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Global Elite and its Clubs: The Case of Bilderberg Group
Kantor, Lukáš ; Karlas, Jan (advisor) ; Střítecký, Vít (referee) ; Krpec, Oldřich (referee)
of the dissertation The following five interdisciplinary essays contribute to International Relations, sociology and media studies, mainly on empirical, but also on theoretical level. Their overarching message is to reject paranoid, but also benign narrative of global elite clubs as exemplified on the case of the controversial transatlantic forum Bilderberg Group. On theoretical level, the dissertation highlights continuing relevance of sometimes overlooked neo-Marxism. It offers further support for the thesis that some kind of transnational capitalist class (TCC) has developed, which is disputed even by several neo- Marxists, let alone other scholars. Specifically, the findings on Bilderberg Group corroborate the existence of Euro-Atlantic TCC. Within this social network, the European fraction seems to be the most consolidated one. On empirical level, the dissertation is the first publication that thoroughly exploited data from the recently launched official Bilderberg Group's website. From another under- researched source, the dissertation compiled new datasets about all post-Cold War Bilderberg conferences. On this basis, the essays provide original quantitative and qualitative insights into the composition of Bilderberg attendees and topics of their discussions. The dissertation offers the...
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International Investment Agreements and European Union Law
Fecák, Tomáš
The relationship between international investment agreements and EU law have attracted a lot of attention in past few years. The aim of this thesis is to bring a detailed analysis of various aspects of this complicated relationship. In attainment of this aim it proceeds in following steps. After a short introduction (Chapter I.), Chapter II. contains a brief overview of typical content of bilateral investment treaties as well as a more detailed analysis of relevant EU law rules concerning foreign investment, enabling subsequent comparison of both sets of rules. Chapter III. deals with investment agreements to be concluded by the EU, in particular with questions of external competence for foreign investment, responsibility for breaches of investment agreements concluded by the EU and the future shape of EU investment policy. The status of existing bilateral investment treaties concluded between EU member states and third countries is analyzed in Chapter IV. Chapter V. tackles various issues related to investment treaties concluded between member states (so called intra-EU BITs).
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Investment Policy of the European Union - protection of foreign direct investment
Štamberk, David ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
Investment Policy of the European Union - protection of foreign direct investment Abstract One of the changes brought about by the Lisbon Treaty is the explicit inclusion of foreign direct investment and its protection in the common commercial policy of the European Union. This is one of the areas of exclusive competence of the EU. The European Union has subsequently stated negotiating bilateral agreements governing, inter alia, investment issues. However, it has not been spared from controversy and negative publicity that has been accompanying especially the TTIP and the CETA. This work aims to analyse the investment policy of the EU and mutual interaction of its institutions with the Member States and third parties. After general introduction to the topic of international investment law and EU law (chapters II. and III.), it is devoted to the issue of protection of foreign investment in the internal market. Its regime is then compared with the BIT regime (chapter IV.). Attention is then focussed towards the EU's external relations in the field of investment protection. Its competence is subjected to further analysis (chapter V.) and current results of efforts of the Commission and the EU as such are also discussed (chapter VI.). It is so in the light of possible impacts of foreign investment in terms of...
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Investment Policy of the European Union - protection of foreign direct investment
Štamberk, David ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
Investment Policy of the European Union - protection of foreign direct investment Abstract One of the changes brought about by the Lisbon Treaty is the explicit inclusion of foreign direct investment and its protection in the common commercial policy of the European Union. This is one of the areas of exclusive competence of the EU. The European Union has subsequently stated negotiating bilateral agreements governing, inter alia, investment issues. However, it has not been spared from controversy and negative publicity that has been accompanying especially the TTIP and the CETA. This work aims to analyse the investment policy of the EU and mutual interaction of its institutions with the Member States and third parties. After general introduction to the topic of international investment law and EU law (chapters II. and III.), it is devoted to the issue of protection of foreign investment in the internal market. Its regime is then compared with the BIT regime (chapter IV.). Attention is then focussed towards the EU's external relations in the field of investment protection. Its competence is subjected to further analysis (chapter V.) and current results of efforts of the Commission and the EU as such are also discussed (chapter VI.). It is so in the light of possible impacts of foreign investment in terms of...
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Great Britain and Free Trade. Analysis of British parliamentary debate in the context of TTIP negotiations
Heyzl, Martin ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Kasáková, Zuzana (referee)
Bachelor thesis Great Britain and Free Trade, Analysis of the British parliamentary debate in the context of TTIP negotiations deals with the stances of major British political parties, the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and to lesser extent also the Liberal Democrats, towards the free trade and the TTIP protocol. The thesis first examines the relationship of individual parliamentary parties to international and therefore free trade. The next chapter describes the TTIP protocol, which was to be a free trade agreement between the European Union, of which Britain is a part, and the United States. In subsequent analysis of parliamentary debates in 2013-2016 the thesis examines stances of concerned political parties towards the free trade and the TTIP protocol. In the course of this thesis I had worked with the research question in following wording: "What are the reservations and possible limits of Great Britain in promoting free trade - in a comparison of the three main concepts of British politics that can be traced to the example of TTIP?". In the discussion and the subsequent conclusion the work answers this question, which are the limits of the support and possible reservations of the British political parties to the free trade and the TTIP protocol, and also why the parties have a...
