Since its establishment, UNICEF has been providing development and humanitarian aid in various regions of the world. Firstly, the aid was given to regions damaged by the Second World War. Nowadays, the aid is given to regions hit by natural disasters, wars, famine or diseases. In 2016, UNICEF celebrated 70th anniversary of its existence. In order to maintain its worldwide scope of performance for such a long time, it created a top-bottom organizational structure, from which a top is represented by the headquarter composed of the Executive Board with member states, the Bureau and the Office of the Secretary of the Executive Board. The bottom is represented by field offices and the National Committees for UNICEF, which directly implement the programs and initiatives of UNICEF, and ensure fundraising activities. On the other hand, they provide the top with feedbacks about carried projects and actual situations from their countries. The linking part between the top and the bottom of the organizational structure are regional offices and external committees across UNICEF, such as the Division of Private Fundraising and Partnership (PFP). PFP also manages relationships between UNICEF and the National Committees for UNICEF, which are autonomous nongovernmental organizations. The relation between UNICEF and the National Committees for UNICEF offers a unique example of how an international organization can manage its work. The case-study of the Slovak Committee for UNICEF portrayed more specifically how UNICEF coordinates its work within its structures and why it is a unique example. Furthermore, the case-study focused on answering if and to what extend are the activities of the Slovak Committee for UNICEF influenced by the national environment with its specifics and conditions. From another perspective, it focused on answering if the Slovak Committee can apply its own approaches toward its activities or it must follow general approaches settled by UNICEF.

This dissertation investigates regime-based efforts by states to cooperate in providing assistance and protection to refugees since 1648. It argues from a constructivist perspective that state interests and identities are shaped both by other actors in the international system - including norm entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations - and by the broader normative environment. Refugees are a by-product of this environment. Fundamental institutions - including territoriality, popular sovereignty, and international law - formed a system in which exit was one of the few mechanisms of survival for those who were religiously and politically persecuted. This led states to recognize that people who were so persecuted were different from ordinary migrants and had a right to flee their own state and seek accommodation elsewhere. States recognized this right to leave, but did not recognize a requirement that any given state had a responsibility to accept these refugees. This contradiction creates a dilemma in international relations, one which states have sought to solve through international cooperation. The dissertation explores policy change within the United States and Great Britain at the international and domestic levels in order to understand the tensions within current refugee protection efforts. Three regimes, based in different normative understandings, have framed state cooperation. In the first, during the 19th century, refugees were granted protections under domestic and then bilateral law through extradition treaties. The second, in the interwar period, saw states taught by norm entrepreneurs that multilateral organizations could successfully assist refugees, though states remained unwilling to provide blanket assistance and be bound by international law. These issues led to the failure of states to accommodate Jewish refugees fleeing from Germany in the 1930s. The third, since the Second World War, had a greater consistency among its norms, especially recognition by states of the need for international law. Once again, this process was shaped by other actors, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This regime has been challenged by increased refugee numbers and restrictions on the part of states, but its central purpose remains robust due to the actions of actors such as the UNHCR. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Proměny konceptu neutrality v teorii a praxi vybraných evropských států Abstract The thesis explores the emergence of a unique concept of neutrality within each the three neutral European countries: Sweden, Switzerland and Austria. In then examines changes in the policy of neutrality over time within each compared states, with emphasis on the post - Cold War transition from a bipolar to a multipolar world order. It is concluded that the end of the Cold War has had a marked influence on changes in the concept of neutrality within each of the compared states, largely because of the emergence of novel threats which can be now more effectively controlled through international cooperation as opposed to unilateral action by a single nation.

