This thesis deals with the geopolitics of the Japanese Empire in the process of economic globalization. The primary objective is to evaluate the characteristics and changes of Japanese geopolitics in the context of a globalized and changing world and to outline it's perspective orientation and new challenges. The thesis tries to answer these fundamental questions. How the geopolitical thinking and direction of Japan had developed in the postwar period in the context of a changing geopolitical architecture of the system? What challenges or conflicts did Japan have been through and how it reacts to changes in the present system? How the post-war changes and the end of the Cold War had reflected in the participation and position of Japan in the international economic system under conditions of intensifying globalization? The thesis is divided into several parts. At the beginning, there is a short summary of geopolitical theories and definitions of key concepts. The following chapters are analytical, dealing with the description of the development of Japanese domestic and foreign policy, as well as relationships to key countries, first in the political, economic level subsequently. Final part is followed by a practical grasp of lessons learned and showing them on specific examples. Keywords:...

This thesis deals with the geopolitics of the Japanese Empire in the process of economic globalization. The primary objective is to evaluate the characteristics and changes of Japanese geopolitics in the context of a globalized and changing world and to outline it's perspective orientation and new challenges. The thesis tries to answer these fundamental questions. How the geopolitical thinking and direction of Japan had developed in the postwar period in the context of a changing geopolitical architecture of the system? What challenges or conflicts did Japan have been through and how it reacts to changes in the present system? How the post-war changes and the end of the Cold War had reflected in the participation and position of Japan in the international economic system under conditions of intensifying globalization? The thesis is divided into several parts. At the beginning, there is a short summary of geopolitical theories and definitions of key concepts. The following chapters are analytical, dealing with the description of the development of Japanese domestic and foreign policy, as well as relationships to key countries, first in the political, economic level subsequently. Final part is followed by a practical grasp of lessons learned and showing them on specific examples. Keywords:...

This thesis represents an attempt to challenge power hierarchies infusing white Western European academic and political fields. It constitutes a project, built on decolonial critique of privileges of research, that aims at attending to local and marginalised feminist perspectives in order to reach a deeper understanding for a complex and ambivalent Serbian post-socialist reality. A critical scrutiny of previous research conducted within the field of Comparative Politics and post-socialist feminist critique of academic knowledge, has led to the identification of problematic results of unequal distributions of power within politics and the academia. Moreover, through a historical overview of the geopolitical context and the feminist legacy of the region, the importance of contextualisation and the necessity of an epistemological and ontological shift within knowledge production has further been emphasised. Lastly, with a combining approach of qualitative interviews and autoethnography, lived experiences of postsocialism and its intersections with feminism have been sought and analysed. By highlighting women’s activism in democratisation processes and the severe socio-political problems facing contemporary Serbia, these experiences problematize the hegemonic Western projections of a post-socialist transition as an elite project towards ‘progress’ and Europeanisation.

As the diploma's thesis it was chosen the theoretical analysis of the geopolitical position of Russia. The primary objective of this study is the evaluation of current geopolitics of the Russian Federation after the collapse of Soviet Union and outlines its future development. This work tries to answer a few basic questions. What is the current geopolitical situation in Russia, in what direction it develops, and whether we can declare a major shift to any direction. The work is divided into several main parts. Introduction is followed by a theoretical grasp of key concepts and the main actors involved in geopolitics. The other two parts contain an analysis of the relationship of Russia to key actors such as the US and NATO, the EU, China, the near neighborhood in Central Asia and the Transcaucasia and geopolitics of oil and natural gas. The last is practical part, in which the information from the previous sections are applied to specific examples in Russian foreign policy. Keywords: Geopolitics, Russia, eurasianism, foreign policy, the US, the EU, China, Central Assia, NATO, energy policy, oil, natural gas