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Social Irrationalism in the Era of Neo-liberal Crisis? The Role of Politics, Science, Agrochemical Industry, and Civil Society in the Context of the TTIP Debate
Kučera, David ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Parízek, Michal (referee)
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) should have been a 'game- changer' and a boost for the EU economy by creating more jobs and growth in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. By eliminating the remaining trade barriers, it would have established a transatlantic trade area connecting the two most powerful economies in the world. This Master's thesis utilizes four concepts of the neo-Marxist theory: key premises of the Amsterdam School, State theory of Bob Jessop and Nicos Poulantzas, combines Ulrich Beck's notion of risk society with Antonio Gramsci's role of intellectuals, and outlines the premise of commodification as a part of political ecology. The theoretical neo-Marxist prism facilitates the mapping of the crucial social agents functioning as the proponents of the TTIP agenda as a hegemonic project and those forces opposing the deal as a counter-hegemonic movement. This thesis reveals how the TTIP agreement was legitimized by the proponents but issues of transparency and other contradictions revolving around the deal attracted the attention of various civil society organizations (CSOs) that were concerned about TTIP's impact on public health and environment. Three empirical cases focusing on the precautionary principle (PP), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs),...
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Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
Rott, Michael ; Balaš, Vladimír (advisor) ; Šturma, Pavel (referee)
(English) In the field of international law, the negotiated agreement between the EU and the US - TTIP - is a major source of law. In addition, its intended scope should encompass the provisions on investment protection. However, during the course of the bilateral negotiations, there was a leak of information which revealed that the agreement should include provisions of the dispute settlement mechanism that do not differ in its substantial aspects from those which are and have been incorporated into bilateral investment agreements between States. Therefore, in the process of investment disputes initiated under the TTIP agreement, the major influence would have had the provisions of international conventions which set out the rules for the functioning of the International Investment Tribunals - the Convention of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. However, given that both the general public and professional circles have long expressed concerns that question the very legitimacy of the international investment arbitration, this fact have been accepted with great disrespect. This was particularly, because of the previous practice of decision-making in the investment disputes, which...
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Investment Protection in the European Union
Olík, Miloš ; Pauknerová, Monika (advisor) ; Feigerlová, Monika (referee) ; Ondřej, Jan (referee)
1 Abstract This dissertation deals with investment protection in the European Union from several points of view. The first part deals with the history of investment protection and its main basis and grounds for current legislation and proposals for future regulation, particularly within the EU. In subsequent parts, current legislation and intra-European Union investment protection is analysed in detail, including the question of validity and applicability of Intra-EU BITs, i.e. bilateral treaties concluded between two EU Member States. The analysis is made from the perspective of EU law, as well as from the point of view of public international law. The dissertation further deals with their relationship and demonstrates contradictions between them in two crucial cases, Eureko/Achmea and Micula. Additional themes of this dissertation are the powers of the European Union regarding investment protection and the conclusion of international treaties such as CETA and TTIP. This dissertation further deals with the status, jurisdiction and functioning of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), demonstrating the relatively smooth and widely accepted investment dispute settlement mechanism. In this regard, the proposed EU Multilateral Investment Court project in analysed, including a...
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Problematic Issues in the Negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
Cimalová, Natalie ; Fiřtová, Magdalena (advisor) ; Kozák, Kryštof (referee)
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed comprehensive trade and investment agreement between the European Union and the United States of America. This Master's thesis applies Robert D. Putnam's Two-Level Game Theory to the TTIP negotiations, as well as analyses the activities and influence of various stakeholders and factors within the EU and USA that have put pressure on the chief international negotiators and contributed to the freeze of the TTIP negotiations process. This thesis reveals that the anti-TTIP arguments of the second-level stakeholders in the European Union and United States differed. The European stakeholders opposed to TTIP because they thought that it would harm EU's relatively higher standards; consumer safety; environment; and agricultural market. They also claimed that TTIP's negotiations process was non-transparent, and they protested against the inclusion of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism (ISDS). Their anti-TTIP campaigning was also supported by the presence of anti-American sentiments in the EU. In the USA, the main barriers to TTIP negotiations started with decision of the Congress to grant President Barack Obama the so called Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), because it is frequently designated as unconstitutional and...
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Analysis of European Union's expectations of TTIP
Barták, Petr ; Bernkopfová, Michala (advisor) ; Weiss, Tomáš (referee)
Bachelor thesis Analysis of expectation of the EU from TTIP is an overview analysis. This text covers four main areas regarding TTIP. Those topics are engineering industry, automotive industry, public procurements and agriculture. The analysis covers expectations of the European Union, partly of the Czech Republic and touches expectations of the United States of America a little bit. The author used only official document of the governmental institutions and scientific documents as resources. Any scientific documents and official papers issued before 8th of November 2016 were not used. The reason behind that are American presidential elections. Those elections shifted expectations from the TTIP. Unofficial and non-professional texts were not used at all. The analysis follows topics from several points of view. Those perspectives are social sphere, tariff measures, non-tariff issues, possible gains, and controversial topics. Requirements regarding the customer's safety are included as well. Possible changes in regulations are also analyzed. The text is interspersed with figures that support numerical data.
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