Between Atlanticism, Anti-Americanism and Europeanization: Dilemmas in Czech Foreign Policy and the War on Terrorism

US–Czech relations have a long tradition, dating back to the time of an independent Czechoslovakia. The author analyse US–Czech bilateral relations in the post-Cold War period. The primary focus will be on long-term trends, along with the influence that particular events have had on the evolution and periodization of these relations. Some of the consequences of 9/11 and the War on Terrorism for US–Czech relations will be examined

Africa: a Future Energy Supplier for Europe? Africa as a Member of Trans-European Transfer Networks and a Partner to EU on the Field of Electricity Industry

The EU member states rank among the most developed countries in the world which also makes them signifi cant electricity consumers. Electricity consumption in the EU member states has been increasing steadily over several decades and this tendency should be expected to continue in the future Majority of the EU member states are not self -suffi cient as to electricity production and have to cover greater or smaller part of their consumption by import from third countries. The present text deals with the possibilities of electric energy import to the EU countries from Africa. Thinking of importing electric energy from Africa, it is vital 1) to identify the source countries capable of producing suffi cient volumes of electric energy and eligible to cooperation, and 2) to consider possible ways and means of the transfer of electric energy to European countries, i.e. to analyse the current state of transfer networks between European countries and North and Central African countries. The fi rst part of the present text focuses on determining which countries in the North and Central Africa come into question as potential energy suppliers for the EU, the second part deals with the possibilities of electric energy transport from the North and Central Africa to Europe

Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Changes in Relations between Government and Non-Governmental Organizations

Non-governmental organizations participate more than two decades on post-conflict reconstruction and peace-building. They participated on reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Angola and Haiti. Existing experiences with post-conflict reconstruction shows that NGOs play a positive roles in the process. On the basis of analysis of post-conflict reconstruction in various countries the author thinks that the positive relationship between NGOs and governments by the post-conflict reconstruction and peace-building is weakening. Why after more than decade of successful evolution of relationship between NGOs and governments in the process of post-conflict reconstruction the skepticism about this relationship emerges? On the case study of post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan the possible answer will be offered

Iivi Zájedová: Pobaltská regionální spolupráce. Kooperace v regionu v letech 1991–1997 očima estonské politické historiografie.

Iivi Zájedová: Pobaltská regionální spolupráce. Kooperace v regionu v letech 1991–1997 očima estonské politické historiografie. 1. vydání. Praha: Karolinum, 2006, 184 stran, ISBN 80-246-1135-X (signatura knihovny ÚMV 53 118)

Změna hodnotových preferencí české společnosti a tvůrců zahraniční politiky jako jeden z předpokladů transformace české zahraniční politiky

Politická emancipace Československa po roce 1989 otevřela prostor pro zásadní restrukturalizaci politických, společenských a ekonomických poměrů. Politická transformace v Československu společně s novým geopolitickým diskursem po skončení studené války a změnou charakteru mezinárodního systému vytvořily podmínky pro (re)konstrukci českého národního zájmu a povahy české zahraniční politiky. Zdrojem této (re)konstrukce se staly zejména vliv českého disentu na tvorbu zahraniční politiky, již zmíněná domácí politická, společenská a ekonomická transformace, změna hodnotových preferencí, idejí a identity společnosti, zejména tvůrců zahraniční politiky, a změna referenční skupiny České republiky či jinými slovy společenství, do něhož je ČR socializována. Tento text se zaměřuje na analýzu jednoho ze zdrojů (re)konstrukce českého národního zájmu a povahy české zahraniční politiky, a to na hodnotové preference, ideje a identitu společnosti a tvůrců zahraniční politiky. Takový přístup nám samozřejmě poskytne jen dílčí odpověď na otázku, jak se mění český národní zájem a povaha české zahraniční politiky a jaké jsou zdroje této změny, nicméně tento text nechce a – s ohledem na svůj rozsah – ani nemůže nabídnout více

Suchý, Petr: Reagan a říše zla. Vývoj americké zahraniční politiky a vztahů mezi supervelmocemi v letech 1981 – 1989

Knižní recenze / Book review

How to follow and Study Through the Sites and Situations of Expert Knowledge Diffusion in International Politics: Research Challenges and Methodological Responses

The central aim of this article is to consider tools and methods for studying expert knowledge (EK) diffusion in international politics. What we need are methodological devices to enable research of the object in motion and to study small or multiple sites, and even global scales in time, as well as the object of inquiry at different levels of analysis. Based on the marriage of network analysis and mobility research this article discusses the research potential of several methodological tools: bibliometrics, QHA, SNA techniques, topology, topography and biography. I conclude that despite these methods being imperfect, they 1) make possible the bridging of traditional IR dilemmas, such as the level‑of‑analysis problem, the micro‑macro gap, and the agent‑structure debate, 2) enable to collect and evaluate a much richer class of evidence and contextualization than methods usually used in IR offer, and 3) make possible to be much more ethnographically sensitive than IR research traditionally is

China´s Engagement in Central Europe: Words Speak Lauder than Actions

Until the end of the 1980s the role of the United States (US), European Communities (EC) and China in Central Europe (CE) was marginal. However, with the end of the Cold War the situation dramatically changed. The present article collects and analyses the evidence about the rising Chinese engagement in CE, particularly in the Visegrád Group (V4) countries Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and about its political, societal and economic effects in the region. The research is designed as a three-level analysis of Chinese activities and interests in CE: firstly, attention will be paid to individual CE countries, secondly, to V4 which is historically the longest joint political project of CE countries, and thirdly, to the impact of the situation in CE on the EU level. We found out that pro-Chinese forces recruit from the populist and anti-liberal groups, Chinese activities and influence in individual CE countries differ, even though Chinese strategies to penetrate politics and business are similar, and that China´s “words speak lauder than actions”. We conclude that even when V4 countries alone are sobering up from the ‘Chinese dream’, they use the ‘China card’ within the EU and towards EU authorities to get what they want

THE SECURITY-DEVELOPMENT NEXUS: A TYPOLOGY, HISTORY AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CHANGING PARADIGM

The article is a response to the contemporary state of research of the security-development nexus and attempts to analyze the heterogeneous area of its interpretations and implementations. It analyzes the ways and describes the development of interpretations of the security-development nexus. The text also offers empirical material to enable looking at the variety of effects. It shows that despite a broad interdisciplinary debate, three general attitudes have been generated. The first one is based on the idea that security is the prerequisite of development, the second one that development is the prerequisite of security, and the third one that security and development go hand in hand. The area of concepts appears to be wide and varied as well. The contemporary concepts differ mainly in whose development and whose security they take into account, and which one from these two values (development or security) is understood as more important and how it is interpreted (what is “security” and what is “development”). On the operational level it is clear, that the security-development nexus is not only an academic and theoretical reflection or pose, but that it also influences the practice and changes the national, as well as the international politics. The presented empirical material does not say anything about the size of the change and the number of actors affected, however, it shows that it is no marginal phenomenon, because it has affected important players in the international system as well as rules governing the system