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Geostrategic Importance of Greenland
Uchytilová, Gabriela ; Doboš, Bohumil (advisor) ; Romancov, Michael (referee)
The diploma thesis entitled "Geostrategic Importance of Greenland" deals with the current geopolitical position of the island in the context of advancing climate change. This brings Greenland many opportunities, but also threats that could affect its further development. The main aim of the work is therefore to examine how the geographical location of the island in combination with the advancing climate change affects its development, especially towards the future full independence from the Kingdom of Denmark. The work maps the current situation of Greenland in terms of newly emerging opportunities as well as the threats it also faces. Furthermore, the work focuses on the relationship between Greenland and Denmark and tries to describe the strategic importance of the island for Denmark. Although the Arctic is an area where states have cooperated in the past decades, in recent years tensions have been growing in the region between the Russian Federation, which is increasing its military presence there, and Western states represented by the North Atlantic Alliance. In addition, China is trying to penetrate the region, which is not indifferent to the strategic importance of the region, and other non-Arctic actors, led by the European Union, are also turning their attention to the region. The...
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Oil and its influence on the development of democracy. Comparative study of Norway and Azerbaijan
Bárta, Richard ; Guasti, Petra (advisor) ; Riegl, Martin (referee)
On cases of Norway and Azerbaijan, the Bachelor's thesis examines the relationship between the oil and gas production revenues and the quality of democracy. Norway is one of the few countries in the world, that had successfully avoided the Resource curse symptoms. On the other hand, Republic of Azerbaijan is typical example of a state, where oil and gas revenues helped to promote the authoritarian regime. The thesis is trying to find key factors of Norway's oil and gas management success, and also to point out, whether these factors were absent in the case of Azerbaijan. The thesis is focused on the amount of oil and gas related revenues, and its influence on developement of democracy in observed countries. Finally, the thesis responds to following questions: Is the quality of democracy influenced by the amount of revenues from oil and gas? In what way did the revenues allocated from the mineral resources extraction helped to preserve the current regimes? Does Norwegian model provide guidance for avoiding the symptoms of the Resource curse?
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Involvement of the People's Republic of China in Africa
Svobodová, Petra ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Karásek, Tomáš (referee)
Diploma thesis "Involvement of the People's Republic of China in Africa' deals with the evolution of China-Africa cooperation in the three specified time periods. Mainly it deals with the time period of the last nearly sixty years. This time period was subsequently divided into the period of the Cold War, 1990s and the last period is representing the year 2000 up to the present. Even though the diploma thesis deals with the African continent as a whole unit, the special emphasis was put on the four specific countries - namely Angola, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe. It analyses how the mutual cooperation has changed during these three different time periods and what has been the main components of China-Africa relationship. Primarily cooperation in the economic (foreign direct investments, foreign aid, balance of trade etc.), the political, but also the military sphere is analysed. The emphasis is also put on the Chinese status of a genuine alternative to the Western donor block, especially its policy of non- interference and aid without conditions. Diploma thesis also briefly touches on the approach of the traditional Western countries towards Africa (Washington versus Beijing Consensus). Positive and negative sides of mutual cooperation is also discussed.
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The impact of natural resources on the intrastate conflicts in international relations - sale of booty futures in the African civil wars
Pazderník, Martin ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Werkman, Kateřina (referee)
This master's thesis deals with the potential impact of natural resources on intrastate conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. The major aim is to investigate the general validity of the resource curse theory and of Ross's hypothesis about selling booty futures in civil wars. The presumed negative influence of both theories is tested on the cases of recent intrastate conflicts in the region, namely in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. However, the main contribution of the thesis is probably the analysis of another case, namely Botswana, which, unlike other countries, appears to be out of the generally valid standards of the resource curse theory, as the only one experiencing long-term positive economic growth. The partial aim of the thesis is also to analyze the Botswana's success in managing natural resources and then to suggest some possible recommendations for other states in the region. The thesis is written in the qualitative approach, particularly in the form of thorough work with academic literature. The research method is the Method of Difference by John Stuart Mill, in its revised form of the Most Similar Systems Design.
