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The Dragon's Pearls: Decoding the Chinese Strategy for the Indian Ocean
Porter, Andrew ; Karásková, Ivana (advisor) ; Karmazin, Aleš (referee)
In the Indian Ocean Region, China's economic and strategic interests are converging as many of its investments lie along the vital ocean routes needed to literally and figuratively fuel its growing economy. The rollout of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, against the backdrop of, and in line with this convergence, has raised concerns about the military-strategic utility of various infrastructure projects. The increased economic connectivity that drives the Belt and Road has inherent strategic consequences, but the degree to which geostrategic factors drive investments divides analysts. Some believe that certain ports have been purposefully selected as future bases for China's navy. To address the difficulty of comprehending China's foreign policy decisions, this thesis draws on a neoclassical realist interpretation of international relations, and uses geographical location, collective memory, strategic culture, and domestic politics to develop a better understanding of Chinese policymakers' perceptions of their international security environment. This study develops methodology to evaluate the strategic value of a site in context to different basing strategies. The work sheds light on how China views its future position in the world by deciphering intentions behind Chines investments in ports...
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Strategic role of the Diego Garcia military base from Cold War until present
Hřivna, Václav ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Ludvík, Jan (referee)
The concern of the diploma thesis is the geostrategic role of the base on the island Diego Garcia. It deals chronologically with the evolvement of this role since the base was established until the present time. Apart from the analysis of the extent, motivation and reasons of the evolvement, the explanation of all these is provided as well. The research is based on the theories formulated by admiral Alfred T. Mahan who was primarily concerned with the agenda of a naval superpower. The issue of bases is directly linked to that subject. The analysis pays attention to physical development of the facilities on the island which to a certain extent reflects the strategic role of the base. It also further examines the regional and global context which is deemed to be crucial for the better understanding of the function the base had for the United States. Practical usage of the base is analysed for a better explanation of the role the base played as some of the contemporary documents are still classified and unavailable. According to the research, the role the base played changed several times but it is very difficult to point out the main factor that caused the change. Most probably, it was caused by a combination of several factors.
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Serpent in the Water: Debating the Chinese Maritime Strategy
Slominski, Michael ; Kofroň, Jan (advisor) ; Riegl, Martin (referee)
A current topic of international debate among western geopolitical scholars concerns whether recent demonstrations of Chinese naval power represent China's adoption of an outwardly aggressive maritime strategy which might require a reactive change of approach by western nations in dealing with Southeast Asian trading interests. This paper analyzes recent developments in Chinese maritime strategy in order to determine whether the strategy is actually offensive or defensive. Drawing on a realist interpretation of international relations, a geo- strategic evaluation of the Chinese state, and a detailed understanding of the principles of maritime strategy, this paper addresses the inherent difficulty in distinguishing between offensive and defensive maritime strategies given that maritime states naturally develop power-projection forces in order to protect their Sea Lanes of Communication and maritime commerce. In an effort to discern the strategic intent underlying China's modern naval activity, this paper establishes an independent vision of China's optimal defensive maritime strategy based on the state's current threat environment, and compares those results against recent investments in China's naval power. By examining the congruency of these two positions, this work offers a contextualized...
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Cold Waters, Hot Stakes: Systemic Geostrategic Analysis of International Relations in the Arctic Transborder Region
Valko, Irina ; Romancov, Michael (advisor) ; Hnízdo, Bořivoj (referee)
This work aims to fill the gap in the civil scientific agenda by offering its own, two- stage version of a systemic, dynamic, and interdisciplinary analysis of the developments in the Arctic transborder region; by fixing the region"s southern border at the Arctic Circle, adjusting to the premises of new geopolitics, using systemic modeling, and viewing geostrategic analysis as an obligatory academic contribution to the "art" of statecraft.The first stage of analysis is inductive, descriptive, and static. It defines the Arctic region as a system of five geostrategic action spaces, physical space (S1), military space (S2), economic space (S3), demographic space (S4), and information space (S5). After defining essential elements of the physical environment, social network analysis is applied on four human-constructed geostrategic spaces (S2-S5) - i.e. the basic networks of relationship (links) between the key actors (nodes) are created. Matrices of symmetrical relationships for military space (S2), economic space (S3), and demographic space (S4) are constructed to demonstrate the links" intensity. In order to illustrate the fact that changes in one action space ultimately transform other spaces, ten possible channels of inter-space affection are illustrated. The second stage of analysis is deductive,...
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