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Is The EU Attractive?
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract: This article introduces the EU as an attractive actor. It aspires to classify approaches shaping the current debate about various aspects of the EU’s relations towards other international actors (Europeanisation, soft power, civilian power or normative power) and derives two dimensions of attractiveness:...
The Potential Of Poland's Bio-Petrol
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract: The aspiration to promote the bio-petrol industry is an attempt to provide a solution for some of the problems the European Union countries share, such as the decreasing importance of peripheral areas, the need to diversify energy sources and the commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. Once Poland...
French Foreign Policy And The EU's CFSP
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract: This article examines some of the main phases of French activities within framework of the EU´s Common Foreign and Security Policy. Since the end of the Cold War the Fifth Republic has become obsessed with strengthening European political and military importance around the world. This was caused...
Statism In Russia: Implications For US-Russian Relations
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract: This work identifies and assesses the general shift in Russian foreign policy thinking during Vladimir Putin’s presidency. The main thesis of this work is that a general shift in Russian foreign policy had occurred during Putin’s presidency owing to the rise in Statist thinking. To substantiate...
Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo? Assessing Imperialist Aspirations Of The EU, Russia & The US
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract: After the Cold War, three substantially different powers have emerged in international politics. While the United States has already established itself as a key international leader, though is attempting to limit an imperialist label, the EU and Russia struggled throughout the 1990s over their...
Informality Reigns The Country: The Case Of The Czech Republic
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Criminal networks have infiltrated the Czech justice system. Czech Security Information Services BIS, 2007
Abstract: This work focuses on informal politics for the political elite level in the Czech Republic and proposes an actor-based view. It considers the relationship between formal and informal...
The Case For The Creation Of A ‘Global FBI’
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract: Global society is in need of the same law-enforcement development as with the introduction of the FBI in the US in 1908; to introduce another layer of expertise and specialism to deal with transnational criminals and international terrorism and to bring the rule of law to the whole of global...
War Is Not the Answer... to New Security Threats
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: This article shows that war represents an inappropriate solution to so-called new security threats such as terrorism, organised crime, regional conflicts and failed states. Compared to previous times, when threats were largely posed well-defined enemies, new security threats are markedly more...
The European External Action Service: A Preliminary Evaluation
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: This work examines the new European diplomatic corps launched within the framework of the Lisbon Treaty. Based on the decision from 26 July 2010 by which the Council of the European Union established the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service, this work constructs...
The Ideas of Europe in CEE
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: The central aim of this work is to present some ideas of Europe in Central and Eastern Europe throughout various time-periods, starting from the Soviet period, then moving to the pre-accession period and finally the post-accession period. Throughout those periods, Central and Eastern European...
Identities, Not Money: CEE Countries’ Attitudes to the Euro
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: The research conducted in this research challenges more conventional views that Central and East European (CEE) countries are driven by financial and materialistic concerns in their attitudes towards the adoption of the Euro. It argues that neither indicators of economic benefits, nor the distributive...
The Role of the EU's Civil Society Development Assistance in the Process of Peacebuilding: The Case of the EU Enlargement
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: This article presents the role of civil society in peacebuilding processes and how the concepts of peacebuilding and civil society development fit into a broader EU foreign policy framework. In its empirical part, this article analyses the role of civil society development as part of the EU’s...
The Chimera of Europe’s Normative Power in East Asia: A Constructivist Analysis
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: Utilising constructivism this work analyses the contemporary relational complexities of East Asia vis-à-vis the European Union (EU). Mindful of the social constructivist themes of identity and interests, it is argued that there are fundamental difficulties found in these interregional relations,...
Canada’s Arctic Policy: Prospects For Cooperation In A Warming World
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: This assessment of the Arctic is divided in to four sections. First, the true value of the region is defined in terms of its environmental, geostrategic, economic and socio-cultural importance. Such a definition stresses the need for countries involved in Arctic expeditions (notably Canada,...
The Melting Poles: Between Challenges And Opportunities
Issue:
2011 - Volume 5, Issue 1
Abstract: The Arctic and Antarctica have traditionally been treated as footnotes in larger international relations. Recently however, the polar caps have entered the priority lists of a multitude of international actors and captured the attention of the international community at large. Despite popular...
Unpacking Pandora’s Box: Defining Transnational Crime and Outlining Emerging Criminal Trends
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 2
Transnational crime has been accepted as a working concept in most related disciplines. Yet, regardless of its wide recognition by academicand policy making communities, the term has remained amorphous. In order to provide greater precision, this article engages in a bold effort to conceptualise transnational...