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The Natural Resource Course? Regional Level Analysis
Burdych, Tomáš ; Novotný, Josef (advisor) ; Tichý, Lukáš (referee)
The thesis deals with the existence or absence of a curse of mineral resource (more closely specified in the form of so-called curse of natural resources) namely on the most important mining regions of the selected group of developing countries with significant mining sector. The aim is to capture the regional benefits of mining, or its negative impact with the help of indicator of the relative position of the quality of life of the mining region (relativized to the other regions of watched country). You can see the greatest benefits of the work in this approach of monitoring the impacts of a possible curse (or benefit) of mineral resources at the regional level, as the majority of similar thesis is devoted to the comparison of countries, or the individual studies. The reader finds an overview of the basic mechanisms and factors affecting the use, benefit or a curse of mineral resources, as well as partial specifically aimed analyzes watched mining countries, including the determination of mining regions and finally a summary of reclaimed pieces of knowledgee, including the attempt of interpretation. The thesis also specifies the factors and mechanisms that underlie the curse, or the benefits of mineral resources among the group of countries and their mining regions. Key Words: Nature Resource...
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Involvement of the People's Republic of China in Africa
Svobodová, Petra ; Kučerová, Irah (advisor) ; Karásek, Tomáš (referee)
Diploma thesis "Involvement of the People's Republic of China in Africa' deals with the evolution of China-Africa cooperation in the three specified time periods. Mainly it deals with the time period of the last nearly sixty years. This time period was subsequently divided into the period of the Cold War, 1990s and the last period is representing the year 2000 up to the present. Even though the diploma thesis deals with the African continent as a whole unit, the special emphasis was put on the four specific countries - namely Angola, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe. It analyses how the mutual cooperation has changed during these three different time periods and what has been the main components of China-Africa relationship. Primarily cooperation in the economic (foreign direct investments, foreign aid, balance of trade etc.), the political, but also the military sphere is analysed. The emphasis is also put on the Chinese status of a genuine alternative to the Western donor block, especially its policy of non- interference and aid without conditions. Diploma thesis also briefly touches on the approach of the traditional Western countries towards Africa (Washington versus Beijing Consensus). Positive and negative sides of mutual cooperation is also discussed.
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Taxation of mineral resources extraction
Císařová, Iva ; Láchová, Lenka (advisor) ; Matějka, Václav (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to analyze reasons for specific taxation of the mineral resources extraction, to present what kind of taxes can be applied for such purposes and to compare them by calculating the tax liability of hypothetical company located in representative provinces of Canada. This calculation proved that when mix of taxes is applied, where part of the income is taxed by corporate income tax and on the other part of income extraction tax is levied by using royalties, the same government revenue can be reached as when linear tax rate is applied as an extraction tax. However, royalties also bring other advantages, e.g. the simplicity of administering extraction taxes or low demands in calculating the tax liability for extractive companies.
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Influence of mineral resources on politics and economics in chosen countries of Sub-Saharan Africa
Krausová, Kateřina ; Volenec, Otakar (advisor) ; Kochan, Jan (referee)
Diplom thesis discusses a question of influence of mineral resources on politics and economics in chosen countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The paradox of low economic development of many resource rich countries significantly engaged in international trade is often discussed by economic experts. I decided to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa because I consider this region to be unable to fully use its potential for economic development despite being very rich in natural resources.Target of this thesis is to find out which natural resources exist in chosen countires, how the countries manage them, how successfull their economic development is, which problems they currently handle and how their current situation is related to their historic, cultural and politic background. For the purpose of my thesis I have chosen Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Botswana.
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Taxation of mineral resources extraction
Medunová, Lucie ; Láchová, Lenka (advisor) ; Kouba, Tomáš (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to compare the approaches of the taxation of the mineral resources in chosen developing and developed countries and to introduce different ways of mineral resources taxation used in the world. The thesis mainly deals with taxation of an extraction of petroleum, which is one of the most important resources. Selected countries are Nigeria and Angola, which are the largest petroleum producers in Africa from at the forefront of world rankings, followed by Russia, which is currently the largest petroleum producer in the world and finally the United Kingdom and Norway which are among the largest producers of petroleum within Europe.The first chapter of this thesis deals with the characterization of minerals. The second chapter shows the ways and specifics of their taxation. In the third part there are the characteristics of developing and developed countries and the differences in their economies and ways of taxation. There are also provided basic information about the selected states. The ways of the taxation of mineral resources in five selected countries and their comparison are presented in the last chapter.
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