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The Rise of China and Its Impact on East Asia
Horák, Milan ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
History of international relations suggests that rising power brings challenges and creates unstable environment in the international system. This thesis deals with the rise of China and its implications to the East Asia region. China has experienced massive economic growth over the last few decades which is likely to influence the dynamics not only of the region, but also of the international system as a whole. There is an ongoing discussion in the academic literature regarding the rise of China. In this thesis, the offensive neorealism theory of John J, Mearsheimer is employed. This paper focuses on the region of East Asia, namely to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Since the region is heavily penetrated by the US power, its position is also discussed. The question is how China will behave when it gets more powerful and what strategies the neighbouring countries choose in order to deal with China's rising power. The theory assumes that rising great power strive to dominate its region in order to establish regional hegemony. The main aim of this thesis is to examine whether or not the aforementioned states act according to the prism of offensive neorealism.
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The Republic of Turkey - with or without? A comparative study on German and British policy towards the question of the EU-accession of Turkey.
Georgievová, Hana ; Jeřábek, Martin (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
The main target of my thesis is to determine the causes of divergent positions of two countries - the Great Britain and Germany - on the issue of Turkey joining the European Union. Using three theoretical approaches - neo-realism, neo-liberalism and constructivism - I am identifying three possible causes: overall positive/negative profits for the security dimension, overall positive/negative earnings for the economic dimension and the cause of the national identity. On the basis of the positions of Germany and the Great Britain three hypothesis are made rising from these theories. Within the security dimension the potential of Turkey of maintaining the security of both countries against security threats is researched. An important concept here is the intensity of perceived security threats to individual states. Within the economic dimension are examined economic benefits or costs for both countries, allowing them accepting Turkey would arose. This section focuses on three main areas: economic implications for both countries from the inclusion of Turkey into the internal market, consequences for budgetary policy and consequences for both countries arising from the free movement of Turkish workers. Recent theory to determine the causes of different attitudes is constructivism. Here I identify the...
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Montenegro's Accession to European Union
Ivanović, Mijo ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
All policies, initiatives and ideas of accession countries are directed towards the European Union. With the safe development and enlargement, European Union is the world's center of peace and stability. For Montenegro, as a small open economy in the Western Balkans, which tends to become part of a unique political, economic and cultural market, entrance into the EU is a strategic goal from independence gained in 2006. Within the framework of the process of European integration, Montenegro unifies all resources that are still significantly underdeveloped thus creating better options for their absorption and further development. In accordance with the previous, the key issues that are analyzed in this paper are the following: In what way and at what "speed" is Montenegro working on the process of EU integration? With what kind of problems and challenges Montenegro is facing? What methods in the context of European integration Montenegro is using? To what extent are the solutions optimal and relevant for Montenegro? Key words: integration, candidate, negotiation, accession, Montenegro, European Union
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Comparison of foreign aid of USA and China with the concentration on region of Latin America
Mičovská, Natália ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Parízek, Michal (referee)
The topic of this thesis is "Comparison of foreign aid of USA and China with the concentration on the region of Latin America". In the past several years, the foreign aid of People's Republic of China has grown dramatically to the region of Latin America and Caribbean. The United States is a traditional donor and Latin America is its long-term sphere of influence. Until recently, China had been recognized more as a foreign aid receiver, not as a donor. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, China has massively increased the support of developing economies. China, as an emerging donor, is not very transparent and it is very hard to estimate its future. Chinese government treats the foreign aid data as a national secret and it releases only very comprehensive data. As states, USA and China are very different, from historical or economical point of view, both have different political regimes, or standards of living. This work aims to point out the similarities and differences between the two countries and their motivation to provide foreign aid to Latin-American countries. Through the qualitative comparison I would like to prove/disprove two hypothesis: 1) Both countries provide foreign aid to develop the region of Latin America, however, both have different motivation - while for USA the...
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Compliance with EU law in disability policy: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary
Píchová, Marta ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Pulgret, Miroslav (referee)
This work analyses compliance of disability policy in the states of Visegrad group, i.e. Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland and Hungary. It examines legislation adopted at the supranational level and their subsequent implementation in the policies of particular national states. It deals with the development of policies for people with disabilities since 1989 with the emphasis on similar historical development in these countries. It describes in detail various national strategies, legal acts and measures adopted, possibilities their enforcement and public attitude towards the issue. The outcome of this study is to compare disability policies in the examined countries while the research shows that in the Czech and Slovak Republic the compliance rate is significantly higher than in Poland and Hungary. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Possible membership of Turkey to European Union and its economic aspects
Dandul, Hamit Onur ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Plechanovová, Běla (referee)
This study argues that the slow progress of Turkey in the accession to the European Union is not simlpy due to a failure to comply with the "official" membership criteria. It is argued that European attitude towards these official requirements represents a double standard, which can be searched in the context of unspoken cultural and religious fears, that do not exist in the official criteria. It is argued that there are many positive reasons to Turkey's accession to the EU. There is the aspect of energy- security, demography, acting as a bridge between the West and the East, and keeping the European Union away from being Eurocentric. However, seen the recent developments in Turkey's accession negotiations with the EU, the current political climate in Europe suggests that cultural homogeneity of the European Union remains a strong desire. Turkey, being the "Other", suffers the consequences of this. And while Turkey can make changes to its economy and political system to fulfil the EU's accession criteria, there are two 'givens' that cannot be changed-namely, religion/culture and geography/physical location. Thus, understanding these fixed characteristics of Turkey, and their perception by the European Union is crucially important in understanding the European Union - Turkey process overall.
