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The instrumentalisation and weaponisation of migrants, its impacts, and how the EU responds: the case of Belarus
Škopková, Lucie ; Parízek, Michal (advisor) ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (referee)
This diploma thesis will focus on the weaponisation of migration as a hybrid threat posed to states in an attempt to destabilise their internal systems. The case study of the Poland-Belarus border crisis will be used to examine and illustrate how the European Union can address such hybrid attacks and how this reflects on the notion of the European Union as a 'normative power'. This will be done by conducting a content analysis of relevant news articles from EURACTIV, EUobserver, and POLITICO on the case study and by holding interviews with experts and academics. The notion of the European Union as a normative power will be explored through the lens of realism and neo-realism, focusing on the role of human rights and the European Union's reliance on sanctions. This will help to explore the conclusion that the conceptualisation of the European Union should be more nuanced, making it appear as a civilian power with strong normative foundations in practice rather than a solely normative power.
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Normative power as a Source of EU Peacebuilding: Diffusion of Normative Power Europe in the Western Balkans
Petrlová, Eva ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
This thesis aims to interconnect a theory of normative power Europe with the activities of the EU and its affect on the Western Balkans. The theoretical concept of normative power is based on the assumption of the EU as a normative actor who is able through its norms, values and principles to become a major civilian actor in international relations, especially in the area of conflict management. The theoretical part of the paper therefore focuses on the concept of normative power EU (NPE) as it is presented by Ian Manners, and how its normative character is reflected in the common security and defense policy. It is analysed how the NPE is diffused in selected countries of the Western Balkans through four chosen transfer mechanisms by Manners that comprise the operationalization of the thesis at the same time. Therefore the aim of this work is to contribute to the further broadening the debate over the EU's role in the international system, but also to find out how the norms and values are transmitted in selected countries of the near neighborhood - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. All of this with regard to democracy, human and minority rights, peaceful settlement of disputes, good governance etc., which encompass the basic values of the EU. The selected operationalization has allowed...
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The European Union as a Foreign Policy Actor on the Sanctions Scene: The Case of Burma
Růžičková, Jana ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Hyniová, Andrea (referee)
In connection with its foreign policy, the European Union was until 2003 often seen as an actor lacking basically any "hard" power and it was often labeled as a "normative" power, "civilian" power etc. However, a group of scholars led by Ian Manners has been claiming that in connection with the adoption of the European Security Strategy in December 2003 the EU has lost its "soft" characteristics and has moved closer towards a traditional military actor. The master thesis deals with this issue of the alleged militarization of the Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) after 2003/2004 while focusing on one particular area of the CFSP - the policy of restrictive measures or sanctions. This area is unique because of its special characteristic: on one hand, sanctions as such represent a "hard", coercive foreign policy tool and on the other, the EU has been autonomously using them already since the 1980s. The question therefore is what the frequent use of sanctions implies about the character of the EU and whether does the policy of restrictive measures stand, as a matter of principle, in opposition to being a "soft" power. By means of discourse analysis of the official EU sanction documents and by using the case of Burma (which represents a "typical case"), the thesis attempts to demonstrate,...
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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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On its way to membership? EU-Moldova relations after the Association Agreement
Kráľová, Diana ; Martinková, Viera (advisor) ; Földes, Kristián (referee)
The European Union is one of the most significant international actors whose institutional character and specific conduct of foreign policy make it an interesting object of study. It creates robust policies and programmes to frame relations with both the Member States, as well as with neighbouring countries. The European Neighbourhood Policy, and the Eastern Partnership specifically, is one such example. Even though the ENP was formally designed as a policy of non - membership, the communication of the EU's stance tends to refrain from framing it that way. Consequently, this creates a situation in which the neighbouring state continues to aspire to become a member of the EU, despite lack of reform progress, in hope of a "membership delay". The thesis addresses this discrepancy on the example of the relationship between the EU and the Republic of Moldova after the signature of the Association Agreement by interpreting its development and by assessing how the EU uses its normative power to Europeanize Moldova. Keywords Normative power, Europeanization, EU-enlargement, the European Union, the Republic of Moldova
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Violation of Human Rights on the West Bank and Its Reflection in the European Union
Langrová, Tereza ; Hornát, Jan (advisor) ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (referee)
This thesis deals with foreign policy of European Union towards Israel considering the violation of human rights on the West Bank territory. Israel, while occupying this territory, violates some parts of international humanitarian law, namely Geneva Conventions. Eventhough European Union declares respect for human rights and claim to be its distributor, EU cooperate with Israel on many different levels. This thesis works with concept Normative power by Ian Manners and Legitimizing power by Anders Persson to analyze how European Union deals with Israeli violation of human rights and how did it project it into their relation between 2005 and 2015.
