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Convergence of waste management instruments in selected EU countries
Vaculík, Jan ; Ullrichová, Eliška (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The thesis deals with the topic of waste management, with a specific focus on instruments and their application in selected EU Member States. The thesis builds on the theory of policy convergence. The aim of the thesis was to analyse selected waste management instruments in specific EU Member States with the assumption of possible convergence. The research method of the thesis was a comparison of the application of the three instruments between the countries. These were the instruments of prohibition, taxation and pay-as-you-throw. The initial assumption for the research was that countries having similar performance on the three levels of the waste management hierarchy would converge on waste management tools. The research timeframe was from 2008, when the EU Waste Framework Directive was issued, defining targets for recycling rate levels by 2025, to 2022, when the EEA summary reports on the waste management of all EU Member States were issued. The research question that this paper addressed and sought to answer was whether the Member States with the best performance with respect to the EU waste hierarchy and targets introduced the same selected instruments to achieve these targets between 2008 and 2022. The resulting findings stated that there was no introduction of banning and taxing instruments...
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From Brussels with love? Data Analysis of Social Media usage by Czech Members of the European Parliament
Vanka, Boris ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Ullrichová, Eliška (referee)
Populism is on growth throughout Europe and the World. Research has shown that especially in the European Parliament, the number of populist politicians is rising over the last decades. Likewise, social media usage by users is booming and is used particularly by this type of politicians who spread their messages, using emotionality and negativity. Since the literature indicated that populists are especially active, efficient, and followed this research aimed to analyze the relationship between the degree of populism and its influence on the three variables of the Members of the European Parliament elected for Czechia. In order to evaluate such a relationship, the data from Facebook (page posts, interaction by users, and numbers of followers) were utilized to test defined hypotheses and answer the research question. Exploratory Data Analysis was used as a wider framework, while Pearson Correlation Coefficient served as a tool for computing the correlation. Therefore, the scale of the independent variable (degree of populism) was based on data about Czech political parties, reflected in anti-elitism, corruption salience, protectionism, and nationalism. The dependent variables were based on activity, efficiency, and acquirement of followers. Moreover, the test of statistical significance was conducted...
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Activism through the courts: How the Dutch media framed the climate case of Milieudefensie et al. vs Shell
Prins, Kyra Luna ; Skalamera, Morena (advisor) ; Ullrichová, Eliška (referee)
Climate activists increasingly turn to courts for enforcing climate action. Scholars argue that climate cases can generate more media coverage, through this help informing and raising awareness about the urgency of the climate crisis. Despite this, studies have paid relatively little attention to the role of framing in the presentation of climate cases in the media. This study uses an inductive-deductive research design (N=165) to investigate how four Dutch newspapers framed the landmark ruling of Milieudefensie et al. vs Shell, in order to understand if conflicting frames exist, and to uncover whether left-leaning and right-leaning newspaper frame the case differently. By first using an inductive frame analysis, this study identified one frame supportive of the climate case, and three counter-frames that argue against climate action through the courts. In the deductive frame analysis it was found that left-leaning newspapers used the supportive frame more frequently, whereas right-leaning newspapers more often conveyed messages critical of the climate case. The counter-frames that were most often used in right-leaning newspapers obscured the urgency of the climate crisis, instead focusing on the economic costs, arguing that the case is undemocratic or using the rhetoric that consumers are responsible for...
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Hydrogen: A risk to a natural gas phase-out in the Netherlands?
Roest, Douwe ; Ullrichová, Eliška (advisor) ; Oude Nijhuis, Dennie (referee)
1 Natural Gas Lock-in: Does Hydrogen Pose a Risk to a Natural Gas Phase-out in the Netherlands? Submitted By: Douwe C. Roest Charles University Prague A Master Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of The Requirements for A Master in European Politics and Society Master of Arts Submitted to: Dr. Eliška Ullrichová Wordcount: 21.098 2 Abstract Considerable scholarly literature has been dedicated to exploring carbon lock-in, yet limited research exists on the phenomenon of Natural Gas (NG) lock-in and its causes. This study addresses this research gap by conducting an explorative case study of the Netherlands. Specifically, it zooms in on the dynamic interaction between NG and hydrogen, with hydrogen emerging as the leading sustainable molecule to power the energy transition. The study aims to analyze the influence of the established NG regime on the developing hydrogen niche and the subsequent implications of hydrogen's increasing role on NG lock-in. The research combines academic work with grey literature and interview data to support a material and actor analysis through separate techno-economic, political, and socio-technical perspectives. The research finds five significant mechanisms through which existing NG production and consumption shape Dutch production and utilization of hydrogen: 1) the extensive...
