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EU member states FDI policies and Chinese investments
Neumanová, Petra ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Kramer, Zachary John (referee)
The topic of this master thesis are the EU FDI policies and their development specifically in the period 1999 - 2019. The aim of this master thesis is to answer the research question: "Why the European FDI policies have changed during 1999-2019?" In April 2019, a new regulation regarding a framework for screening of foreign direct investment in the European Union has passed. The process of screening should be applied in case a foreign direct investment would pose a threat to security or public order. The EU has been traditionally a promoter of the liberal trade and free movement of capital. Yet, the proposal presents a new tool in the FDI policy that can be seen as restrictive. In this thesis author analyzes what processes led to the introduction of this new framework. Following the theoretical framework regarding security concepts and evolution of new threats, the author elaborates on the first hypothesis that "It is possible to identify strengthening of the concept of security and more restrictive approach in the FDI policies of EU member states during 1999-2019" by analyzing the evolution of EU FDI policy and policies of Germany and France as ones of the biggest recipients of FDI in the EU. Furthermore, the author uses the theoretical framework of realism and international political economy to...
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The EU's Response to China's Belt and Road Initiative: A Geopolitical Analysis
Nguyen, Dao ; Kissack, Robert (advisor) ; David, Maxine (referee)
Research on geopolitics primarily focuses on nation-state actors and how geographical factors affect their policy towards other actors in international relations. The EU, as a non-state actor and a normative power, has been understudied through the lens of geopolitics as scholars believed that this Union was unlikely to apply geopolitical thinking in their foreign policy. This thesis aims to explore to what extent and under what circumstances an actor, notably a non- state actor, applies geopolitical theories in the foreign policy. The paper argues that geopolitics theories, both classical and critical ones, have been increasingly able to explain the external relations of the EU, particularly after 2013 when the Chinese government launched Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Furthermore, geopolitics theories also add more values to understand the complexity of the EU' foreign policy, given the fact that there is no single theory that can explain it comprehensively. As explanatory research, qualitative methods, including discourse analysis, content analysis, and process tracing, will be used to examine how the EU has responded to BRI. The thesis first reviews the scholarship on geopolitics and EU's foreign policy. Next, it investigates how China applies geoplitics in BRI. Last, it focuses on how the...
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Chinese Foreign Policy in Central Europe
Havrda, Vojtěch ; Handl, Vladimír (advisor) ; Sehnálková, Jana (referee)
This paper analyzes new phenomenon of regionalism in Chinese foreign policy in Central Europe. After introducing the theoretical concept of Chinese regional foreign politics, 16+1 cooperation platfrorm is described. The regional platform refers to a mechanism of cooperation between China and sixteen Central and Eastern European countries, which was formed after the Warsaw summit took place in 2012. For the purpose of the research, the region was narrowed to the Central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary). The paper aims to find out whether Chinese foreign policy in Central Europe has been succesfull, which will be measured by analyzing by China's ability to achieve its declared goals. These were made public at the Warsaw summit in 2012. Moreover, using five different criteria (mutual political treaties, institutionalization of the bilateral relations, frequency of high political meetings, attendance of representatives at the 16+1 platform summits and the size of mutual trade), the paper describes the dynamics of bilateral relationships between China and the Central European countries. After analyzing which declared goals had been achieved and looking at the dynamics of the bilateral relations, the paper concludes that Chinese foreign policy in Central Europe has not been succesfull,...
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