Suchergebnisse

The September 11th, terrorist attacks on the United States totally overshadowed the significant legislative changes in the field of the US sanctions policy, which went into effect in the years 2000 and 2001. Albeit these changes as such may appear insufficient at first sight, the decade of sanctions policy reform debates and disputes which preceded these changes justifies the conclusion that they are the best result possible, and far more important than any unsystematic shifts in the regime of imposing economic sanctions for foreign policy purposes made back in the 1990s. The need to reform the US sanctions policy was caused by afundamental change of the international environment brought about by the end of the Cold War. Unlike in the bipolar world, wherein universal sanctions measures were fully sufficient, it was necessary after the end of the Cold War to react to numerous and varied threats to US foreign policy interests. This was done by laws "tailored" for the sanctioned country. The attempt to reform US sanctions policy in the 1990s revealed infull the rivalry between the legislative and executive powers, both of which wanted to preserve the decisive influence upon administrating sanctions and making decisions about them. It was undoubtedly the legislative power the Congress -- which emerged strengthened from the decade of rivalry. The last major factor reemerging in the sanctions policy reform debate and disputes was the issue of extraterritorial effects of some us laws. The extraterritoriality of us legislation caused a backlash in the world, which the US administration could not simply ignore. Yet the United States will probably not give up this powerful tool for forced multilateralization of its unilateral sanctions since this tool enables the US to avoid protracted and uncertain promotion of its interests in the form of multilateral sanctions negotiated by traditional diplomatic means. Adapted from the source document.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze awarded scientific degrees at the University of Economics, Prague (EUP) in the fifties of 20th century. Methodological approaches of economic, social, cultural and political history, economics and statistics were pursued and required in this study. An interdisciplinary approach that enabled further determination of factors will serve as the approach for all subsequent research of the UEP position in science in the fifties of the 20th century. Yet untapped primary sources from UEP Scientific Council Meetings were used, also published sources, newspapers, etc. We came to the conclusion that UEP failed to significantly increase the number of professors and associate professors in the first seven years of its existence. The reasons behind were: 1) Policy of the Communist leadership that followed cadre policies which frustrated many personalities and prevented them a chance to work for universities. 2) Only highly politically reliable teachers were awarded. 3) Bureaucratic apparatus rigidity and poor flexibility of the Ministry of Education and the State Committee for Scientific Degrees. 4) Ongoing continual changes in laws and regulations. 5) Lack of experienced teachers who had also been overwhelmed with paperwork and various out of university activities so they had little time to immerse in intense research activity. Analysis showed that some of the preferred fields after 1948 such as political economy were not preferred at the expense of others. Adapted from the source document.

Teachings of economic policy were present at the VSE from its inception in 1953 needless to say that most activities were highly influenced by the ruling political climate. Despite all limitations there were some achievements of value, esp. works of prof. Olsovsky and his team in 50s and early 60s. Till the economic reform of Ota Sik was real engagement people from the VSE in economic policy limited (Kurt Rozsypal arrived to the VSE years after his reform was already enacted). 70s were again years of high political influence characterized by creation of Institute of Marxism-Leninism where consisting of all original social science departments 80s were characterized by the hidden duality of teaching when dominating teachings of political economy of socialism was supplemented by teachings of political economy of capitalism mostly in a guise of history of economic theories. In 90s a full renaissance of economic policy as a subject followed. Adapted from the source document.

In the article, the author presents money as a category of analysis in political science, & briefly embeds research in this field in a broader disciplinary context (economics, sociology, financial geography). Emphasis is stressed on Helleiner's book "The Making of National Money." Helleiner deals with the emergence of territorial currencies in the long-term, & is considered to be the most important & influential author within the field of political science. In the first part, the article focuses on Helleiner's description of the structural-historical conditions for the introduction of territorial currencies, as well as on the ideological motivations that led political elites to introduce territorial currencies. A comprehensive historical description of this process is put aside. At the end, the author critically evaluates Helleiner's contribution to this problem. Adapted from the source document.