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Framing a wicked problem: EU interest groups and the biofuels debate surrounding the Renewable Energy Directive
van der Graaf, Marte Fokel Elisabeth ; Gerrits, André (advisor) ; Ullrichová, Eliška (referee)
There is a gap in our understanding of the role interest groups play in creating the contested debate around biofuels policy in the European Union. This research aims to contribute to the literature by unpacking the way interest groups strategically presented and disseminated information on biofuels during the third revision of the Renewable Energy Directive. The theory of framing is applied to uncover how information may be emphasised or omitted to make certain issues more salient than others. In order to identify the frames used and whether they shifted throughout the two and a half year period studied, 125 documents by 60 different interest groups are analysed. Interviews with six key interest groups are also conducted for triangulation. The findings suggest that ideals, such as food security and sustainability, and crises, such as the invasion of Ukraine, are malleable in the way that interest groups can use them to strategically promote their own aims. Unpacking interest group framing is identified as a crucial task in bringing clarity to debates characterised by conflict and confusion over scientific evidence.
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From Brussels with love? Data Analysis of Social Media usage by Czech Members of the European Parliament
Vanka, Boris ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Ullrichová, Eliška (referee)
The central theme of this thesis was a deeper understanding of social media communication by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) elected for Czechia between 2020 and 2022. The author decided to conduct the research due to the influence the politicians maintain (factual within the legislative process and the one based on their authority when co-creating opinions in the public sphere), while a lack of academic studies on such a topic existed, establishing a research gap to be filled. In the past, researchers within the field of political sciences focused primarily on the qualitative dimension of online communication (text analysis) or only one of the social media platforms (mostly Twitter). This approach could uncover sentiments but made it much more challenging to spot trends. Therefore, the data from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were obtained via an online provider Zoomsphere, mainly from the parties' leaders in the European elections of 2019. These pieces of information were researched with a data analysis approach, which consisted of nine main steps. After evaluating the research aim, data were identified, collected, extracted, cleaned, aggregated, analyzed, and finally visualized in order to make conclusions based on the outcomes. Once this process was finished, the data were compared...
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Issue Definitions in the Agenda-Setting of the European Union
Ullrichová, Eliška ; Tomalová, Eliška (advisor) ; Dias, Vanda Rafaela Amaro (referee) ; Pinheiro, Rómulo (referee)
Agenda-setting dynamics are widely acknowledged as a combination of issue definitions and venues. Although venues have been receiving significant scholarly attention, the concept of issue definition is poorly developed and lacks operationalization. This PhD thesis therefore offers an analytical framework for issue definition encompassing three attributes (substance, salience, and framing), drawing on the interdisciplinary agenda-setting literature and interconnecting the debate of issue definitions with issue hierarchization. The proposed framework aims to contribute to the punctuated equilibrium theory by identifying what issues are defined through negative feedback (self-corrective mechanisms) and what issues are through positive feedback (shifts). The agenda of the European Council from 2014 to 2022 (the last two constellations of the European Union) is analyzed by applying the qualitative methodological approach. The findings show that the effect of positive feedback determines primary issues, i.e., the most salient issues on the agenda, and that negative feedback is connected to issues at all positions within the issue hierarchization, i.e., the negative feedback also generates primary issues. The research exposes that the feedback determining issue definitions influences which issues are on...
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Social movement, Yellow vest movement
Marešová, Jana ; Ullrichová, Eliška (advisor) ; Bauer, Paul (referee)
This work focuses on the subject of the social movement, the yellow vest movement. It determines the possible classification of the yellow vests into the category of the occupy movement. In the work, the concept of the social movement is first characterized on the basis of scientific literature. The occupy movement is described in more detail and its basic features are determined. Then, attention is paid to the yellow vest movement examined. We focus on the course, development, reaction of the government and the main features of the movement. The aim of the work is to assess whether the yellow vest movement can be understood through new social movements as the occupy category movement due to the features that are developed in the work. The result is evidence that the yellow vest movement and the occupy movement have clear common characteristics. It is therefore possible to classify the yellow vests into this category, although there are also features that go beyond it.
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