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Migration and Development: Impact of Remittances from Europe and Russia on Armenia
Strnadová, Marie ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Brisku, Adrian (referee)
- English Migration, transnationalism and remittances are phenomena that receive a lot of attention in social sciences. As part of remittances, this attention is amplified by their economical impact on the economies of entire countries. My thesis is devoted to the social influences and impacts of financial remittances on families and entire communities. The work deals with how individuals, families or entire communities are influenced by financial aid sent by one or possibly more family members from abroad. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews, the work examines the effects of remittances and the "dependency syndrome" on them. In its first, theoretical part, the thesis explains the key concepts with which it will deal - migration, transnationalism, diaspora remittances - and whose effects it will subsequently examine in the analytical part based on semi-structured interviews. The data is processed on the basis of qualitative approach, which allows sufficient analysis and insight into the issue. The conclusion of the work reflects the knowledge obtained from the interviews and the perception of migrants and their family members about the effects of remittances and, consequently, the remittances' "dependence syndrome".
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Europeanization of Gas Sector in Georgia: towards Integration?
Tkemaladze, Tamar ; Góra, Magdalena (advisor) ; Svoboda, Karel (referee)
Th e thesis explores the mechanisms and outcomes of the Europeanization process in Georgia's gas sector. The chosen approach treats Europeanization as a multi level process where the extent of the changing capacity of the supranational institutional mechanism s varies according to the contextual setting and intervening domestic factors. Through qualitative doc ument analysis of the Energy Community, AA/DCFTA and Georgian domestic legal and regulatory frameworks, first it shows that Europeanization mechanisms ope rate through complementing positive policy prescriptions with the means of adjustment to domestic oppo rtunity structure. Second, when analyzing outcomes of Europeanization, it demonstrates how gas policy harmonization, being restricted by vertical contract ual relationships, creates preconditions for the divergence in sectoral integration. Third, based on t he research findings on mechanisms and outcomes, it places the given case study in the debates on the nature of the EU external energy governance, arguing that in its horizontal operative space, it resembles network governance.
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To Run Insurgency like a Business: Self-Defeating Patronage by the Principal in Eastern Ukraine
Laryš, Martin ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Svoboda, Karel (referee) ; Mareš, Miroslav (referee)
The dissertation draws on the literature on indirect warfare based on principal-agent theory, which conceptualizes indirect warfare as an example of delegation. Principals play an important role in shaping the rebellion and exerting control over it through the delegation used as a low- cost and deniable device for empowering the rebel proxies. However, the delegation is fraught with problems, especially when delegated to fragmented rebels. The literature considers the fragmented rebel militias as weak non-state actors prone to rapid failure and decay. My argument focuses on the paradox of delegation to the fragmented rebel groups. I claim that such delegation is inherently costly and visible, which contradicts the original intention of delegation as a low-cost and deniable foreign policy tool. In my dissertation, I introduce the concepts of self-defeating patronage and decentralized delegation as my contribution to the discussion on indirect warfare. The principal suffers self-defeating patronage because it must keep the barriers-of-entry low for the incipient rebel groups to overcome the collective action problem that the would-be rebels experience due to their weak social ties. Keeping the barriers low without strict control by the principal - that would raise the costs and visibility - fuels...
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Assessing the Impact of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas on Foreign Trade: the EU-Georgia, EU-Moldova, and EU-Ukraine DCFTAs
Cai, Yaqi ; Paulus, Michal (advisor) ; Akdogan, Idil (referee) ; Svoboda, Karel (referee)
Assessing the Impact of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas on Foreign Trade: the EU-Georgia, EU-Moldova, and EU-Ukraine DCFTAs Abstract The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) are three free trade areas established between the EU and Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, respectively. This paper provides the estimates on the effects of the DCFTAs on foreign trade. Using gravity model on a sample of 178 countries during 2002-2019, we obtain the following results. First, the DCFTAs have significantly enhanced the trade between the EU and three countries, and also facilitated the exports of other countries to the EU and three countries, while the exports of the opposite direction have been restrained by the DCFTAs. Second, the positive influence of the DCFTA on the trade with the EU is significant for Ukraine, and not significant for Georgia and Moldova. Third, in terms of the Central European countries, the DCFTAs have promoted the trade with three countries for Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, whereas the positive effect is not significant in cases of Austria, Germany, and Poland. For Slovenia, the impact is also insignificant but negative. Fourth, the full implementation of the DCFTAs has additional contribution to the trade between three countries and Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia....