<p>Rising levels of food insecurity is currently one of the most pressing issues in global politics. While the United Nations (UN) system has traditionally been responsible for addressing world hunger, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has emerged as a major site of global food security governance. As a result, the UN system and WTO now share authority over the global governance of food security. There are major tensions between these two regimes, with WTO trade rules making agriculture and food increasingly subject to market forces, while, in sharp contrast, the UN advances a human rights approach to food and a greater role for states and deeper constraints on the market. The WTO’s expanding authority over food security has prompted a counter-movement by the UN system, with UN institutions actively seeking to shape WTO trade rules in an attempt to limit the negative impacts of trade liberalization on world food security. This study develops a theory of international organizations as semi-autonomous actors that influence outcomes at competing institutional sites of global governance. This theoretical model, and its supporting empirical investigation, provide a novel contribution to the International Relations and International Political Economy literature on the role of state and non-state actors in contesting global governance. In particular, this study demonstrates that international organizations: act behind the scenes and in hidden ways in inter-state negotiations; perceive and adapt to new hierarchical configurations of power at the global level; and, engage in transnational political action that is motivated by moral and ethical concerns.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study examines variations in the lending strategies of the four main agencies of the World Bank. Countries with similar basic development and demographic attributes often receive very different amounts of financial support from the different agencies of the World Bank. Utilizing regression analysis of panel-data covering the years between 1990 through 2011, the study finds that variation in the allocation of development aid both within and between the different World Bank agencies (IBRD, IDA, IFC, and MIGA) do not generally reflect patterns in objective indicators of economic need or institutional quality among recipients. Rather, statistical analysis shows that World Bank aid is positively correlated with several measures of donor influence. Utilizing a multi-donor model of political influence, the study finds evidence that the Bank’s top donors, countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan disproportionately influence the Bank to lend in ways that support their foreign policy interests. Countries with close economic, political, and geostrategic ties to powerful donors tend to receive more aid on average than their less well-connected peers. The data show that the Bank often lends in ways that contradict its own lending criteria. Despite the Bank’s explicit emphasis on economic need and institutional quality, the agencies of the World Bank often provide greater amounts of assistance to those with less need and poor quality governance. The study has implications for the study of international organizations, institutional design, and how donor influence at the World Bank is mediated by variations in internal agency structures. / Political Science

[pt] A tese investiga a participação de organizações internacionais em processos de (re)construção de estados, com ênfase no trabalho realizado pela Liga das Nações e pela Organização das Nações Unidas no período entre 1919 e 2009. O objetivo é discutir a institucionalização e a transformação dos processos de (re)construção ao longo do tempo; e reinterpretá-los como um conjunto de técnicas de governo relacionadas à preservação e à promoção de versões bastante específicas sobre as possibilidades de ordem no sistema internacional e a constante (re)produção de suas fronteiras. / [en] The thesis investigates the involvement of international organizations in states reconstruction processes, emphasizing the role played by the League of Nations and the United Nations in the period between 1919 and 2009. The aim is to discuss the institutionalization and the transformation of (re)construction processes over time; and reinterpret them as a set of techniques of government related to the preservation and promotion of specific versions of order in the international system and the constant (re)production of its borders.

The aim of this thesis was to analyze the role of the European Union in maintaining international peace and security. The 1990s proved to be a decade of uncertainty and ambiguity in which both the UN, NATO, the WEU and the EU struggled to re-define themselves in relation to the radically altered security environment of the post-Cold War era. After the collapse of bipolar world, there are favorable conditions for more effective work of the United Nations Security Council as well as for greater role of international organizations to share responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. The lack of military instruments to support the policy aims of the Union contributed to pressure for the development of an EU defence dimension. The experience with crisis in Kosovo has led to significant developments since the late 1990s. The EU has acquired unprecedented military capability, a security strategy to inform its use and since 2003 it has engaged in several deployments of forces under the European Security and Defence Policy. Nowadays, the Lisbon treaty seems to be another milestone in the process of framing the EU as a military actor. The thesis is composed of four chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of issue relating to international peace and security. Chapter one is...

