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The article outlines the main theoretical models of nuclear proliferation and the motives that are driving states to obtain nuclear weapons. It also focuses on theoretical concepts dealing with variants and alternatives of the future fate of nuclear arsenals and roles played by nuclear weapons. Attention is also paid to the roles of nuclear weapons in the past views of Great Britain and France. The article analyses their motives for joining the nuclear club and also the reasons that led them to keep their nuclear arsenals in the second nuclear age. The authors conclude that these two countries were driven to cross the nuclear threshold not just by security motives, but by other motives as well. Because of the fact that some such motives remain relevant even today, it is rather unlikely to presume that the two states would be willing to abolish their nuclear arsenals in the foreseeable future. Adapted from the source document.

Yet our understanding of power remains elusive. The Council of the European Union is a body where the main actors, Member States, exercise power in order to influence the decision-making & its outcome. Their basic aim is to defend the national interests. The primary objective of this article is to offer an overview of the Member States' sources of power in the Council, based on a review of the latest literature. We present both structural & procedural sources of power. Then we explain that the exercise of power depends also on concrete sectors & cases in which the actors negotiate. Our text confirms that the results of various research endeavors have often been contradictory & that continuing research is needed in order to deepen the knowledge of Council decision-making. Power as a concept has been at the center of attention of social sciences for a long time. Adapted from the source document.

This analysis focuses on the role of the federal Europe model in the present stage of the European integration. The European Union' appropriate constitutional form primarily depends on a political decision. Such a decision must be based on democratic legitimacy conferred by political nations of the member states, & not on a delusionary conception of the European demos. If the politicians decide to continue European integration, a federal structure for European decision making must be established, with its typical features: subsidiarity & a clear division of competences. Contrary to the traditional federative models, both German & American, the European federal model cannot be based on the concept of a federal nation. The individual political nations will remain the source of its sovereignty. As a result we can talk of federal elements without a federation, or of a consociative federation without a federal state concept. Adapted from the source document.

Due to the different and mutually incompatible interpretations of Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, there is still an ongoing dispute between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain on the question of the sovereignty of Gibraltar. In the United Kingdom's view, which is largely shared by legal scholars, Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht grants full and entire sovereignty over Gibraltar to the UK. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Spain argues that Article X yielded to the crown of Great Britain only the property of Gibraltar's castle, town and port. Sovereignty over Gibraltar, however, continued to be retained by the Spanish state. In spite of their disagreement, both states started negotiating a form of condominium at the beginning of the 21st century. In the end, they failed to achieve this goal, which seems to be incompatible with the UN General Assembly resolutions on the decolonization of Gibraltar. The people of Gibraltar, who are the third actor in the Spanish-British dispute, claim their own sovereignty and their right to self-determination. However, according to the UN General Assembly, the decolonization of Gibraltar requires as a precondition that the Kingdom of Spain and the UK solve their dispute on the question of sovereignty. Otherwise the decolonization of Gibraltar cannot occur. Both the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain are European Union members but their inter-state dispute under international law cannot be solved within the EU context. Thus, three hundred years after the signature of the Treaty of Utrecht, the future of Gibraltar remains completely unclear. Adapted from the source document.

The essay takes a look at twinning, a phenomenon left largely unexplored by European studies & international relations scholars. The author deals with twinning through the institutional prism, focusing on institutional change as a result of non-instrumental change of institutional actors' preferences. Twinning is a secondment of experts from EU member states administratives to the candidate countries. Its aim is to help the applicant countries with institution building for successful & effective implementation of the acquis communautaire. The author seeks to identify processes & mechanisms of institutional changes in the public administration of a given candidate country within the context of twinning projects, aiming to formulate framework conditions for unconditioned institutional change & test these hypotheses on the data collected during research. The essay focuses on institutional change caused by a change of administrative identity through deliberation (of alternatives), argumentative persuasion & social learning as alternatives to instrumental change mechanisms. References. Adapted from the source document.

Neoliberal institutionalism, developed by Robert Keohane, & liberal theory of international relations elaborated by Andrew Moravcsik, nowadays represent two grand International Relations (IR) theories drawing on liberalism as one of the main theoretical approaches in this discipline. However, Keohane conceived of neoliberal institutionalism as a synthesis of realism & liberalism & Moravcsik proceeds from a specific understanding of liberalism & defines liberalism by the criteria of empirical social science. This essay examines, therefore, whether neoliberal institutionalism & liberal theory indeed involve & assemble together the main ideas of liberalism. The perspective applied in the essay is based on the intellectual history of liberalism and, in this way, regards the assumptions about the most fundamental actor in international relations & about the evolution of international relations as the intellectual core of liberalism. According to liberalism, individuals & collective social actors constituted by individuals (social & bureaucratic groups) are the most fundamental actors in international relations & international relations undergo transformation, in the course of which cooperation gradually prevails over conflict. Neoliberal institutionalism considers the state to be the most fundamental actor in international relations & assumes that the nature of international relations transforms & they acquire a more cooperative character. Liberal theory claims that individuals & social groups are the most fundamental actors & that international relations undergo transformation that is marked by the growth of cooperation. Consequently, whereas neoliberal institutionalism involves the intellectual core of liberalism only to some extent, liberal theory implies that there is a grand theory that subsumes the main ideas of liberalism. Adapted from the source document.