The article aims to introduce the phenomenon of public diplomacy, highlighting the key features of the concept. The author is looking into why public diplomacy is worth of the attention of academics, pointing out the reasons for considering public diplomacy a relevant & legitimate segment of foreign policy -- and not just a trendy phrase. The article presents a brief overview of the development of public diplomacy so far, identifying the main reasons for public diplomacy being an important item on today's foreign policy agenda. Seeking to clarify what public diplomacy is & what its implications are, the author highlights some core features of public diplomacy & their temporal & thematic change. The article also touches upon the relationship between public diplomacy & propaganda, branding, international cultural relations & traditional diplomacy. The author concludes with effective public diplomacy strategies & preconditions for its further development. Adapted from the source document.

The author presents a critical reply to Barsa's interpretation of his monograph (Jakoubek, M. Romove: konec/ne/jednoho mytu. Tractatus Culturo/mo/logicus, Socioklub, Praha 2004) & of two anthologies he has co-edited (Jakoubek, M. & Poduska, 0. [Eds], Romske osady v kulturologicke perspektive, Doplnek, Brno, 2003 & Jakoubek, M., Hirt, T. [Eds], Romove: kulturologicke etudy. Etnopolitika, pribuzenstvi a socialni organizace, Cenek, Plzen 2004). Taking the examples of his alleged orientalism & of his (also alleged) idea that Gypsies are carriers of the culture of poverty, the author illustrates that Barsa's interpretation is full of mistakes & inaccuracies. He also argues that the concept of culture used by Barsa is unacceptable in the social sciences & accuses his critic (together with the whole discourse of multiculturalism) of ethnocentrism. Regarding methodological issues, the author demonstrates that although Barsa claims to offer a better method of analysis, in actuality he fails to do so. References. Adapted from the source document.

Denmark is considered to be one of the most Euroskeptical member states of the European Union (e.g. it rejected the Treaty of the European Union in 1992 & refused to adopt the euro in 2000). This article analyzes the attitudes of relevant Danish political parties towards European integration. The author of this article utilizes Nicolo Conti's typology of political parties' attitudes towards the European Union based on their spatial position on the political spectrum. Conti supposes that the Euroskeptical attitude (the so-called hard Euroskepticism) is mostly represented by the right- & left-wing parties, while a pro-European attitude is typical of the center & governing political parties. First, the author of this article categorizes the relevant Danish political parties on the basis of Conti's typology. Second, the author compares their real attitudes to European integration to the assumed ones. 2 Tables, 1 Diagram, 36 References. Adapted from the source document.

A review essay on a book by Pavel Barsa & Ondrej Cisar, Levice v postrevolucni dobe. Obcanska spolecnost a nova socialni hnuti v radikalni politicke teorii 20. stoleti ([The Left in the Postrevolutionary Era. Civil Society and New Social Movements in Radical Political Theory of the Twentieth Century] Brno, Czech Republic: CDK, 2004). References.

The article aims to review the political developments in African states throughout their recent post-colonial past. Uprooting political violence & anchoring a stable structure based on a society-wide consensus being just two of the several prerequisites for solving so many other problems which trouble Africa today, this article aims to diagnose at least some root causes & consequences of the generally unsatisfactory political situation on the continent. Having identified a set of political instability symptoms (coups d'etat, civil wars, failed putches etc.) the author first ranks African states according to their political instability rate. On the basis of statistical correlation analysis, the author then investigates the relation between political instability in Africa & a number of quantifiable geographical, demographical, military & economic variables. The author has identified some dispositions increasing -- though with only small statistical significance -- the probability of instability in African states. In order of importance, these include: large territory, high illiteracy rate, low urbanization, high number of ethnic groups living within the territory, & large population. Also, there is a close link between political instability & governmental military spending. It probably has a negative impact on a number of key economic indicators, be it GDP growth, GDP per capita levels, domestic savings, or price level developments. In the final part of his article, the author makes a brief summary of political developments in African countries in the 21st century. Tables, Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.

In this contribution, we compare the correlation of supply & demand shocks for the countries of the euro zone & the acceding countries in Central Europe. Demand & supply shocks are recovered from estimated structural VAR models of output growth & inflation in individual countries. We find that Poland & Hungary face already a comparably high similarity with the countries of the current euro zone. However, the remaining countries show still significant differences in business cycles as compared to the euro zone. This is likely to indicate that the loss of monetary sovereignty may be costly. In turn, the integration is expected to align the business cycles of these countries in the medium run. We document a similar development for the countries of the European Union in the 1990s. 4 Figures, 22 References. Adapted from the source document.