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Securitizing Migration, Europeanizing Czechs?
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 4
Lately, we have witnessed continuing heightened migration to Europe. Despite this not being a new phenomenon, it has been often described as such. One of the possible explanations for this narrative of exception is that migration is being securitised in order to strengthen the EU, and its identity. The...
Establishing the Complexity of the Islamic State’s Visual Propaganda
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 4
Security analysts have not systematically studied visual discourses, even if they apparently play a prominent role in current propaganda efforts. The article intends to address this disciplinary insufficiency by introducing an inter-scientific approach to analysing large visual data samples. The article...
Czech Responses to Thatcher and Thatcherism: The Evidence of the Newspapers, 1984-2013
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 4
This article explores change and continuity in the evolution of the mainstream Czech and Czechoslovak discourse on Thatcherism and Margaret Thatcher’s own political persona. It examines the attitudes and positions on these matters as expressed and channelled through Czech-language mass print platforms,...
Power Politics and Energy Politics: Two Sides of the Same Euro Coin
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 4
The growing EU energy market and the decline of its domestic hydrocarbon reserves have made the EU-Russia energy relations a very debatable and significant issue of the very near future. It is unquestioned that energy trade is found at the core of every political entity or group of entities desiring...
The Narrative of the Czech-Israeli Strategic Relations in the European Context
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 4
This article is a particular case study that analyzes the causes and assumptions of how the Czech political elite looks towards Israel and how this view affects the fact that current Czech-Israeli relations have such a high standard in the European context and that the state of Israel has one of its...
The EU, Kosovo and Serbia: The Quest for the Status
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 4
The task of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it classifies and explores the three approaches to solving the conflict in Kosovo. The first approach, coined into the phrase ‘Kosovo as a unique case’, undermines academic debates revolving around Kosovo and it is of no use for scientific purposes. The second...
From the End of History to the Post-American World: Global Politics, Economy and Security at the Turn of the Epoch
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 3
The author analyses a number of major works by American scholars (Fukuyama, Huntington, Zakaria, Nye, Haass, Mearsheimer, Brzezinski, Jentleson, Wright, Ikenberry, Jones) that examine the global power shifts, especially with regard to the changing position and role of the US as the leading Western power....
Features, Aims and Limits of Turkey’s Humanitarian Diplomacy
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 3
Several scholars agree that Turkey applied humanitarian diplomacy as part of its global opening, a consequence of which is that it became a medium global player. However, it is still not clear – and thus still under research – what does Turkey’s experience teach us regarding humanitarian diplomacy? For...
The Alawites and the Labyrinthine Routes of Peace in Syria
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 3
For the past six years, Syria has been trapped in a deep political turmoil, which has had a grave impact on peace and stability in the Middle East. Amid the rising atrocities committed on the Syrian population by the Syrian government, the rebels and the Islamic state, the Russian Federation decided...
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and post-Soviet Central Asia: New Multilateral Bank Formation in the Context of China’s Economic Interaction with post-Soviet Central Asian Countries
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 3
This paper analyses what consequences the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) formation brings to partnerships between the People’s Republic of China and the post-Soviet states of Central Asia—the Republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Given that Beijing...
The Beijing Consensus: Characteristics of China’s Official Development Finance in Ghana, 2000–2013
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 3
Chinese development financial flows provided to African recipients have gained a lot of attention for their volume and nature representing an alternative approach to development. It is the aim of the article to examine the observance of principles of the Chinese development model, the Beijing Consensus,...
Polish-Ukrainian Relations, Euromaidan and the Donbass Conflict: The Challenges for Warsaw
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 2
This article contributes to the discussion about the multidimensional consequences of the crisis and conflict in Ukraine. It focuses on the rarely discussed subject of the implications of the events in this country since 2013 for Polish-Ukrainian relations from Warsaw's perspective. This article has...
Involved in The Middle East – George W. Bush versus Barack Obama
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 2
This article evaluates the different foreign policy approaches of the United States Administration under the 43rd and 44th presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, towards the Middle East. They each projected a completely different style of conflict resolution strategy. While George Bush is known...
Iran’s Regional Ambitions: The Rising Power of Azerbaijan’s Neighbour
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 2
Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Iran are complex and filled with escalating tensions, demographic and territorial challenges, as well as mutually beneficial cooperation. With economic sanctions lifted (at the time of this writing) as a result of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran...
International Terrorism - Current Challenges and Legal Means of Protection in the Czech Republic
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 2
The article analyses two current issues relating to the contemporary international terrorism. Firstly, it is the ingrowth or merging of international terrorism with organised crime, as a criminological or sociological problem. Secondly, it is the threat posed by the growing number of persons referred...
