The main topic of this master thesis is instruments of the EU external representation specifically in case of the European Neighborhood Policy. As the theoretical part this thesis uses forming the external united position of the European countries after the World War II through the key documents adopted in the framework of the European integration, ending with the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty that creates the contemporary instruments for the external representation of the EU. The research question of this thesis is whether in the context of the European Neighborhood Policy is the united position of the EU Member States. The case study of the European Neighborhood Policy combines elements of both quantitative and qualitative research.

External policy of the European Union as it is defined by the Lisbon Treaty incorporates, among others, the development cooperation policy and the Common foreign and security policy. Development assistance, as a shared policy, represents a traditional form of cooperation between the Union and the developing countries and as such works as a mean to promote the objectives of its external policy. On the other hand the Common foreign and security policy was established by the Maastricht Treaty and until today the decisions made depend on the will of the Member states. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how the European Union uses the development cooperation to achieve the objectives of its external policy and to demonstrate, that using the means of the Common foreign and security policy is essential as well. To do this, the thesis will study the African Great Lakes region in particular.

This diploma thesis applies the theoretical concept of Europeanization on a research of the Czech foreign policy and its changes in relation to the presidency of the EU Council. As a case study, it analyses different Czech and EU's positions towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and then by comparison of both levels it determines the misfit between Czech and the EU's policies in the mentioned agenda. From historical point of view and from contemporary perspective as well, the Czech Republic is famous for very pro-Israeli attitudes. On the other hand, the EU is significantly focused on supporting of the Palestinians and building the Palestinian state. The research is divided into three periods: before the Czech Presidency of the EU in the years 2004-2008, during the Czech Presidency and then after the presidency until the end of 2010. The aim of the research is to evaluate changes of the misfit between the Czech domestic attitudes and the EU's positions by the example of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict's issues and then to find out whether the Czech foreign policy has been europeanized during the studied period. The main question of the thesis asks whether the Presidency of the EU Council has an impact on longer-term Europeanization of domestic foreign policy. The thesis has proved that the...

Political legitimacy has often been addressed in terms of the legitimacy of actors, while the legitimacy of policies as such is relatively neglected. This thesis argues that an analytical distinction between the categories of the actor and its action is necessary, since an actor's legitimacy does not automatically imply the legitimacy of its behaviour; furthermore, in real social discourse, actions are not exempt from legitimacy judgments. The ambition of the thesis is to make use of this research gap and to examine one of the most important tools of the EU's foreign policy by means of an analytical framework of political legitimacy. The selected cases are the current episode of CFSP sanctions against Russia; "appropriate measures" under the ACP Partnership agreement against Zimbabwe; and the informal arms embargo against China. Sanctions dealt with in the first two cases are deemed legitimate, while the arms embargo on China failed to meet the legitimacy criteria. Apart from the findings on legitimacy, two major conclusions can be drawn from the analysis: The lack of internal coherence is impairing the legitimacy of the EU's political measures; and the imposition of sanctions through an institutionalised political framework enhances their transparency in contrast to informal measures.

This diploma thesis focuses on the development of the common EU security policy between the years 2014-2019. Its aim is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the rapid progress of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in recent years, as well as to an explanation of their current functioning. The work seeks to achieve this through the three dominant strands of new institutionalism (historical, rationalist and sociological), which have already proven to be the theories able to clarify the European integration process. The thesis examines the process of EU security integration and its strengthening through the creation of new tools in the security-political dimension. Each theoretical variant focuses on different issues and different part of reality, this way the thesis leads to a more comprehensive explanations. The basic research question set out is as follows: How can we explain the unprecedented development of a common EU security policy using the dominant strands of new institutionalism in the period 2014-2019? From a methodological point of view, it is conducted as a one-case qualitative study.

This dissertation scrutinises two related claims that were particularly heightened in 2009 as the European Union (EU) was celebrating the first tenth anniversary of its European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), the implementing arm of its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). First, the two policy frameworks allegedly embodied sufficient added value for bettering EU intervention for human protection purposes in third places. Second, the ESDP supposedly enabled the EU to make a difference in its response to two bloody wars that broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) successively in 1996 and 1998. This thesis argues that the alleged added value and difference have been overstated at best. While various studies have taken a similar position, they have important shortcomings for at least four reasons: lack of a comprehensive account of the CFSP motives, capacities, and response; exclusive focus on civil and military operations; focus on the post-Second Congo War period; and a lack of conceptual clarity regarding two key terms – ‘conflict resolution’ and ‘peacebuilding’. This thesis goes beyond generalisation and undertakes a forensic examination of the CFSP statements, decisions, and actions precisely through the lens of Conflict Resolution (CR): a specific subject area of study with its own normative, theoretical, and practical advantages and shortcomings; and with a more comprehensive and indeed seminal conceptualisation of peacebuilding. The outcome is a far more nuanced assessment of failure and success of the EU’s peace endeavours in this context than can be obtained through a broad-brush approach to analysis / European Community-funded Sustainable Peacebuilding (SPBUILD) Research Training Network; University of Deusto’s ‘RETOS’ research group on socio-cultural and human rights challenges in a changing world.

