideologie, strategická kultura, politické náboženství či schopnost mobilizovat národní zdroje a studovat jejich dopad na tvůrce rozhodnutí v oblasti zahraniční politiky. Autor dospěl k závěru, že egyptská zahraniční politika prošla během arabského jara několika významnými změnami, zejména vůči Turecku a Palestině / Izraeli. Tyto změny byly způsobeny hlavně signály domácích a regionálních elementů; více než mezinárodním systémovým řádem. Neoklasický realismus se autorovi jevil jako ideální teoretický rámec pro předložený...
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European Strategic Autonomy - chances and challenges for Europe
Cemus, Victor Peter Corrado ; Handl, Vladimír (vedoucí práce) ; Riegl, Martin (oponent)
The thesis explores the use of the term European Strategic Autonomy in the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP) of the European Union. The security environment around Europe has become increasingly unstable in the last 15 years. The EU Commission has tried to take account of the deteriorating geopolitical landscape by publishing an EU Global Strategy document in 2016 to share its vision for a stronger Europe. The document calls for strategic autonomy without properly defining it. Since then, many policy papers have captured the term and used it as a popular buzzword. Because it has not been properly defined on the political level, European Strategy Autonomy (ESA) was subject to speculations and national interpretations which did not help to advance the debate. Based on an extensive literature review the paper provides a comprehensive understanding by giving an historic overview and presenting different configurations of ESA in the contemporary context. A comparative case study, including France, Germany, and the Czech Republic has been conducted to assess their interpretation of the notion. The result of the case studies showed inherently different perceptions underlaid by different motivations and identifies the political layer to be the biggest challenge for moving forward with the topic....
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Imperialism and the Rise of China
Templin, Kristin ; Romancov, Michael (vedoucí práce) ; Riegl, Martin (oponent)
This thesis covers a historical comparison analysis between the Ancient Chinese, British and American Empires in order to compare what activities that China is currently taking in the 21st century that resemble the behaviour of the United Kingdom and United States while they were building their empires. The thesis, using the theoretical concepts of Alfred Mahan and John Mearsheimer and the supporting arguments of Paul Kennedy, focuses on soft power tools including free trade agreements and social networks as well as tangible assets such as infrastructure development, expansion through annexation and/or colonialism and naval capacity. I have included Mahan's theory of sea power as a necessity to achieve supremacy as it corresponds closely with the development of the British and American Empires. I have also used Mearsheimer's theory of offensive realism as it helps explain the US' rise to hegemony and can help provide guidance on China's future strategy. This comparison is then used, along with the opinions of some of the most well-respected geopolitical analysts and historians of the 21st century, in the final chapter of this thesis to address the geopolitical issues associated with China's rise including the United States' response.
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Attitudes of border dwellers as indicators of the evolution of geopolitical reality in states - the case of the Czech Republic
Aldridge, Gregory Luke ; Riegl, Martin (vedoucí práce) ; Mičko, Branislav (oponent)
This thesis aims to understand, in the case of the Czech people living along the borders, the extent to which they are, and have become, more "internationally minded" in recent decades. Three theoretical approaches to understand the attitudes of those living along the boundaries are identified as the Realist Securitisation, Liberal Openness and Bordering as a Process paradigms. Descriptions are presented of the historical and demographic nature of the Czech borderlands as well as developments in Czech politics and attitudes to foreigners in the last two decades. Detailed regression analysis at the level of 6,300 individual municipalities is undertaken to empirically test the theoretical paradigms and to control for other factors so as to understand the specific impact of the boundary on the attitudes of those living alongside it. The formation of attitudes is a complex process in which history still seems important and not all interactions with foreigners are seen as improving attitudes towards them. However, against a backdrop of lower support for EU integration and greater concern over immigration in the Czech Republic as a whole, open borders since accession to the EU have coincided with border dwellers becoming in many, but not all, cases less Eurosceptic and less opposed to migrants than is...
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Trump administration's Foreign Policy toward China
Ai, Xuena ; Salamon, Janusz (vedoucí práce) ; Riegl, Martin (oponent)
Since Trump came to power, American diplomatic style has changed significantly, especially concerning China's strategy. With the background of the economic, political and diplomatic gap between China and America narrowing. Although Trump continues the previous government's 'Asia-Pacific rebalancing' strategy to some extent, he shows his unique style and is more realistic. At the same time, Trump's government's efforts to restructure Sino-U. S. relations are constrained by many factors. With the development and change of political and economic situations, new adjustments will be made to the U.S. policy towards China, and the development of Sino-U.S. relations will retain great plasticity. However, the right way for Sino-U.S. relations to go is to build a win-win relationship with benign competition. First of all, the development content of the U.S.'s China policy is considered. Second, the reasons for Trump's adjustment of China policy is explained. Then, an analysis of the impact of Trump's China policy proves that this series of competition has more negative than positive impacts. Finally, some measures and methods to enable the Trump administration to improve the foreign policy toward China, also the healthy development trends of China and the U.S. are proposed.
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China in Africa: The Dragon in the Lion's Den
Fairchild, David ; Riegl, Martin (vedoucí práce) ; Romancov, Michael (oponent)
Iniciativa Belt Road Initiative (BRI), která byla v roce 2013 vyhlášena čínským prezidentem Xi Jinpingem, je globálním infrastrukturním projektem, který sahá napříč Asií, Afrikou, Evropou a Amerikou. Většina západních vědců a politiků byla vůči BRI vysoce kritická, zejména v souvislosti se subsaharskou Afrikou. Definovali tento projekt jako neo-imperialistický a argumentovali, že z politického, hospodářského a vojenského rozšíření by z BRI měla prospěch pouze Čína. Tato práce využívá Keňu, Jihoafrickou Republiku a Nigérii jako případové studie k měření efektivity BRI v rozvoji těchto tří zemí. Na základě této analýzy lze konstatovat, že nejen Čína, ale i země subsaharské Afriky, konkrétně kontinentální pobřežní demokracie s přístupem k přírodním zdrojům, které s Čínou jednají jako obchodní partneři v rámci BRI, mají z tohoto partnerství značné výhody. Keňa, Jihoafrická republika a Nigérie skrze zapojení do BRI těží z rozvoje infrastruktury, ekonomického růstu a snížení nerovnosti. Klíčová slova: Subsaharská Afrika, Čína, Belt Road Initiative, rozvoj, ekonomika, neo-imperialismus, přírodní zdroje, infrastruktura Název práce: Čína v Africe: drak ve lvím doupěti
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Mastering Space by New Mean of Power Politics: Democratization
Galtsova, Ksenia ; Romancov, Michael (vedoucí práce) ; Riegl, Martin (oponent)
Democratization has been dominating international relations since the end of the Cold War. Moreover, democratization assistance became embedded in states' foreign institutions, as it is seen in the examples of the United States and the European Union. As states perceive international relations from a neo-realist perspective, it raises a concern about their reasoning behind democracy promotion. This thesis attempts to find a correlation between states' geopolitical objectives and democratization. Its goal is to prove that democratized countries tend to incline towards the assisting power, and this benefits the assisting power's geopolitical objectives. By studying EU and US geopolitical goals and applying them on the democratization of Ukraine, this thesis attempts to find how democracy promotion in Ukraine benefited the USA and the EU. To support the claim that ideology can be used to pursue geopolitical goals, it draws a parallel with the Communist coup d'état in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and analyzes how the USSR benefited from supporting the Czechoslovak Communist Party. Keywords Democratization, soft power, smart power, Cold War, communism, United States, European Union, USSR, geopolitics, democracy assistance
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