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Working Conditions in the Developing Countries: The Effect of the International Organizations
Mrázová, Michaela ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Karlas, Jan (referee)
This thesis is focused on the labor conditions of garment industry in developing countries. The text is structured as a comparative case study that is concerned with the situation in Cambodia and Bangladesh. Case studies of these countries describe domestic garment industry, its general and specific problems and a rate of compliance with labor standards. The goal of the thesis is to determine whether international organizations have an influence on the improvement of labor conditions in developing countries and compare it with other relevant actors. In this particular case the attention is focused on the International Labor Organization which manages its supportive programs in both countries but in a different manner. A pilot ILO program focused on the private sector has started in Cambodia thirteen years ago while in Bangladesh ILO had managed to run traditional program focused on the public sector until the Rana Plaza tragedy. Moreover, in the case of Bangladesh is a characterization of change after the tragedy. The thesis examines innovative ILO program that focuses on the monitoring of the garment factories, its functioning and outcomes. It also examines the role of ILO and its orientation by a theory of institutional change: whether it is possible to restore efficacy of one of the oldest...
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The European citizens initiative and the democratic deficit in the European Union
Fermanis, Elena ; Kasáková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
The aim of this thesis was to investigate the European Citizen's Initiative and its repercussions on the notions of legitimacy and the perceived democratic deficit in the European Union. As it is a recent phenomenon, its importance to the academic debate is especially valuable. Firstly, the thesis laid the theoretical groundwork which will help to understand the debate surrounding legitimacy, namely input, output, and throughput legitimacy. It also outlines some of the discussions and justifications of a democratic deficit. Then, three European Citizen's Initiatives were analyzed. Specifically, it dealt with the bureaucracy of the process, how representative each initiative was of the wider European society, its capacity for legislative change, and the type of funding each initiative had access to. These were gauged through an investigation of the experiences of each initiative, with supporting evidence from the initiatives themselves as well as the European Union. In the end, the thesis shows that the ECI contributes to creating a public sphere in which a participatory element of democracy may emerge, thus helping the EU in securing input legitimacy. Throughput legitimacy is also tentatively secured through the ability of an ECI to enter the EU agenda setting stage. However, in falls short in...
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Energy security perspectives of the European Union
Petříček, Tomáš ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Karásek, Tomáš (referee) ; Vošta, Milan (referee)
The main aim of the PhD thesis Perspektivy evropské energetické bezpečnosti v kontextu vývoje energetické politiky EU is to complement existing body of literature concerning with the evolution and characteristics of European energy policy. It attempts to add new dimension related to the influence of ideational and discursive factors on this policy. In order to explain the role of discourse in shaping the European energy policy into its current form, which is characterized by its segmentation into three distinct pillars - competitiveness, sustainability and security, the thesis applies the theoretical and analytical framework of discursive institutionalism. The thesis identifies an internal tension between component discourses, which prioritize different cognitive and normative ideas, to be one of the causes of incoherence and fragmentation of contemporary energy policy of the European Union. The main argument of this text is that three distinct discursive lines has been developed at the European level - liberalization-market, environmental and security lines. Nonetheless, these discourses are rather separate phenomena as they provide ideational frameworks often incompatible with each other due to the non-existent unifying elements. Building on different and often contradicting philosophical and...
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Effectiveness of the Eastern Partnership of the EU
Dračková, Jana ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
The thesis focuses on analyzing the support of democracy model through the external governance and its efficiency as potentially more successful alternative to leverage and linkage. The theoretical part shows that democratic governance defines democracy according to the following principles: transparency, accountability and public participation. It is also based on the concept of external governance, which focuses on expanding EUs internal rules beyond its borders. For this purpose the case of Eastern Partnership was chosen. This case uses the mechanism of external governance and also applies the strategy of the support of the democracy in sector cooperation. The efficiency of this initiative or rather support of the democracy through the external governance is evaluated by comparative analysis of impact of cooperation of EU and partner country on their legislative development within the three selected sector policies (energy industry, environmental protection, justice and home affairs). The time period for the research is from establishing of the initiative in 2009 to the summit in Vilnius in the fall 2013. After general assessment of the results it can be said that the EU was successful in more than half the studied cases and thus EU is, more or less capable of an integration of its democratic...
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