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A Legitimacy Analysis of EU Sanctions
Šaturová, Gabriela ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Young, Mitchell (referee)
Political legitimacy has often been addressed in terms of the legitimacy of actors, while the legitimacy of policies as such is relatively neglected. This thesis argues that an analytical distinction between the categories of the actor and its action is necessary, since an actor's legitimacy does not automatically imply the legitimacy of its behaviour; furthermore, in real social discourse, actions are not exempt from legitimacy judgments. The ambition of the thesis is to make use of this research gap and to examine one of the most important tools of the EU's foreign policy by means of an analytical framework of political legitimacy. The selected cases are the current episode of CFSP sanctions against Russia; "appropriate measures" under the ACP Partnership agreement against Zimbabwe; and the informal arms embargo against China. Sanctions dealt with in the first two cases are deemed legitimate, while the arms embargo on China failed to meet the legitimacy criteria. Apart from the findings on legitimacy, two major conclusions can be drawn from the analysis: The lack of internal coherence is impairing the legitimacy of the EU's political measures; and the imposition of sanctions through an institutionalised political framework enhances their transparency in contrast to informal measures.
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European Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joint Proposal
Fuchsová, Anežka ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (referee)
Lisbon Treaty introduced a new office - High representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who shall become the face of European union's foreign policy. One of the tools High representative can use is European Commission and High representative joint act. There are several types of joint act. All the joint acts submitted between 2010 and 2015 were analysed. The outcome is that most of them have been accepted by the Council of the European Union. One particular type of joint acts, joint proposal for a council regulation, is required for the EU to be able to impose sanctions on a third party. The author analysed deeply two specific proposals for a council regulation concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria. As the result, it appears that during decision making process within the Council of the European Union individual states have a preference for their own national interests over reaching a general agreement and even over compliance with policies previously agreed. Keywords European Union, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Commission, Council of the EU regulation, Syria, Lisbon Treaty
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Preparation of Geography Lessons: Potential Use of Teacher-Oriented Website
Weiss, Tomáš ; Král, Luboš (advisor) ; Hanus, Martin (referee)
Lesson preparation is an important part of teachers' profession, yet there has been little research focused on this topic recently. This work studied the preparation of geography lessons in Czechia with an emphasis on the use of internet sources. Based on the findings, criteria for an ideal geographic website for teachers were suggested. The data were collected in two ways: (1) on-line survey of ran- domly selected secondary school teachers (n=72), and (2) semi-structured interviews (n=6). The work indicated that lesson preparation greatly varies from teacher to teacher. In general, teachers do not change their lesson plans significantly, and thus the beginning of teachers' career is crucial for future teaching. Participating teachers spend on average about a quarter of their working time on lesson preparation and there is no apparent correlation between the time spend on lesson preparation and the teachers' age or the length of teachers' career. Furthermore, it was found that all participating teachers use internet resources during lesson preparation, particularly for search of updated infor- mation. The most visited websites are those offering maps and encyclopaedias (predominantly Wik- ipedia). The ideal geographical website should primarily offer ideas for teaching activities, as fully- prepared lessons...
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Duplication of rapid reaction forces: NATO and EU
Sokol, Martin ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Dvořák, Pavel (referee)
This bachelor thesis Duplication of rapid reaction forces: NATO and EU aims to clarify whether the NATO Response Forces and the European Union's EU Battlegroups are identical or not. After the Cold War ended these the two organizations began with the building of its own rapidly deployable military forces and because membership states are almost overlapping, the question arises, why should those states allocate their resources to identical concepts. Thesis first describes the change of security environment and the threats that result from them for NATO and the EU. These dangers have both actors responded by adopting a series of documents that defines the tools for their management and which demonstrated the need for rapid response forces. In subsequent chapters thesis describes the creation of both units and compared their essential characteristics and capabilities. Also is explained how these two organizations are fighting against duplication. The last chapter shows on the example of the Czech Republic (which is a member of NATO and the EU) how a member state deals with the force contribution to both concepts and whether Czechs consider them as duplicative. At the end of the thesis author claims that NATO Response Forces and EU Battlegroups are not identical, because they differ in various aspects. Powered...
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French Military Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa 2003 - 2012
Chlebounová, Tereza ; Tomalová, Eliška (advisor) ; Weiss, Tomáš (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to answer how and why France intervenes in Sub-Saharan Africa in the new millennium. This region represented the pivotal part of French colonial empire and France maintained close mutual relationship even after decolonization, partly due to the numerous military interventions. Security and defence policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa underwent gradual changes since the 1990s', France started to participate in multilateral peace operations and outside its traditional sphere of influence. Since 2003, when the European Union launched the first operation on the African continent, the vast majority of French interventions took place within the Common Security and Defence Policy of the EU. There were twelve new operations in the examined period 2003-2012, from which four military missions were selected for the purpose of this research: Operation Artemis in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003, EUFOR DR Congo ibidem in 2006, EUFOR Chad/CAR in Chad and Central African Republic from 2008 to 2009 and naval operation EU NAVFOR Atalanta launched by the coast of Somalia in 2008. The thesis compares these cases in order to analyse motives which lead France to intervene in Sub-Saharan Africa and to prefere multilateral type of operation. The motives are assessed in the context of the...