Iran’s Nuclear Policy: Russia’s Perspective
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 2
Abstract: Despite Iran’s claim that its nuclear intentions are based strictly on developing the technology for peaceful purposes, the regime is constantly criticised – notably by the US and EU – and has come under immense pressure, resulting in debilitating international sanctions to prod the regime...
National Minorities and Diasporas in Lithuania
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 2
Having evolved from a Soviet republic to an EU member-state, Lithuania is viewed as an established democracy. Officially Lithuania is considered a ‘success story’ in handling minority issues. This work analyses the scope of national minority rights in Lithuania and is based on the country’s domestic...
ESDP Operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Realist Analysis
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 2
Whereas most interpretations of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operations are either normative or functionalist, this article argues that what motivated the European Union member-states to launch military operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is nothing less than a classic struggle...
EU-Russian Economic Integration: Gridlocked by the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement?
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 2
EU-Russian economic integration and the growing institutionalisation of bilateral relations is, partially, the way out of global recession. Dueto political obstacles the pace of economic integration is rather slow. Unable to overcome the ‘lowest common denominator’ attitude towards each other, the EU...
The Polish Missile Defence Decision: Reviewing the ‘Scrapping’ of the Bush-Era Missile Defence Plan
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 2
Although the decisions of the Polish government to deploy the US missile defence base in 2008 and 2010 was regarded by many commentators as taken against the domestic majority opinion, this article presents some arguments to support the assumption that those decisions were compatible both with the improvement...
From Preference Formation at Home to Preference Promotion Abroad: The Role of Czech Intrastate Actors
Issue:
2010 - Volume 4, Issue 2
Building on the governance turn in EU studies, this work examines the emergence of polycentric interest structures among new member states and looks at the extent EU governance structures contribute to decentralisation and deconcentration of power with the state eventually losing its traditional monopoly...
Another European Cross-Road? Kosovo on the Brink of Recognition and Chaos
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
The current situation facing Kosovo is the result of a long historic process which essentially began several hundred years ago. This process accelerated following the break-up of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. While the series of conflicts between Croats, Serbs...
A Comment on Energy Security in the EU
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
Developments in international economic, industrial, political and military affairs largely depend on the access states and other political communities have to energy supplies. Such wide-scale dependency increases the acuteness of competition between international actors for the remaining fossil fuel...
Can Any Candidate End the Persistence of America's Tragic Diplomacy?
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
While scandals, failed military interventions, and public cynicism can characterize the terms of several Presidents in American history, few will stand out more than the two terms of George W. Bush. After September 11th 2001, the President quickly went from a public approval rating of less than 50% to...
2008 Czech Presidential Elections: A Commentary
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 1
Again after five years, the attention of the Czech public and politicians was focused on the Presidential elections, one of the most important milestones of 2008 in terms of Czech political developments. The outcome of the last elections in 2003 was a little surprising as the candidate of the Civic Democratic...
Who Really Lost the Georgian War?
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
The media coverage of Russia’s recent military intervention in Georgia has been intense. Moscow justified its early August attack on its Caucasian neighbour as a “peace enforcement” operation and an attempt to protect Russian citizens living in the breakaway republics of South Ossetia...
Personal Experiences from the Years of 'Late Normalization,' 1980s: Study at SS Cyril and Method's Theological Faculty in Litomerice
Issue:
2008 - Volume 2, Issue 2
Nearly 20 years after the Velvet Revolution, and the Czech Republic (among other neighbouring post-communist countries in Central Europe) has begun to expose its recent history for public consumption. Archival documents and memories of the contemporaries have often caused upheaval widely covered by the...
American Political Power: Hegemony on its Heels?
Issue:
2007 - Volume 1, Issue 2
International relations epochs seldom have abrupt beginnings and conclusions. Rather, changes to the norms, values and boundaries of international relations often occur in a painstakingly slow and ambiguous process. As the saying goes, Rome was neither built nor destroyed in a day.
The post-Cold War...
Is Peace-Building Common Sense?
Issue:
2007 - Volume 1, Issue 2
Peace, it is often claimed, is common sense. Whilst many of us feel a normative bond to this claim, the continuation of violence would suggest that the fostering of sustainable peace remains an elusive goal. Perhaps it is time to re-examine this most fundamental of claims if we are to accept the true...