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Normative power as a Source of EU Peacebuilding: Diffusion of Normative Power Europe in the Western Balkans
Petrlová, Eva ; Střítecký, Vít (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
This thesis aims to interconnect a theory of normative power Europe with the activities of the EU and its affect on the Western Balkans. The theoretical concept of normative power is based on the assumption of the EU as a normative actor who is able through its norms, values and principles to become a major civilian actor in international relations, especially in the area of conflict management. The theoretical part of the paper therefore focuses on the concept of normative power EU (NPE) as it is presented by Ian Manners, and how its normative character is reflected in the common security and defense policy. It is analysed how the NPE is diffused in selected countries of the Western Balkans through four chosen transfer mechanisms by Manners that comprise the operationalization of the thesis at the same time. Therefore the aim of this work is to contribute to the further broadening the debate over the EU's role in the international system, but also to find out how the norms and values are transmitted in selected countries of the near neighborhood - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. All of this with regard to democracy, human and minority rights, peaceful settlement of disputes, good governance etc., which encompass the basic values of the EU. The selected operationalization has allowed...
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The European Union as a Foreign Policy Actor on the Sanctions Scene: The Case of Burma
Růžičková, Jana ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Hyniová, Andrea (referee)
In connection with its foreign policy, the European Union was until 2003 often seen as an actor lacking basically any "hard" power and it was often labeled as a "normative" power, "civilian" power etc. However, a group of scholars led by Ian Manners has been claiming that in connection with the adoption of the European Security Strategy in December 2003 the EU has lost its "soft" characteristics and has moved closer towards a traditional military actor. The master thesis deals with this issue of the alleged militarization of the Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) after 2003/2004 while focusing on one particular area of the CFSP - the policy of restrictive measures or sanctions. This area is unique because of its special characteristic: on one hand, sanctions as such represent a "hard", coercive foreign policy tool and on the other, the EU has been autonomously using them already since the 1980s. The question therefore is what the frequent use of sanctions implies about the character of the EU and whether does the policy of restrictive measures stand, as a matter of principle, in opposition to being a "soft" power. By means of discourse analysis of the official EU sanction documents and by using the case of Burma (which represents a "typical case"), the thesis attempts to demonstrate,...
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European Union - A Normative Power? Testing European Neighbourhood Policy in the Mediterranean
Strýčková, Katarína ; Weiss, Tomáš (advisor) ; Najšlová, Lucia (referee)
Normative Power Europe theory presented by Ian Manners defines the European Union as a normative actor in international relations. According to him, EU's ability to change what passes for "normal" in international relations originates from its internal set-up which the EU uses to shape its environment and international norms in its own image. After first studying Manner's tripartite analysis and defining normative goals, means and impact of the normative policy, the thesis then proceeds to test normative theory in the European neighbourhood, particularly in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, by analysing EU's democracy and human rights promotion in Tunisia. It identifies discrepancy between EU's goals and means and discovers that on the one side, Euro-Mediterranean cooperation improves socio-economic development, however on the other it impedes the political one. This finding reflects incoherence and inconsistency of the EU's policies in the Mediterranean and arrives to the conclusion that EU is not a normative power in its neighbourhood policy.
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European Union Normative Power in Azerbaijan
Kotásková, Tereza ; Havlová, Radka (advisor) ; Dubský, Zbyněk (referee)
Azerbaijan presents itself as a country with an independent foreign policy, refusing European requirements for democratic reforms within the Eastern Partnership. Yet, the European Union keeps developing mutual relations, especially in the field of energy cooperation. The EU has been criticized for betraying its fundamental values of democracy and human rights, and doubts arise if the EU can represent a normative power, as described by Ian Manners in 2002. This master thesis therefore analyzes the European policy in Azerbaijan from a normative perspective. It concludes that the European Union's policy in Azerbaijan is normative and the economic cooperation is not an obstacle. Nevertheless, the impact of the European policy is hampered, making it not possible to state that EU has normative power. The main reasons are insufficient efficiency of European means and Azerbaijan's hostile approach. Still, the current situation of Azerbaijan's economic problems provides Europe with potential to increase its normative influence.
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