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Switzerland-EU Bilateral Agreements: Factual Integration ?
Jahůdka, Marek ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Novák, Miroslav (referee)
The relationship between the European Union and Switzerland constitutes one of the most interesting phenomenons in Europe. Both entities have closely cooperated e.g. in the field of economy, culture or education but there have been just few formal agreements which would regulate this cooperation till the recent time. Bilateral agreements I and II between the EU and Switzerland, which were negotiated at the turn of the century, therefore represent a "small revolution" for both contracting parties and a new quality in their relationship. They regulate the most important common fields of interest, mainly at the area of mutual trade. But the main question remains: do these negotiations and agreements create a solid basis for a further integration of Switzerland into the EU or do they contrariwise constitute a status quo which will not be changed for a longer period of time? The search for this answer is not an easy one. The EU would be surely interested in an accession of Switzerland but it is quite obvious that there is not so much enthusiasm on the Swiss side. The skepticism towards a deeper integration into the EU is spread mainly among electors and it has been proved in several plebiscites on this theme. The accession is backed approximately by 30 percent of voters and there is no canton with a majority of...
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The role of public policies in promoting Corporate Social Responsibility
Trnková, Jana ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Kučera, Rudolf (referee)
The submitted dissertation holds the title The role o fpublic policies in promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (policy analysis o f 13 EU member states and the Czech Republic). The first chapter presents a general overview regarding the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The historical and theoretical backgrounds behind the idea of corporate responsibility are being discussed in this part. The second chapter concentrates specifically on the history and development of the CSR agenda within the European Union. The analysis is based on the main strategic documents the EU has issued in the past ten years in this specific area (e.g. Green Paper: Promoting a European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility from 2001 and others/ The third chapters presents an analysis of government policies applied in 13 chosen European countries with the aim of promoting and supporting CSR. Among the chosen analysed countries are for example France, Great Britain, Finland, Austria and others. The gathered information is then summarized in a comprehesive model that shows the ways and means governments in the European context apply in order to create an environment that stimulates companies to uptake CSR. This model is in the final chapter transmitted to the Czech local context and filled with local data....
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EU Policy towards Eastern Partnership Countries. A Gap between Goals and Achievements
Mammadova, Gunel ; Plechanovová, Běla (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
This study seeks to examine and assess the effectiveness of the Eastern Partnership Policy (EaP) of the European Union. Beside introduction of positive novelties of the Eastern Partnership, this paper gives a premium attention to scrutinize the possible limitations and shortfalls of EaP. Hence, the study aims to analyze some internal and external factors that complicate the effective functioning of the EaP. The inconsistency of the EU policy structure, the role of Russia and its Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) in EAP, the ambivalent policy of some Member States (Germany and Italy are examined) toward the EaP, unconsidered discrepancy of eastern partners are analyzed and considered as prime reasons of ineffectiveness. In addition, examined case studies of Ukraine and Azerbaijan reveal that the EU's commitment to their "shared values" are controversial. This paper presents that the EU should find a balance between its economic/energy interests and normative values vis-a-vis Eastern Partners in order to fill the gap between its goals and achievements.
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IMF Quota Formula
Habalová, Veronika ; Parízek, Michal (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
The IMF has been facing criticism in recent years. Its legitimacy has been undermined as some members, despite their economic performance, are still underrepresented in IMF's decision making and its activities leave mixed evidence about their success. Being a crucial condition for institution's existence, legitimacy of the Fund's governance needs to be restored. This thesis tries to find such specification of formula, which would make allocation of votes more credible and fair. Based on the assumption that perception of the Fund's legitimacy would improve if developing countries were better represented and allocation of votes could not be subject to manipulation, a new procedure of vote allocation is designed. New formulas include population as one of the variables as a solution of the emerging powers' insufficient involvement. Using principal components analysis allows automatic assignment of weights, which results in more objective mechanism of votes allocation. As there is a significant discrepancy between voting weights and actual voting power measured by Banzhaf index, also formulas incorporating power indices are investigated. Based on quantitative and qualitative criteria, these four different mechanisms are assessed. Thesis concludes that any of these formulas would be an improvement in comparison...
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The Barcelona Process within the External Relations of the European Union (The Contribution of Spain)
Bocianová, Kateřina ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Abrhám, Josef (referee)
The Barcelona Process represents the European Union's effort to define complex and coherent strategy towards the countries of the Mediterranean region. Mutual relations have been gradually developed from the 1960s; nevertheless only particular initiatives were undertaken with the aim to deal with the specific aspects of the relations. With regard to the development of the European Communities and considering events on the international scene it was necessary to define more complex strategy that would comprise not only economic aspects but also political, security, social and cultural aspects. The introduction of the thesis addresses to defining and arrangement of the external relations of the European Communities/European Union. Then it deals with the development of mutual relations until 1995 according to every decade, in which there are mentioned and described initiatives and activities of EC/EU in the Mediterranean region as well as events on the international scene that had significant impact on the shaping of the agenda. Year 1995 represents a break-through because of the fact that during the first Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in Barcelona on 27 - 28 November 1995, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was created and we are talking about the starting point of the...
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Economic Diplomacy in the 21st Century
Sláma, Tomáš ; Plechanovová, Běla (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
This study examines the changing nature of the economic diplomacy in past and recent years. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been an important dynamics in the international relations. The consequences of this dynamics touch also the economic diplomacy, which is transformed by the effects of the economic globalisation and becomes more complex and important at the same time; it becomes one of the most influental instruments of state's foreign policy. The growing complexity means that there has been new players, issues and arenas emerged. New players, state and non-state; the latter have deep impact on the nature of economic diplomacy. Bussiness sector, represented mostly by transnational companies (TNCs) and "the global civil society" represented vy international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) shift the balance of power within the state. The central role of state is challenged and his power fragmentised. Except this horisontal widening of economic diplomacy yb growing numbers of its actors, it is also deepening in terms of its agenda. The national policies become internationalised or even globalised (services, investment, enviroment, customer protection, labour standards) and the regulation of international trade puts pressure on national governements to to reconsider the strategy and their...
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Energy security of European union: options to enhance it with an accent on renewable energy sources
Machytka, Daniel ; Jeníček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Němcová, Ingeborg (referee) ; Baláž, Peter (referee) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
This doctoral thesis focuses on Energy security of European Union with and accent on use of renewable energy sources as an energy security instrument. Main goal of this thesis was to identify, verify and then postulate options that could enhance current state of energy security of European Union. Main instrument of this activity is a theoretical model which introduces three specific options. First option is about off-grid and partially on-grid system used for home and autonomy energy production. Second option is a synergic link of infrastructure for off-shore wind farms with a marine energy. Third option is a maximization of energy efficiency, energy savings and energy storage concepts. Energy efficiency was identified as hierarchical condition mandatory for every single introduced options. All introduced options were verified against European energy law, against principles of energy security and against economical and security criteria. Final and most important criteria for plausibility of such options is embodied in European energy policy and current energy and climate strategies.
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Současná ekologická politika
Tachecí, Petra ; Jeníček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
Cílem práce je uvedení do problematiky ekologické politiky, podání přehledu o jejím dosavadním vývoji a pokus odpovědět na otázku, zda je současná ekologická politika schopna odvrátit hrozící ekologickou katastrofu a přimět společnost k efektivnímu uplatňování udržitelného rozvoje. Práce také pojednává o environmentálních problémech, mezinárodních ekologických organizacích, nástrojích i překážkách ekologické politiky.
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