The thesis examines the aspects of neo-Ottomanism in Turkish foreign policies toward three Balkan countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo -, focusing on the developments of the last decade. Turkey has become quite active in the Balkans and in these countries in the last few years, however, this activism is not without any antecendents. These areas were the core European territories of the Ottoman Empire and after the dissolution of this entity, Turkey still attached special importance to these countries, albeit during the Cold War relations were cooler. On the other hand, with the fall of the Iron Curtain, the rise of the AK Party to government position and Ahmet Davutoglu becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs in Turkey, the Balkans started to receive particular "limelight" in Turkish foreign policy. New ideas, expressions, approaches were incorporated into the forming self-confident and assertive foreign policy of Turkey. However, this new policy, referred to as neo- Ottomanism in many cases, infered criticisms too, from the West and from local politicians in the Balkans too. The thesis aims to remake and remodel this expression by highlighting other, more positive elements of it. Turkey's political, economic, cultural and military relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and...

The first part is focused on the development of relations between Czech Republic and the European Union from beginning of the Community till the CR entry into the EU. Integration project itself has undergone during the fifty-year history of dramatic development. The aim is to summarize the facts of recent years before the Czech Republic into the European Union in 2004. The second part of the thesis is devoted to the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership. This issue is examined in several politico-economic levels. This section complements the interactive part in the form of research to respondents, the advantages and disadvantages of EU membership. The third part deals with the Czech presidency in general terms. The final part is called the EU's future - the role of CR. I aimed to set the Europe 2020 and its objectives.

This thesis examines how the parliamentary debate in Sweden saw the consequences of Swedenas a nation were to join the European Union. The nation is defined as a state based on nationalself-determination. The EU is regarded as a supra-state organisation and one of the moreextensive efforts of its kind. I specifically examine two themes in Swedish foreign policy. Theseare the nonalignment policy and migration policy. Through a discourse analysis I show that allpolitical parties perceive consequences for the self-determination and all argue selfdeterminationwill be lost in the event of membership. However, they are divided in what theybelieved this would lead to. Some parties support EU whereas others are sceptical of EU. Partiesthat support an EU-membership argue that it is inevitable to join and Sweden will lose selfdeterminationanyway. A membership opens the possibility to influence and participate, but anabstaining will lead forced acceptance of policies. Many of the supporters are even positive ofbeing a member in EU. Sceptics, on the other hand believe Sweden will lack influence and loseall self-determination. The organisation itself is against Sweden as it is a supra-stateorganisation, which may reduce the role of single member-states. For the nonalignment policy,the government initially use it as an argument against EU, but later support membership if thenonalignment policy can be kept. The other supporters acknowledge the nonalignment policy,but nevertheless assert that EU is compatible with the nonalignment policy. This is because ofthe changes in the geopolitical situation. Sceptics believe the nonalignment policy rejectmembership, mostly due to the still uncertain geopolitical situation and the suspicion EU willdeprive Sweden of its decision-making. Sometimes they suggest the self-determination andnonalignment policy are prerequisites for each other. In the migration policy, all parties supportgenerous migration policy, but

Diese Arbeit behandelt die Frage, welche Auswirkungen eine EU-Mitgliedschaft der Türkei auf die europäischen Sicherheitsbeziehungen haben würde. Es wird die sicherheitspolitische Situation in- und außerhalb der türkischen Staatsgrenzen analysiert. Auf Basis der Rational Choice Theorie vom Akteurzentrierten Institutionalismus wird gezeigt mit welchen Herausforderungen die Europäische Union konfrontiert wäre und die Frage behandelt, ob eine so genannte Privilegierte Partnerschaft eine mögliche Alternative zu einer Vollmitgliedschaft sein kann. / This work deals with the question which impact an EU-membership of Turkey would have on European security relations. It analyzes the security situation in- and outside Turkeys frontiers. Based on the rational choice theory of Akteurzentrierter Institutionalismus it tries to give a prospect of possible challenges for the European Union and brings up the question whether a so called privileged partnership is a possible altnernative to a full membership.

