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Estonia in the Shadow of Russian Threat: Is NATO Doing Enough to Assure Its Member?
Štěpánek, Nikos ; Ludvík, Jan (advisor) ; Karásek, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis is applying the neglected concept of assurance on assuring efforts of NATO towards Estonia. This small Baltic republic lives in a fear of conflict with its Russian neighbour which would be impossible to win without help from abroad. The author asks, whether the effort to assure Estonians, that NATO would come to help in case of conflict is successful and what can be improved. To reveal, whether Estonia is assured, the author conducted research interviews in Tallinn with Estonians from the state administration, military, academics, experts from think-tanks and journalist. To get a full picture, the author also used public opinion polls. The thesis uses the concept of assurance as it was defined by Jeffrey W. Knopf. The concept is understudied and almost not used for empirical research. Importance of assuring allies is rising in contemporary's world and this thesis is trying to fill the research gap and show a possible direction for further research on the assurance of allies. Last but not least, the author is contributing to the debate about the defence of the Baltics.
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Scenarios of future EU-Britain defence cooperation
Boyanova, Pavlina ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (referee)
Reference BOYANOVA, Pavlina. Scenarios of Future EU-Britain Defence Cooperation. Prague, 2020. Master's thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Security Studies. Abstract Brexit day may have passed, but we know too little about what form the future relationship between the EU and the UK will assume. This thesis explores several scenarios for an EU-Britain cooperation post-Brexit, focusing in particular on the partnership in defence policy. It considers defence cooperation (1) within the EU defence framework, (2) relations within the NATO framework, (3) structured cooperation outside the EU framework and the NATO framework, (4) bilateral ties between the UK and EU member states and (5) non-cooperation. The author combines analytic eclectism with a qualitative interpretative research design to evaluate each scenario against a series of theoretically-informed empirical expectations regarding governments' decisions to pursue defence jointly. It puts forward a theoretical framework that includes factors, such as strategic culture, foreign-political postures and attitudes towards European integration as potential explanations for the post- Brexit dynamics of defence cooperation. Keywords Brexit, Britain, European Union, defence, cooperation, scenarios
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Different challenger , different response? Comparative analysis of Russia's reaction to outside influence in Kazakhstan and Ukraine
Vasilieva, Vladyslava ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Střítecký, Vít (referee)
This diploma thesis is focused on the analysis of Russian foreign policy towards Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The actions of the external players, namely the US (NATO), the EU and China are discussed in order to see how these foreign entities can modify Russia's actions in its backyard. The current state of affairs demands a careful examination of Russian foreign policies. As Russia has demonstrated in Georgia, Ukraine, Syria, it is willing to protect its interests at any cost. Thus, it was decided to analyze whether the foreign involvement in Kazakhstan would provoke Russian aggression. The primary aim is to provide a complex examination of Russian involvement in Kazakhstan and Ukraine along with the increasing influence from external players. This thesis is expected to contribute to the existing research on Russian foreign policy by providing an essential background for future researches as well as by presenting previously incomparable cases. This work presents a significant historical background that provides a reader with the in- depth analysis of Russia's relations with Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Geopolitical, military, economic, social factors are analyzed to present a broader perspective of the regional interconnections. Thus, this work analyzes how Russia has established its dominance in the...
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What could de Gaulle teach Qatar? Comparative analysis of a struggle for greater intra-alliance autonomy
Almesfair, Khalid ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
1 Univerzita Karlova Fakulta sociálních věd Institut politologických studií Diploma thesis project What could De Gaulle teach Qatar? A comparative analysis of the struggle for greater autonomy in Intra-Alliances Name: Khalid Almesfair Academic advisor: JUDr. PhDr. Tomáš Karásek, Ph.D. Study program: International Security Studies Year of project submission: 2020 2 The Problem Long before the Qatar crisis in 2017, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has experienced tense competition within member states for greater intra-alliance autonomy. In this regard, "Qatar appears almost to enjoy annoying the United States and provoking the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while pursuing a conciliatory policy towards Iran to maximize autonomy" (Hinderson, 2014). Doha's behavior to act beyond the GCC security strategy has largely contradicted the principles and conditions under which the GCC was founded upon, most notably the Iranian threat following Ayatollah Khamenei's revolution in 1979 (Legrenzi, 2011). By doing that, Qatar partially denied its alliance commitments, undermining regional security and strategic interests of its Gulf counterparts but also the GCC's unity while maintaining membership hitherto. In fact, the soft power that Qatar has utilized cannot be neglected. For...
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Bipolarization of the society? Analysing online media debate on immigration
Hrdina, Jakub ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kuľková, Miroslava (referee)
This thesis explores the UK's media environment and aims to decide whether the media show bipolar trends in reporting about immigration during the infamous EU immigration crisis. It utilizes the Natural Language Processing AI to assess a dataset of five major publishers in the UK - The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph - through the years 2015, 2016 and 2017. The focus of the analysis are the dynamics of the media space in general as well as specifics of reporting of separate publishers. The applied method is a novelty to quantitative assessment of qualitative aspects of given texts and the thesis serves as an example of successful utilization of such approach. In comparison to the previous researches conducted on similar topics, the main benefits of utilization of the AI includes the ability to assess huge datasets, assured consistency and huge innovative potential. Being able to analyze a dataset of 1813 articles quantitatively, the method is as important as the study itself.