This study aspires to harness the impulses of the critique of international peace initiatives (IPIs) up to this point for the purposes of improving the practical inquiries into them. In the study, attention is given namely to the questions of the initial normative and epistemological premises of the research. The study argues, in agreement with the precepts of critical political theory, that the inquiry into IPIs should first of all strive to emancipate people in postconflict situations. With respect to the IPIs' general aim of transforming the target countries into stable, independent and prosperous states and societies, the focus is directed at the influence the IPIs exert upon social structures in the postconflict societies. With the aim to conceptualize a basic framework for the research, the contemporary thinking on the IPIs is interpreted with respect to International Relations theories and the fundamental metatheoretical questions of social theories. Consequently, in keeping with the philosophy of scientific realism, a critical constructivist position is formulated for the given purposes. Adapted from the source document.

The paper seeks to find the relationship between the philosophical debate on absolute and relative space & the IR debate on territoriality. It shows the relation between the absolute space concept & the territorial definition of the modern state. It also seeks to find parallels between relativity & relative space on one hand & the current questioning of territoriality & attempts to find a substitute for it on the other. Due to the fact that relativity has not been overthrown in philosophy of physics, the article concludes that we cannot expect a relative conception of space to disappear from IR either. Adapted from the source document.

The paper analyses the motivation behind the Czech Foreign Policy's decision to support the "measures" of the "EU-14" towards Austria in 2000, which was an exception among EU-accessions candidate states. This paper offers two hypotheses explaining the Czech decision to follow the EU-14 measures: defense of European values or international norms vs. the assertion of the national interest. The hypotheses have been constructed with the help of two approaches: the constructivist distinction between "logic of appropriateness" & the "logic of consequentiality" in the state behavior, & the liberal-intergovernmental model of maximizing benefit, i.e. improving the state's negotiation position. The analysis of arguments which were used by the Czech political elite showed that the normative argument & the argument regarding "national interest" were both used in different variations by both advocates & opponents of the "sanctions." Through an analysis of empirical material the author came to the conclusion that detection of motives in foreign policy decisions requires consideration of both of the aforementioned approaches. Obviously, a comparative survey including further research materials could eventually support this conclusion. References. Adapted from the source document.

The article compares the foreign energy strategies of the EU and the PRC on the African continent within the context of the efforts of ensuring the diversifiction of the supply of fossil fuels. Both actors are connecting some sets of values to their strategies, and these values are integral to their perception of the international environment. The main purpose of the article is to compare these strategies, especially in the context of the values that are connected with them -- e.g. state sovereignty, human rights, and social responsibility -- and the impact of these values on the form of the energetic strategies. While the EU urges normative values such as democratic government, human rights and quality public domain management, the PRC adheres to the values of non-interference, state sovereignty and, last but not least, the principle of "One China". Despite the fact that, rhetorically, the two actors share some of the same principles, they are applied differently by each actor due to the actors' diametrically different understandings of these principles. In addition to that, it is necessary to lay emphasis on the difference between the official and the actual strategies of both actors. Adapted from the source document.

The article focuses on the institutional reforms of the European Union's foreign policy from the perspective of input and output legitimacy. It aims at two objectives: to analyse the potential contribution of the establishment of the European External Action Service headed by the Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the legitimacy of the EU's international activity, and to tentatively evaluate to what extent the potential is being fulfilled in practice. It concludes that the new institutions have the potential to raise the output legitimacy of the EU, but only if the member states are considered constitutive actors of the EU and if the institutions manage to keep a high level of input legitimacy. Nevertheless, it is too soon to decide whether this will be possible in practice. Adapted from the source document.

The foreign policy of the European Union is usually perceived as being significantly different from the common conception of modern foreign policy of sovereign nation states. In this article we will construct two models of foreign policy & confront them with current EU external relations. Firstly we shall look at the modern foreign policy model based on a neorealist approach. Secondly we shall examine its post-modern alternative that draws its inspiration from the post-structuralism of Jacques Derrida. The comparison is focused on three dimensions: the actor representing the foreign policy; his primary goal; & the key principles invoked in interactions with other actors. We conclude that the EU foreign policy cannot be sufficiently explained by neither of the two models. The large gap between the two models could probably be filled by the third, liberal model of foreign policy. Adapted from the source document.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of civil society in the de facto states of the South Caucasus in the process of conflict transformation. It is based on a field research of the civil society organizations in Abkhazia and Nagorno Karabakh. The data were collected by the methods of expert interviews, semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The role of Abkhazian and Karabakh civil society organizations in the conflict transformation is identified as not only positive, but also as having some negative aspects. The study also makes some general remarks concerning the theory of conflict transformation. Adapted from the source document.

The author aims to evaluate Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) with regard to another theoretical approach to security -- Network Actors Perspective (NAP). The evaluation will focus on how RSCT takes into account the influence of non-state actors on regional security dynamics & their growing deterritorialization. Firstly the regional level of analysis approach will be sketched, & the emphasis will lie on RSCT as defined by Barry Buzan & Ole Wcver. It's important characteristics & features will be critically compared with those of NAP. The result will be further illustrated through a case of a regional security complex -- the Horn of Africa. Adapted from the source document.

The article focuses on the role of the phenomenon of Euroscepticism in the issue of the legitimacy of the European Union (EU), namely on the relation between the current conceptualisation of Euroscepticism and the EU's ability to operate "imide" the system as a credible actor. The text is based on the analytical premise that the EU is not a static entity modeled on a national unitary state or federation, but a dynamic political system. The current definition of Euroscepticism, however, is based on the notion of the EU having a static nature and the existence of the finality of European integration process, which significantly affects the EU political system's ability to perform the basic functions of a functioning political system -- in particular the function of evaluation and (re)formulation of policy objectives. The most important consequence of this approach is the inability of the EU to receive any critical feedback and work with it as a relevant political input. Adapted from the source document.