Les IEI semblent être un terrain peu propice à la prise en compte des voix de la société civile internationale. En effet, bien que des organisations non gouvernementales bien établies jouent un rôle actif sur la scène internationale, elles ne semblent pas fondées à trouver une place dans une institution purement interétatique. Les Etats restent les principaux sujets du droit international et sont les seuls à disposer, à ce titre, de la légitimité nécessaire pour bénéficier d'une représentation dans ces enceintes.Or, les Etats ne sont pas toujours réceptifs aux intérêts de leurs opérateurs privés lorsque ceux-ci sont affectés par les règles commerciales internationales, et encore moins aux requêtes des organisations non gouvernementales établies sur leur territoire. La notion d'écran étatique crée donc irrémédiablement des failles dès lors que l'Etat a la capacité discrétionnaire de considérer que tel intérêt mérite davantage d'attention et de protection au niveau international, qu'un autre. S'il considère que la protection d'une certaine frange de l'industrie pèse moins dans la balance que le maintien d'un flux commercial donné, ce dernier objectif sera le seul à être mis en lumière dans les enceintes internationales.Malgré cela, il ne faut pas occulter le fait que le droit international, bien qu'il ait pour sujets principaux les Etats, a également des répercussions concrètes sur les individus ou les groupes d'individus. Cette affirmation est encore plus vraie pour le droit international économique : en établissant des règles touchant par exemple au traitement national ou des normes relatives aux investissements internationaux, il affecte directement les intérêts d'entités privées exerçant leurs activités dans le domaine industriel et commercial ou les droits économiques, sociaux et/ou culturels de certaines populations. Dès lors que les décisions de ces organisations peuvent avoir des effets néfastes sur des intérêt particuliers ou collectifs, il semble légitime pour les représentants de ces intérêts de les faire valoir dans les enceintes internationales, de demander des comptes aux IEI et de se prévaloir ainsi d'un statut de parties prenantes ; en somme de mettre en œuvre les conditions d'une bonne gouvernance par le biais de standards et de mécanismes d'accountability. / Abstract : no translation available

O estudo proposto nesta dissertação teve como objetivos a análise de um fenômeno da sociedade internacional, a assunção de competências normativas pelas organizações internacionais, e o impacto desses sujeitos na teoria das fontes do Direito Internacional, seja em âmbito internacional, como em âmbito nacional brasileiro. Conclui-se que as organizações internacionais apresentam importantes impactos sobre as bases do Direito Internacional e um dos mais relevantes é a elaboração de manifestações dotadas de efeitos normativos, cuja variedade implica diferentes fundamentações jurídicas. / The study proposed in this dissertation aimed to analyze a phenomenon of international society, the assumption of legislative powers by international organizations, and the impact of these subjects on the theory of the sources of international law, either internationally, either nationally in Brazil. We conclude that international organizations have important impacts on the basis of international law and one of the most important is the development of manifestations endowed with normative purposes, which range implies different legal reasoning.

Inicialmente, esta dissertação apresenta o marco teórico conceitual em que se situa a sociedade internacional contemporânea, as fontes tradicionais do direito internacional expostas no art. 38 do Estatuto da Corte Internacional de Justiça, as possíveis novas fontes do direito internacional atos unilaterais de Estados, atos de organizações internacionais e Soft Law. É abordado em seguida o paradigma da soberania decorrente da modificação da sociedade internacional. Os fundamentos da Responsabilidade de Proteger (R2P) são levados a uma análise sob as diversas fontes do direito internacional. A R2P não se verifica como fonte autônoma do direito internacional nos princípios gerais de direitos, nas convenções internacionais e nos meios auxiliares da doutrina e da jurisprudência. Todavia, seu enquadramento é feito em duas teorias: branda e dinâmica. Em razão de seu caráter de formação de opinio juris e da prática reiterada, a teoria branda considera a R2P uma manifestação do costume internacional. Enquanto isso, a teoria dinâmica leva em consideração a evolução do direito internacional contemporâneo, que considera a Soft Law uma fonte autônoma, bem como as manifestações da R2P. Conclui-se, então, que a teoria da R2P está sedimentada nas fontes do direito internacional contemporâneo e clássico. / Firstly this thesis presents the conceptual framework in which lies the contemporary international society, the traditional sources of International Law - exposed in art. 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the possible new sources of International Law - unilateral acts of States, international organizations and acts of Soft Law. Then, it brings forward the paradigm of sovereignty resulting from the modification of the international society. The foundations of the Responsibility to Protect are subject to an analysis emphasizing the variety of International Law sources. The R2P is not embraced as an autonomous source of International Law in the general principles, international conventions, doctrine and jurisprudence. However, its framing is analyzed in this thesis with two theories: \"mild\" and \"dynamic\". Considering the formation of opinio juris and the repeated practice, the mild theory considers R2P as a manifestation of international custom. Meanwhile, the dynamic theory takes into account the evolution of contemporary International Law, which considers Soft Law as an autonomous source, as well as the manifestations of R2P. So the conclusion is that the theory of R2P is based in the sources of contemporary and classic International Law.