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Strategic Culture of the Czech Republic
Beneš, Jan ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Eichler, Jan (referee) ; Kučera, Tomáš (referee)
Jan Beneš Strategic Culture of the Czech Republic Abstract The aim of the dissertation is to define in a complex manner the strategic culture of the Czech Republic. Strategic culture is at first analysed as a conceptual phenomenon both in relation to strategy itself and to the theories of international relations. The dissertation introduces the different streams of thought about strategic culture and then studies the approaches of the key involved authors with a special focus on the discussion between the first and the third generation of strategic culture scholars. Concerning the fact that the strategic culture has been originally created for the study of the behaviour and strategic thought of major powers, the author analyses the historical and geostrategic peculiarities of a small state in the Central Europe and then defines own conceptual and methodological framework. Using the method of grounded theory, the important symbols and narratives from the Czech history as well as the most important moments in the Czech political and strategic thought and decision-making are being examined. The historical narratives re-appear and influence the decision-making, thinking and argumentation of the key actors in the Czech security community. The research of the key decisions and historical moments after the 1989 is...
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Strengthening Europe's defences: external threats and their impact on Common Security and Defence Policy
Gogliashvili, Lika ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
The given work explores the current European security environment, external threats and challenges and their effect on the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy. The work gives particular attention to Russia's aggressive policy, Brexit, Jihadi terrorism and migration crisis, as well as, the United States' new isolationist politics. Furthermore, for this work two most powerful EU member states, France and Germany are selected to analyse, as their close cooperation is indispensable for the EU's stronger security and defence role. Selected threats are explored in depth in order to identify their strategic consequences for both, Germany and France. Additionally, the work explores recent EU documents, initiatives and discourse in security and defence area to assess the overall effect of the deteriorated security environment. At the same time, the work uses the balance of threat theory from the Neorealist school and applies document analysis and discourse analysis as a relevant methodology. The study is based on academic works, articles and documents.
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American Ways of War and Strategic Culture: A Reflection in Domestic and Foreign Cinematography
Kondrótová, Katarína ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Špelda, Petr (referee)
American Ways of War and Strategic Culture: A Reflection in Domestic and Foreign Cinematography Katarína Kondrótová Abstract This thesis examines the portrayal of American strategic culture in movies from the USA and two countries with which the USA has been in conflict with - Vietnam and Afghanistan. The research focuses on comparing them with official US strategies and contrasting the different national portrayals among themselves. The aim is to discover how the USA and its way of war is depicted at home and abroad through movies - a popular medium with the power to shape perceptions. The research is anchored in the international relations theory of post-structuralism and the concepts of strategic culture and national ways of war. They serve as a lens through which the most popular war movies from each country are analyzed. The findings showed that American movies were more precise in depicting their real-life strategic approaches and tended to be more derogatory in their portrayal of their adversaries. They also showed a more critical depiction of US conduct in Vietnam compared to Afghanistan. When it comes to the foreign movies, Vietnamese films were more critical of the USA than Afghan films, but not as disdainful of the enemy as the USA. Afghan depictions exhibited the dual nature of their opinion of...
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Forming the EU Disinformation Policy
Šramková, Vanesa ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Karásek, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis focuses on the analysis of a possible formation of the EU disinformation policy by norm entrepreneurs including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, France and Germany. The work is based on the theory of social constructivism and the concept of norms. Through the analytical framework of the norm life cycle, it seeks to find out how the disinformation policy can be integrated into the EU by norm entrepreneurs, and what normative clashes can be found in the process of the birth of the disinformation policy of the EU. A possible formation of the EU disinformation policy is analysed through three stages of the norm life cycle - norm emergence, norm cascade and norm internalisation. In the norm emergence part, the Baltic states with France and Germany are examined in terms of their motivation and efforts to promote a disinformation-related norm. The norm cascade part discusses a normative clash of a regulation norm and the norm of freedom of expression. Lastly, the norm internalisation part analyses the challenges of the incorporation of the norm in the system once the previous stages are accomplished. The research has shown that even though a common regulation norm of the EU is inevitable, the EU should introduce a cooperative mechanism of its member states and private actors to prevent clash with...
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The Rise of China in the Global Energy Governance: An analysis of China's International Energy Policy
Merlo, Piero ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Kučerová, Irah (referee)
As the world's largest energy consumer and producer, China is the leading player of the international energy arena. Among other important achievements, China has become the world's largest wind power market as well as largest producer of hydroelectricity and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity. In recent years China has been at the centre of almost every work stream within the International Energy Agency (IEA), and many other international energy organizations. This thesis aims to understand what role China can and will play in global energy governance by examining how its domestic energy context shapes the country's attitudes toward the multilateral, market and climate change aspects of global energy governance. China's recent re-emergence has resulted in a significant increase in the global demand of commodities and is already having major impacts on the dynamics of global commodity markets. In the case of the global uranium market, we are at the very beginning of a new era in the global energy system. However, we can already observe interesting trends. My research question will be," How China's search for supplies changes and influences its role in the global energy governance? "
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