The EU’s Normative Impact on its Neighbourhood
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 2
The paper examines the relevance of Ian Manners’ ‘normative power Europe’ concept and argues that the concept benefits from its closer integration into the general norm diffusion literature in international relations. The paper emphasises that the European Union’s capability of having an impact on what...
The Challenge from Merkel’s Right: Alternative for Germany and the Alliance for Progress and Renewal in Bavaria and Eastern Germany
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 1
Abstract: In the past three years two new political parties have been established in Germany and both approach recent economic, social and civil issues from the political Right. The Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) can indeed be viewed further to the right than the Alliance...
Causes of Conflicts and Methods or Resolution in the Caucasus
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 1
Abstract: After the collapse of the USSR and the outbreak of armed conflicts in the Caucasus, international relations scholars and practitioners have sought explanations about causes of conflicts and ways to their resolution. This article poses why conflicts have erupted in the countries of the former...
The Role of Internet Based Social Networks in Russian Protest Movement Mobilization
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2017 - Volume 11, Issue 1
Abstract: One of the unmistakable characteristics of Russia’s “White House” uprising that led to regime change in August 1991 was its broad popular support. The political upheaval that initially found buttress in Muscovite urban middle classes soon transcended all social strata and geography ending dominance...
Overcoming the “Dutch Disease”: The Economic Modernisation of Gulf monarchies into the 21st Century
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 1
Abstract: This article deals with necessity of oil-rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to move away from commodities export in favour of more diversified economies in times of low prices of crude oil. Issues, including the rise of alternative branches of industry, shifts in agriculture...
The Role of European Security Organisations in the Conflict in Ukraine
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 1
Abstract: The present conflict in Ukraine is considered one of the most significant crises in Europe since the disintegration of Yugoslavia. And, it is taking place in a very specific area with special interests of external actors. The conflict, which has escalated into a war, has been regulated and,...
Regime Theory as IR Theory: Reflection on Three Waves of ‘Isms’
Issue:
2017 - Volume 11, Issue 1
This article analyzes the significance of regime theory, or regimes theorization, for the field of International Relations. It tries to reflect on theoretical affinities between the two, with an intention to recast regime theory as IR theory. While this may not be surprising given that regime theory...
Biafra’s Resurgence: State Failure, Insecurity and Separatist Agitations in Nigeria
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 3
Abstract: This work critically examines the issues undermining the unification of Nigeria, using indicators and concepts including failed state, separatist agitation and insecurity. It forays into the inherent issues underlying the Biafran movement and the ways in which those issues, as well as Biafran...
NATO and Environmental Security: Understanding the Limits of the Alliance`s Transformation during Détente
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 3
Abstract: The article explores the founding of NATO’s Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS). The founding of CCMS made NATO—an organisation which was established mainly for territorial defence—deal with the issue of environmental protection. Thus, NATO received, for the first time, a task...
Criminal, Religious and Political Radicalisation in Prisons: Exploring the Cases of Romania, Russia and Pakistan, 1996-2016
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 3
Abstract: Ironically, prison and imprisonment plays a significant in role in the development of radicalised and extremist individuals and movements—a point highlighted by the recent enquiry into the radicalisation process of Islamists in Europe. The fact that prison might act as a ‘school of crime’ is...
European Union at Risk: The Judiciary under Attack in Romania
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 3
Executive Summary
Many of the methods used by the Communists in Romania pre-1989 to create a politicised system of justice and law enforcement are still in existence in contemporary Romania.
The control of judicial institutions and the subordination of the rule of law by the Romanian executive...
Dynamics of Middle East Peace Process in the Era of US Hegemony: 1950-2000
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 2
Abstract: This article begins with the observation that the US has over the course of the 20th century, exerted an unrivalled influence on international affairs. In exerting this influence, which is manifested within various dimensions (military, economic and technological), successive American...
The Concept of Border Security in the Schengen Area
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 2
Abstract: This article contributes to the discussion about border security in the Schengen Area, particularly regarding the dramatic increase of illegal immigration since 2013. It first outlines the competency of the European Union regarding protection of Schengen’s external borders and identifies the...
Why did the 2011 Egyptian Revolution Fail?
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 3
Abstract: This article examines why the Egyptian revolt of January 2011 was not a revolution. It shows that the revolt did not change the fundamental political structure of the country, which eventually ended up under military rule. Several theories of revolution will be presented and reasons for the...
Regional Power Competition and the Middle East Regional Order, 1945–2010
Issue:
2016 - Volume 10, Issue 3
Abstract: To understand the current character of the Middle East, a clear picture of the context in which the prevailing order was formed is necessary and the relationships between parties, the dominant behaviour patterns of the entities and institutions that created and shaped the regional order and...