Suchergebnisse

Importance of risk & uncertainty in present period of dynamic changes grows. The article deals with risk & uncertainty in strategic decision making. First the concepts of risk & uncertainty & possibilities of their measurement are discussed. Further shortcomings of strategic decision making from the point of view risk integration are described. The emphasis is on discussion of decision making methods under risk & uncertainty (including decision tables, scenarios, Monte Carlo simulation, real options, decision trees, multicriteria utility function under risk, theory of games & methods of portfolio development) as supporting tools for strategic decision making. In the last part of the article some recommendations for integration of risk & uncertainty in strategic decision making based on scenario approach are suggested. Figures, References. 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.

The article analyses how the standpoints of political parties on energy related issues are formed. The effect of the process of forming these standpoints on energy policy in general in the Czech Republic, the divergence among ideologies (coming out not only from the election programs), and other factors, as well as the parties' ideological continuity in time are particularly emphasized. The analysis comes to the conclusion that energy related issues are important for each political party but not crucial. In addition, it is concluded that parties are internally consistent, their standpoints are based on ideology, and they are all rather constructive in policy formulation. An interesting conclusion is also the fact that energy policy in the Czech Republic is generally highly personalized, thus strongly influenced by particular individuals.

The paper consists of four parts each of them devoted to a practical aspect of inflation targeting as conducted by the Czech National Bank. The first part outlines the reasons that led to the adoption of this monetary regime & summarises other advantages for effective & transparent decision-making. The second part addresses the issue of missing inflation targets. It is argued that simple confrontation of targets with actual behaviour of inflation may give a distorted view about the actual performance of monetary policy. The third part discusses a subtle methodological controversy about the difference between so-called escape clauses on the one hand & net inflation on the other. In the last section the author presents his critical view about the role of unconditional forecast in its capacity to indicate future interest rate decisions & to provide a realistic description of transmission mechanism in a small open economy. 5 Figures, 26 References. 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.

This article aims at problems of legitimacy, sovereignty & decision-making process in the context of European integration. Several concepts of legitimacy & sovereignty are introduced & subsequently analyzed in the context of latest development of the European Union. Adapted from the source document.

Analýza politiky ve světle dosavadních výzkumů -- Význam působení aktérů v sítích zaměřených na konkrétní otázky -- Vliv a strategie nepolitických aktérů v politických sítích -- Role politických aktérů na regionální úrovni -- Role politických aktérů na komunální úrovni: volby a koalice v kontextu teorie analýzy politiky -- Závěrem: analýza politiky a inspirace k dalším výzkumům

The aim of this paper is the formulation and econometric estimation of a small macroeconomic model, which is intended to provide an understanding of fundamental economic relationships in the eurozone. Unemployment is used to represent real economic activity. Phillips curve links unemployment with inflation and Taylor rule describes the monetary policy of the European Central Bank. The results from econometric estimation indicate that interest rate policy of the European Central Bank has only a very limited effect on unemployment. Furthermore, the reaction coefficient for inflation in the Taylor rule does not support Taylor principle. This paper also presents original method for measuring NAIRU. The proposed method for estimating NAIRU uses probabilities of finding and loosing a job. These probabilities are made endogenous in the model, which is the main contribution of the paper. Adapted from the source document.

The status of minorities is in the modern world generally considered to be one of the measures of consolidation of democracy. This text analyzes position of members of Italian and Hungarian minorities in Slovene political system and the rate of their political participation in the decision-making process. The first part of this study is based on the analysis of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and other fundamental laws that determinate the position of autochthonous minorities in Slovenia. The second part subsequently deals with the real possibilities of minorities' representatives to influence political decisions and their ability to enforce their rights and claims both on the local and state level.

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.

This article attempts to explain the diverging evolution of foreign & security policy in the EU. It begins by characterizing the CFSP/ESDP at the level of the armed forces, administrative structures, & decision-making bodies in comparison with practical implementation. This survey reveals two modes of interpretation: One based on the realist theory & the other on integration theories of neofunctionalism or institutionalism. The fourth part of this paper expounds upon the finding that neither of these theories are able to fully explain the empirical contradiction, brought forward by the rift between the EU member states in 2003, with regard to the intervention in Iraq, or the parallel dynamic developments within ESDP. The author suggests a possible solution based on the conceptualization of "high" & "low" foreign & security policy, derived from Stanley Hoffmann's original concept. Adapted from the source document.