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This assessment of European Union foreign policy towards the South Caucasus shows that while the EU has developed a coherent transport policy since 1992, paradoxically, it has had no corresponding coherent conflict resolution policy for this region. The fact that the EU deepened transport cooperation without a mediation policy in an area with a multiplicity of protracted conflicts is a puzzle. Although the EU eventually added mediation to its policy during the Russia-Georgia armed conflict in 2008, it was unable to facilitate a political solution. The research examines what has been the nature of EU foreign policy towards the South Caucasus. The dissertation argues that incoherence in conflict resolution policy has been consequent upon two causal factors: (i) preferences of the EU member states conditioned by their historical experience with Russia, and (ii) institutional framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). By contrast, with functional approach, the three dominant factors that have enabled coherence in transport cooperation are (i) legislative alignment, (ii) common transport area, including technical assistance for transit development, and (iii) restrictive measures. Examination of these two areas of EU foreign policy, shows a discrepancy, demonstrating its inconsistent nature. The theoretical framework of realism and liberal intergovernmentalism, is applied to empirically grounded EU foreign policy analysis. Adopting a case study methodology, this work examines the EU's policy towards Armenia and Azerbaijan, with special focus on Georgia between 1992 and 2014. The research combines social science methods of literature review, document analysis and expert interviews.

La lutte contre le terrorisme, ainsi que ses conséquences sur la sphère des droits de l'Homme, n'est pas un thème nouveau en Europe. Cependant, depuis les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 perpétrés sur le sol des Etats-Unis, «confirmés» par ceux de Madrid en 2004 et Londres en 2005, elle n'a jamais incarné une telle priorité. La majeure partie des mesures prises par l'Union européenne tombe sous le titre de la coopération en matière pénale, c’est-à-dire sousl’ex-troisième Pilier, parmi lesquelles la décision-cadre sur la lutte contre le terrorisme, la décision-cadre sur le mandat d'arrêt européen et les accords entre l'Union européenne et les Etats-Unis d'Amérique sur l'extradition et l'assistance juridique mutuelle. Sur base des mesures européennes, certains Etats, historiquement non concernés par ce phénomène, ont été pressés à adopter des mesures anti-terroristes alors que d’autres y ont vu une légitimation pour renforcer leur corpus juridique déjà existant. Quel est l'impact des mesures européennes et de celles prises par les Etats sur le délicat équilibre entre la sécurité et la liberté ? En d'autres termes, quel est le rôle de l'Etat de droit : une limitation à ces mesures ou, un principe visant au renforcement du combat contre le terrorisme? / The fight against terrorism, as well as its consequences in the field of Human Rights, is not a new theme for Europe. However, since the terrorist attacks of September the 11th 2001 in the United States of America, “confirmed” by the ones of Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, it has never embodied such a priority. The larger part of the measures taken by the European Union falls under the heading of cooperation in criminal matters, i.e. within the scope of the former Third Pillar, among which the framework decision on combating terrorism, the framework decision on the European arrest warrant and the agreements between the European Union and the United States of America on extradition and mutual legal assistance. On basis of the European measures, some States, not historically concerned by terrorism, have been compelled to carry out counter-terrorism measures whereas, others have seen a legitimation to reinforce their existing body of law. What is the impact of the European measures and the ones taken by States on the delicate balance between security and liberty? In other words, what is the role of the Rule of Law: a limitation to those measures or, a principle aiming to the strengthening of the fight against terrorism?

歐洲政治合作(European Political Cooperation)為歐體自1970起實施之一制度，以便各成成員國討論及協調對外交事務之立場，並在適當之情勢下採取一致行動，以確保各國之共同利益並對抗來自外部之壓力，此種各會員國聯合模式之集體外交，迥異於傳統以個別國家為主體之外交行為，而其後續之演進--共同外交暨安全政策(Common Foreign and Security Policy)，更是研究歐洲統合不容忽視之重要範疇，故值得加以進一步之探討.歐洲政治合作係與共同體平行的行動，它溯自1970年迄至1993年，歐體藉此一架構採取共同外交政策之協調，並由其會員國制訂及實施. 本論文首先將當前歐洲政治合作文獻作一初步整理，隨後探討相關問題，包括歐洲政治合作理論之建構，其次為自其發展過程及個案研究評估歐洲政治合作的實際成效與影響. 綜合研究之初步成果，目前國際關係理論尚不能完全解釋歐洲政治合作此一現象，有待學界進一步之努力. 其次，歐洲政治合作此一政府間本質之架構，在實施上僅能達到有限之效果，檢視其以往記錄並無一項明確之共同外交政策存在，所謂歐洲政治合作的協調映象僅建立於次要的議題，包括共同宣言及部份的制裁與援助措施，但若與個別成員國利益衝突或面臨國際危機時，則其所能發揮之效用最小，因此歐體各國對個別的國家利益及國內政治的認知仍優於對共同體，而從歐洲政治合作演進至共同外交暨安全政策的發展過程來看，各國真正能讓渡主權而實施一項共同外交政策，仍有一段漫長的路途.