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EU development assistance and the ACP countries. EU's approach to Rwanda, Haiti, and East Timor
Pavelková, Kristina ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (referee)
The work looks at EU's development policy through the lens of one of integration theories, namely multi-level governance. The relationship between the EU and three countries from ACP group, Rwanda, Haiti and East Timor is being analysed. From current trends of multi-level governance the research is focusing on the process of strengthening of supranational level and on advancing regionalization, understood in terms of regional integration on one side and the transfer of powers to lower administrative units or local emancipation. The work is inspired by the idea of the author Martin Holland that integration theories are better observable on EU's development policy than on EU's integration itself. Using the comparison of official EU's declarations over development cooperation with ACP group and real agenda implemented in those countries, the work investigates EU's involvement during penetration of surveyed countries into transnational structures, into regional coalitions and the promotion of emancipation of lower administrative units in the country. The research aims to analyze bonds formed between the European Union and Rwanda, Haiti and East Timor, which, according to Martin Holland, the concept of multi-level governance should best describe.
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French policy in Libya after overthrowing Gaddafi: security consolidation or democratization?
Mistrík, Peter ; Najšlová, Lucia (advisor) ; Weiss, Tomáš (referee)
The English school of international relations claims that the national interests of states and their behaviour in international relations are not only driven by selfish motives, but the so- called enlightened self-interest as well. The functioning of the community of the states is governed by common rules, laws, values and interests. According to the Solidarist current of the English school it is even acceptable to limit the sovereignty of the state which seriously violates international standards such as the protection of human rights. A discrepancy between the protection of the states' sovereignty and the protection of the rights of individuals was bridged by the Responsibility to protect doctrine adopted at the UN World Summit in 2005. This doctrine has served France and other states intervening in Libya as a support of the legality of their cause. However, the doctrine does not address the conditions of the intervention solely. It also delegates a responsibility to rebuild the war-torn countries to the interventionists. Therefore, it is an appropriate tool for the evaluation of the interests and motivations that have shaped the policies and activities of France in Libya. The analysis suggests that the primary motivation of France has undergone a fundamental change during the course of...
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Security Cooperation between the European Union and the Non-EU NATO Countries
Blažek, Ondřej ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Rossmanithová, Markéta (referee)
The bachelor thesis is dealing with the issue of cooperation between the European Union and the non-EU NATO members. The comparison was chosen as a method of the research. The thesis compares reasons, which make the Turkey and Norway's basis for taking part in the EU missions or in the European Defence Agency. These two states were chosen because they are comprehensively different and at the same time fulfil the conditions of being the non-EU NATO members. The cooperation and the reasons are mentioned in examples of the European Defence Agency and three missions - EUFOR Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, EUFOR RD Congo and EU NAVFOR Somalia in Somali waters. The last chapter is the comparison, which compares the reasons and draws the conclusion that the reasons come primarily from the both states' different foreign policies. The Turkish foreign policy leading to higher participation follows its geopolitical interests and Norway's foreign policy comes from its peace initiative.
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European directive on nuclear safety: Council decision making in 2004, 2009 and 2014
Kulda, Tomáš ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Tomalová, Eliška (referee)
Even though nuclear energy was one the first areas in which European countries started integrating their policies through the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), the question of nuclear installations safety was only addressed by the EU in the context of the impending enlargement of the Union in 2004. In 2003, the European Commission submitted the first-ever proposal for a European directive on nuclear safety. However, the Council rejected it the following year, opening a five-year-long debate leading to the drafting of a new directive proposal, which was subsequently adopted in 2009. Only two years later, in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, amending this directive became necessary. Discussions resulted in adopting the amended legislation in the summer of 2014. This master's thesis analyses the main factors influencing the Council's decision-making on either rejecting or adopting the proposed directives in 2004, 2009 and 2014. The analysis is based on the following five scope conditions supposed to lead to integration acceptance by EU member states, as defined by authors Manuele Citi and Martin Rhodes: policy failure and availability of a successful alternative, external influence emanating from foreign countries hardly manageable by the individual states, functional interdependence...
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The Principle of Solidarity and Burden-sharing in the EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
Zilvarová, Aneta ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (advisor) ; Weiss, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis deals with the issue of solidarity and burden-sharing (responsibility-sharing respectively) in the EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Its primary aim is to apply the theory of burden-sharing to the case of the EU asylum policy and in particular, to verify or falsify Olson's free-riding hypothesis on the exploitation of the great by the small (meaning of the rich by the poor). This hypothesis will be tested using a mixed research method which combines qualitative and quantitative elements. The qualitative part will focus on the analysis of the so-called Dublin Regulation (Dublin II and III) and its criteria and mechanisms of determining the responsible Member State for examining an asylum application. Applying Moravcsik's liberal intergovernmentalism, a special emphasis will be placed on the proces of negotiating the Regulation (Dublin II) in an attempt to identify and clarify dominant Member States' positions and their influence on the final wording. Consequently, the level of burden- sharing will be illustrated on the example of interstate transfers of asylum seekers (so-called physical burden-sharing). This type of burden-sharing will be also demonstrated qualitatively by means of statistical data available for the period of 2008-2013 which will be interpreted in relation to...
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