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Dans le cadre d’un travail pluridisciplinaire mis au service de la géographie, la présente thèse évoque différents aspects de la «politique arabe» de la Russie postsoviétique. Après une analyse de la place de la géopolitique dans l’univers intellectuel et politique russe, une étude de la politique étrangère russe actuelle, une réflexion sur la situation dans le monde arabe, le texte revient sur une politique russe appréhendée sous l’angle de l’opposition entre logiques territoriales et logiques réticulaires. L’économie, les médias, l’énergie, le droit, l’histoire et la littérature sont autant de disciplines et d’outils mis au service d’un travail qui demeure avant tout géographique. / In this multidisciplinary work, however mainly geographical, different dimensions of the current Russian policy towards the Arab world are introduced and analysed. After a focus on recent geopolitical debates in Russia, a study of Moscow’s foreign policy, an analysis of the political situation in the Arab world, this dissertation tackles on Russia’s policy through a particular paradigm: the opposition between reticular and territorial aims and practices. Though the study is mostly geographical, economics, media, energy politics, law, history and even literature are used to reach comprehensive results.

Pavel Makovský: Geopolitical aspects of transport interconnections development in the Southern Caucasus Abstract This study solves transport interconnection in the South Caucasus region with a focus on four modes of transport - air, rail, road and pipeline. The research covers regional cooperation and cross-border involvement of other states and international organizations. Literature and data research from statistical office of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia sites, which I analyzed and confronted with the liberal theory of functionalism (neofunctionalism) and the opposite theory of realism (neorealism), was conducted. The result is an interdependence analysis evaluated at two ranks (regional and cross-border). It is followed by the applicability and summary of all political actors acting on the basis of liberal or realistic thinking. On the basis of the work there is possibility to build on research in the region of Central Asia. Keywords: South Caucasus; transport interconnection; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia; geopolitics

Abstract This thesis is intended to explore the international relations of emerging nation-building in the Somali coast, with particular reference to the un-recognised Republic of Somaliland in the north-western Horn of Africa region. This study focuses on the international relations of Somaliland’s international quest for recognition, linked to its own culturally-rooted internal reconciliatory post-war nation-building efforts. Informed by written as well as first-hand research interviews, particular focus is placed in this study on the interplay of internal and external forces in shaping a strategy by Somaliland’s elites for acquiring international recognition and national selfdetermination. These are placed within the broader regional and international context of attempts to resuscitate the Somali state, an endeavour offering a fitting assessment of different modalities of African nation-building within the greater Somali environment. In relative analytic terms, the competitive international relations of nation-building in Somaliland and state reconstitution in southern Somalia informs the underlying hypothesis of this thesis: Somaliland’s example as a study in the efficacy of the internally-driven, culturally-rooted ‘bottom-up’ approach to post-war nation-building and regional stability, and the implications this holds for prioritising reconciliation between indigenous traditions and modernity in achieving stability in nation-building. By contrast, the internationally-backed ‘top-down’ approach to reconstituting a Mogadishu-based Somali state remains elusive. Yet, the international status quo regarding the affording of diplomatic recognition to what are normally considered secessionist ‘break-away’ regions of internationally recognised states, complicates Somaliland’s culturally rooted ‘bottom-up’ modalities. It also challenges the African Union (AU) during the ‘good governance’ era of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a context within which Somaliland fits comfortably as a good citizen of the international community. The international relations of the Somaliland nation-building enterprise is approached from a ‘quadrilateral framework’ of interactive elements to the Somaliland experience: Reconciliation, Reconstruction, Religion and Recognition. This framework informs the four core chapters of the thesis.

