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Theorizing Military Power Projection: Why and When Distance Matters
Bahenský, Vojtěch ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor) ; Doboš, Bohumil (referee) ; Badsey, Stephen (referee)
The relationship between physical distance and military power is oft-discussed and even more often assumed but arguably still poorly understood. Despite the scope of existing research on the relationship, there is little agreement on the causal mechanism connecting the two variables in question, which hampers further examination of the phenomenon. This work attempts to fill this gap by asking how and when does distance actually matter for military power projection. By connecting International Relations research on the subject with strategic and military studies understanding of the underlying processes and through an in-depth case study of the Falklands War, the thesis identified three general causal mechanisms which mediate distance's detrimental effect on military power: temporal mechanism, contestation mechanism, and materiel mechanism. Additionally, it also found that three mechanisms reinforce each other but generally are not causing additional military power decay in the presence of other conditions limiting war. The thesis argues that distance plays only a minor role in very small deployments into limited conflicts, but this should not be generalized lightly to possible great power wars by using quantitative methods. Possible policy implications of the theory for the United States and its...
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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 Argentine Army as an economic factor
Daříčková, Eva ; Opatrný, Josef (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee) ; Barteček, Ivo (referee)
The doctoral thesis The Argentine Army as an Economic Factor focuses on civil-military relations that are key to understanding the history, the development of modern society, and even the reality of current Argentina. The main myth that characterizes Argentine history is that the interruption of the development of the democratic processes is due to military interventions. Both in Argentine society and in the international sphere, there is a purely negative opinion about the Argentine military, in particular related to the shock caused by the last military dictatorship. This sentiment still permeates the cultural and moral face of society. This paper offers another vision of the Argentine military and tries to contribute to overcome an overly simplified perception and the prejudice that derives from it. The first part of the paper examines the emergence of military power and the characteristics of the political system in the first half of the 20th century. This section points out the causes for which the Army overstepped its specific functions and entered into the political life of Argentina. The second part is devoted to the Argentine economic system and its characteristics, from its insertion in the global market and its development through the economic policies of various governments. This...
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The Argentine Army as an economic factor
Daříčková, Eva ; Opatrný, Josef (advisor) ; Křížová, Markéta (referee) ; Barteček, Ivo (referee)
The doctoral thesis The Argentine Army as an Economic Factor focuses on civil-military relations that are key to understanding the history, the development of modern society, and even the reality of current Argentina. The main myth that characterizes Argentine history is that the interruption of the development of the democratic processes is due to military interventions. Both in Argentine society and in the international sphere, there is a purely negative opinion about the Argentine military, in particular related to the shock caused by the last military dictatorship. This sentiment still permeates the cultural and moral face of society. This paper offers another vision of the Argentine military and tries to contribute to overcome an overly simplified perception and the prejudice that derives from it. The first part of the paper examines the emergence of military power and the characteristics of the political system in the first half of the 20th century. This section points out the causes for which the Army overstepped its specific functions and entered into the political life of Argentina. The second part is devoted to the Argentine economic system and its characteristics, from its insertion in the global market and its development through the economic policies of various governments. This...
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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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Possibilities of Neoclassical Geopolitics: Systemic Approach
Kofroň, Jan ; Dostál, Petr (advisor) ; Ištok, Robert (referee) ; Romancov, Michael (referee)
The submitted dissertation tries to introduce neoclassical geopolitics as a viable approach to the study of international politics from geographical perspective. The dissertation is a compact of six already published articles and a common introduction highlighting main points of the articles and further discussing some issues which were (i) eliminated due to space constrains, or (ii) their significance is rather contextual, in the sense that they set the articles into broader discussions. The first part of the thesis (supported by two articles) deals with a current stage of political geography and geopolitics. The main result is that geopolitics is today a divided (sub)discipline, as geographers are mainly engaged in critical geopolitics and scholars of the International Relations continue in classical geopolitical reasoning (namely those who subscribe themselves under the label of neorealism). The main difference is that geographers consider space as an inter-subjective entity - socially constructed, whereas IR scholars tend to see space as an objective factor. In the combination with other epistemological differences, this different consideration of space has produced an exorbitant barrier between these two fields. One factor dividing the two approaches looms especially large - it is an arduous...
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The Fall of the United States as a Global Superpower
Vilímec, Tomáš ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Ulík, Karel (referee)
The bachelor thesis The Fall of the United States as a Global Superpower examines the current position of the United States as the only world superpower. Since the end of the Cold War the United States of America is considered as the world hegemonic power. Nonetheless many circumstances have changed since then. The United states are obliged to finance the worldwide war against terrorism, they suffered the worst economic recession since the Great depression and their relations with other countries including their allies are not as bright as they used to be. Moreover their position is no longer unchallenged by other countries. Probably the most visible competitor is China which amazes the whole world by its powerful economic growth. Also other countries are experiencing their steep rise into the position of world power. This thesis will investigate separately the military, economic and political power of the United States and will try to answer whether the hypothetical decline of the United States could be real or not.
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