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Grassroots political activism in Russia
Chervotkina, Yulia ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; David, Maxine (referee)
Russian protests of 2011-2012 revitalised the country's political life. Hoping for a change, citizens were looking for opposition leaders to represent them in their dialogue with the authorities. However, the opposition failed to maintain its support and attract new followers over time, and this paper analyses why it happened. To answer the question, we analysed the long-term consequences of state-organised repression and institutionalisation. Our results showed that repression is not the only reason for the loss of support of the opposition. Limited radicalisation, premature institutionalisation, and disconnection of the opposition from civil society played a vital role in this process. Even though these were the main characteristics of the For Fair Elections movent, this research argues that the Russian opposition did not outgrow them ten years later. Keywords: Russia, protests, political opposition, repression, civil society
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Research on the transformation of Russian industrial structure
Xun, Chuanli ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Radošević, Slavo (referee) ; Semerák, Vilém (referee)
Over the three decades, the Russian Federation government introduced a string of industrial policies responsible for industrial structure change from a planned state-run economy to the market-based one and the return of command control structures under President Putin. It grew out into four phases of economic growth from 1991 - the post-communist decline between 1991 and 1999, the reconstructive phase between 2000 and 2007, the recession between 2008 and 2010, and the stagnation phase from 2010 to the present (Mau, 2016; Ahrend and Tompson, 2005; Aris and Tkachev, 2019). Consequently, this study investigates Russia's industrial structure transformation through these four phases of economic growth. While the Russian government implemented industrial policies annually for short, medium and long- term development, the four phases of economic changes domicile their impacts. In this respect, the study will compare the shifts in industrial structures during these four phases of Russian economic growth by comparing their industrial structure upgrade index. In this respect, the study focuses on realising Russia's structural adjustments together with transformation methods over the three decades of its existence. It includes showing how the Russian economy experienced growth (exponential, slow, retarded)...
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Inward FDI and Industrial Structure Optimization and Upgrading: Empirical Evidence from Central and East European EU Countries
Yao, Jinli ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Campos, Nauro Ferreira (referee) ; Semerák, Vilém (referee)
The main aim of this paper is to study whether the inward FDI will optimize and upgrade of industrial structure in Central and East European EU countries. If yes, which industry's inward FDI has a better effect on industrial structure optimization and upgrading? I established the influence mechanism as the analysis framework of the whole paper. Then I gathered a dataset of 11 CEE EU countries from 2000 to 2019 and established the industrial structure upgrading index and rationalization index. The empirical results showed that IFDI will optimize industrial structure in the short term and will upgrade industrial structure in the long term. IFDI from the secondary industry has the best effect on industrial structure optimization and upgrading. Therefore, this paper suggests that CEE EU countries introduce FDI, and emphasizes that they had better cooperate with foreign capital that helpful for the high-end development of the manufacturing industry in CEE EU countries. At the same time, they should promote the development of their own organization and management in order to absorb high technology and achieve technological catch-up.
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Pillars of Russia's Middle East Policy: Primakov's Doctrine
Rauvolf, Josef ; Svoboda, Karel (advisor) ; Kolenovská, Daniela (referee)
ENG The paper proved that Primakov's doctrine and the idea of multipolarity is until today still the part of Russian strategic thinking and the part of documents dealing with foreign policy, strategy and safety. As for the Near East Russia is successful in following this policy and gain the goals that Primakov strove - that is to limit the US influence in this region, the development of relationships between Russia and the local great powers and to strenghten Russia and its recognition by local states. Russia reached this goal by pragmatic policy that accented the diplomacy and the development of the commerce and the relationships first, thus eliminating the loss of positions after the decline of USSR in the 90's. Unlike the US Russia acted actively, sometimes even aggresively in Syria and thus succeeded in changing the conflict's score and to protect both its and Bashar Assad interests. As Russia became the major and most important player in Syria and as the war had enormous consequences both in this region and outside it as well, each player, and the regional great powers first, had to deal with Moscow. Kremlin thus built the narrow relationships with these great powers, and it had the leverage as well - it helped Moscow to weave the net of relationships it can profit from now. Thanks to its...
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