[pt] O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar a política de defesa do Japão em um contexto diferente daquele que estimulou sua constituição no fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Para tal empresa, busco fazer um estudo histórico sobre o ambiente regional de segurança do Japão e suas conseqüências sobre as reformas institucionais no campo da segurança nacional desse país. Os fatores causais selecionados estão distribuídos nos âmbitos sistêmicos, regional e doméstico. O corte temporal deste trabalho é o período do pós- Guerra Fria, quando a fragmentação das ameaças transformou a segurança regional na Ásia Oriental. A orientação teórica adota o realismo neoclássico para uma compreensão mais ampla sobre as percepções de ameaças. Para tanto, analiso o caso das mudanças na política de defesa do Japão à luz da teoria da Balança de Ameaças, de Stephen Walt, especificamente aplicada nos dois principais casos de percepções de ameaças por parte do Japão: a instabilidade na Península Coreana e o crescimento econômico e militar da China. A hipótese principal deste trabalho sugere que as transformações no ambiente estratégico da Ásia Oriental após a Guerra Fria aliadas a um descontentamento com as respostas dadas pela política exterior japonesa em momentos de crises deram nova vida aos defensores do Japão enquanto “Estado Normal”. O incremento nas percepções das ameaças por parte dos líderes japoneses tem modificado a postura pacifista nipônica e o Japão passou a atuar de forma mais assertiva em assuntos de segurança. / [en] The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the policy of defense of Japan in a different context from that stimulated their formation at the end of World War II. For this goal, I intend to make a historical study on the regional security environment of Japan and its consequences on institutional reforms in the field of national security in Japan. The factors selected are distributed in the systemic, regional and domestic levels. The historical cutoff of this work is the period of the post-Cold War, when the fragmentation of the threats turned regional security in East Asia. The theoretical guidance adopts the neoclassical realism to a broader understanding on the perceptions of threats. To this end, I analyze the case of changes in defense policy in Japan using the theory of the balance of threats developed by Stephen Walt specifically applied in both cases leading to perceptions of threats power form the part of Japan: The instability in the Korean peninsula and economic and military growth of China. The main hypothesis of this work suggests that the changes in the strategic environment in East Asia after the Cold War allied to dissatisfaction with the answers given by the Japanese foreign policy in times of crisis have given new life to supporters in Japan as "Normal State." The increase in perceptions of the threats from the part of Japanese leaders has changed the pacifist niponic stance and Japan started to act more assertively in security matters.

Este estudo teve por objetivo comparar grupos de mídia ocidentais e não ocidentais no que diz respeito à guerra na Síria, em curso desde 2011, no rastro das chamadas primaveras árabes. Foi realizada uma analises de conteúdo, quantitativa e qualitativa, seguindo parâmetros de Herman e Chomsky em A manipulação do Público (2003), porém adaptados à mídia global. Na divisão dos veículos, utilizou-se o conceito de mídias do fluxo dominante e do contra fluxo, para ilustrar a posição dos grupos analisados em relação ao atual panorama global da mídia. Os resultados apontaram para uma cobertura global da guerra na Síria polarizada, alinhada com interesses geopolíticos, e com maior unidade no Ocidente. Como conclusão, a hegemonia dos conglomerados ocidentais midiáticos ou o fluxo dominante da mídia global ditou a pauta mundial sobre a crise na Síria, em um espaço de disputa com as mídias no contra fluxo. Estas vão buscando expor melhor seus interesses e os de seus países, à medida que a guerra na Síria começa a afetá-los / This study aimed to compare Western media groups and non-Western regarding to the war in Syria, ongoing since 2011, in the wake of the so-called \"arab spring\". An content analysis, quantitative and qualitative was conducted following Herman and Chomsky parameters in Manufacturing Consent (2003), but adapted to the global media. In the groups division, we used the concept of media dominant flow and contra flow (THUSSU, 2007), to illustrate the position of the groups analyzed in relation to the current global panorama of the media. The results showed an overall coverage of the war in polarized Syria, in line with geopolitical interests and greater unity in the West. In conclusion, the Western media hegemony promoted by media Western conglomerates in a dominant flow of global media, dictated an agenda on the Syria crisis, in a space of content with the media in contra flow. These will seeking to better expose their interests and those of their countries, as far as the war in Syria begins to affect them