Suchergebnisse

The EU Council Presidency is considered a very influential & suitable tool for domestic communication of European integration & its agenda. The article analyses the last ten EU Council Presidencies & their impact on public support to the key elements of European integration. The hypothesis of the article is the argument that the EU Council Presidency in its current form increases support for the European integration (and its key elements) & increases the level of knowledge about European integration among the public. Adapted from the source document.

The article deals with the relationship between EU Council Presidency & governmental stability. After reviewing the character of governments assuming EU Council Presidency since the Treaty on European Union has been adopted, the article explores the possible impact of the EU Council Presidency on governmental stability & governmental duration. The article argues that the EU Council Presidency does not have to be executed by a majority government, & that the EU Council Presidency exerts a stabilizing effect. Adapted from the source document.

In this article its author wanted to treat the history and presence of the system constitutional institutions competent for the area of conception, execution and control of security and defence policy of the Czech Republic and also addresses in short the function and content of the main security documents of the country. The author tried to sketch the institutional and documentary framework of the Czech security policy and to explain roles, relations and obligations of the highest-level constitutional bodies in the process of creation and carrying out of this policy (especially positions of the President, the Parliament, the Government and its so called power ministries and other important institutions). This text does not take a lot all this theme in detail, but it is more aimed at basic information and its target is to expound these problems to those interested, especially to foreign students. ; In this article its author wanted to treat the history and presence of the system constitutional institutions competent for the area of conception, execution and control of security and defence policy of the Czech Republic and also addresses in short the function and content of the main security documents of the country. The author tried to sketch the institutional and documentary framework of the Czech security policy and to explain roles, relations and obligations of the highest-level constitutional bodies in the process of creation and carrying out of this policy (especially positions of the President, the Parliament, the Government and its so called power ministries and other important institutions). This text does not take a lot all this theme in detail, but it is more aimed at basic information and its target is to expound these problems to those interested, especially to foreign students.

New President of Romania Traian Băsescu is strong-willed to fight corruption which is a potential threat of national security. Fighting corruption, Băsescu and new government must smash through the shield of interposed persons. Such persons are covering "white collars" that are top-ranking businessmen or privatizers close to political parties. That is why new government and new President want to modify existing penal code and to widen criminal liability of involved persons and organized groups. Today's politically motley Parliament wouldn't be able to adopt such legal measures. In this case, President Băsescu, enjoying wide currency and making use of his accumulated electoral capital, will manifestly be leading the country to anticipated elections. By such a step he would provide current main coalition political parties (PD and PNL) with a comfortable majority in Parliament and with an appropriate milieu for adopting new penal code.

Strengthening presidential powers in the Turkish parliamentary system has been the aim of many political actors since the beginning of discussions about the new constitutional framework in 1980. Direct presidential election, as one of the main features of the semi-presidential & presidential systems, has become especially salient with the turbulent events following the recent presidential election. Introducing direct presidential election is the main ambition of a new constitutional amendment which has already been passed in the Turkish parliament. In the case of a favorable result for the referendum, the amendment will bring about further strengthening of the Turkish president's position & possibly change the entire Turkish political system. The aim of my contribution is to analyze the existing powers of the Turkish president as well as the consequences of this prospective constitutional change. The analysis concludes that in the Turkish political system, the president has a stronger position than is usual in classic parliamentary systems, & the constitutional change would strengthen the semi-presidential features of the Turkish political system even more. Consequently, the advantages & disadvantages of both presidential & semi-presidential systems are briefly evaluated & applied to the Turkish situation. The aim is to predict how these systems might function in the specific conditions of Turkey, & to offer some optimal measures to support the stability of Turkey. Adapted from the source document.

The article deals with the latest presidential election in Belarus in March 2006. More specifically, the aim of the text is to focus on its legitimization function in the context of Lukashenka's non-democratic regime & its stability. This goal is based on an assumption that the election's role lies not only in its formal, but also in its factual confirmation of the regime legitimacy. An assessment of this presumption is made by means of an analysis of the formal setting of the election & its administration, by definition of the role of participating actors (governmental, formal & factual ones) & the Belarusian electorate, & by the final categorization of confirmed legitimacy. Adapted from the source document.

The main goals of the transformed military-political bloc in Burma are to create an "Asian democracy" in the country and to continue in its control of its economic and political life. For this purpose, it adopted a new constitution, organized general elections, and established the current national and state parliaments and the new government. The main pillars of its actual power are the office of the president, the parliaments, the army and the pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Party. Meanwhile, the democratic opposition movement is weak and fragmented. Also the ethnic minorities' movement is unable to create a common political platform on the national level. In this situation, it is hard to expect radical changes in the political development in Burma. The domination of the transformed military-political bloc will thus continue. Adapted from the source document.

The paper analyzes the influence of neoconservative concepts of the 1990's on the foreign policy strategy of the George W. Bush administration after 9/11. The text begins with a short presentation of the neoconservative movement, particularly its second generation. The paper then compares neoconservative concepts from the 1990's with principal documents of the Bush administration & shows their influence. The next part of the text presents the factors able to explain this influence. These factors are the specific long-term evolution of central institutions in the USA, the special decision-making process of the administration, the managerial style of president Bush & also the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Adapted from the source document.

The article deals with the former US President Bush's plan for the so-called third pillar of the American missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic in the context of American-Iranian and American-Russian relations. We assess the explanatory power of different but interconnected (neo)realist conceptualizations of security dilemma and deterrence. Specifically, the study evaluates the relative importance of classical security dilemma versus imperialist security dilemma and the explanatory power of three different modalities of deterrence. The paper further shows how Iran and Russia balanced the United States. We also argue that the American missile defense system was not primarily motivated by defensive realist worries about security, but rather by an offensive realist struggle for power and gains at the expense of others. Adapted from the source document.

This article maps state visits by the presidents of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Austria between 2004 and 2010. It has two goals. First, the article describes and compares the structure of the five presidents' state visits according to the countries and regions visited and according to the type of visit (official, working, or multilateral visit). Second, data about the state visits of the heads of states are utilized as an indicator of the geopolitical orientation of the respective state. All five countries under study show strong geopolitical orientation towards Western Europe, especially Germany. Nevertheless, our data also show certain differences in geopolitical priorities. Poland stands out with its extraordinarily strong orientation towards Eastern and Northern Europe (the Baltics). The Czech Republic is characterised by a relatively stronger preference for the transatlantic relationship. Our data also show that Hungary is to a certain degree isolated as it is not a favoured destination for presidential visits. Adapted from the source document.