This study claims that there has been realized an obvious transformation in the way in which the Cyprus question is perceived and handled in Turkey, both in official state policy and popular opinion, during 2000s. It is aimed in this study to depict this transformation with its different dimensions and analyze this transformation with a historical perspective in terms of the actors and dynamics involved. The social and political dynamics which brought about such a transformation are investigated and the positions and attitudes of certain social actors, with special reference to big capital and its representative T&Uuml / SiAD, are disclosed within the scope of this study. It is maintained in this study that in order to understand and analyze the transformation in the Cyprus policy of Turkey and the public opinion, it is necessary to relate this process with general political atmosphere of the country as well as the hegemonic visions/projects/opinions of the period. In this case, it is actually impossible to understand and analyze the transformation of the official policy and public opinion on Cyprus separate from the EU membership project specifically in 2000s. This study analyzes this transformation as a dimension of a general process that is the construction of EU membership objective as a hegemonic project. Antonio Gramsci&rsquo / s theory of hegemony and Bob Jessop&rsquo / s conceptualization of hegemonic project have been utilized in this analysis.

The uneven effects of EU membership conditionality on Eastern European reforms continue to puzzle the research community. Sometimes, the research focus has been too large, considering EU membership conditionality as a policy implemented uniformly across policy areas. Other efforts take a too narrow approach by trying to explain the effects of EU membership conditionality in single sectors. I suggest studying this phenomenon through a set of mid-level theories in a cross-country, cross-sectorial approach. I argue that both the intensity of EU membership conditionality and reform outcomes are contingent upon the policy sector context; hence, we should take a sectorial contextual approach in studying them. Reform outcomes result from the interplay between EU’s and domestic leaders’ interests in a particular sectorial reform. I assume domestic leaders to be rational, power driven actors. I argue that, since they act in some weakly institutionalized political environments such as Eastern European societies, they represent the principal actors in the power game. I assume the EU to be a rational actor as well; yet, differently from Eastern Europe, the role of individual leaders is less distinguishable in the highly institutionalized EU political theatre. In this case, EU institutions are the primary political agents. They are interested in maintaining and enlarging the Union as a stable democracy. Expanding an earlier argument that views the EU as established through consociational practices, I argue that EU membership conditionality is a tool to impose institutional reforms in the EU aspirant countries, so their institutions can be receptive to the EU consociational practices once they join the Union. In these countries, the consociational character of conditionality is more visible, since it seeks to impose in aspirant countries the same practices that have brought democratic stability in some member states. The EU does not impose consociational practices on unified societies, but simply seeks to make their institutions receptive to the EU consociational practices. I test these arguments with the cases of institutional reforms in postcommunist Albanian and Macedonia. I conclude that, generally, EU membership manages to change Eastern European leaders’ interests in institutional reforms, but when it cannot, the reforms are almost impossible.

The purpose of this study is to illustrate why Norway is not a member of the EU from a rational choice perspective. In order to fulfil this purpose, two questions will constitute the framework of the study. These are: 1. What are the arguments of the EU-opposers in the Norwegian EU-debate? 2. Is it rational for Norway to stand outside the EU? The first question was answered by analyzing and mapping out the arguments of the Norweigan EU-opponents and then using a critical literature study to analyse them. To demarcate the study, only the arguments of the parliamentary parties that are opposing a Norwegian EU-membership, and the official organisation Nei til EU (No to the EU) were included. The second question was tested by using a rational choice theory and a number of keywords from the classical rational actor model; objectives, alternatives, consequences and choice. These keywords constituted the main analyzing instrument of the study and was applied on the empirical material. The main arguments of the opposers of a Norweigan EU-membership, are widely spoken democracy, freedom of action, environment and solidarity. The debate is hard to map out because of its general character but is very homogeneous. The second question is answered partly in the light of the first one and the result shows that it is rational for Norway to stay outside the EU today, but the question may have to be reassessed in the future, and probably will be since the debate is still so fervent.

The thesis presents comparison of Czech and Croatian business environment using PEST analysis and macroeconomic indicators for description. It is focused on international trade with goods and services. It is aimed at companies operating on the Czech and Croatian market and their practical experience. Last part of thesis is concentrated on the future cooperation connected to Czech and Croatian EU membership.

The first chapter describes the relationship of Great Britain and the European Union. It deals with the circumstances of joining into the EEC, discusses the exceptions of the membership and finally presents a detailed approach of the UK representatives of the ruling political parties. The second chapter focuses on the deeper issues of leaving the EU, while examining the possibility of this legislative step. The third chapter deals with the position of the Great Britain within the EU as compared to other member states. The fourth chapter assesses the economic impact of Brexit on UK and EU countries.

The European Union have continued to grow since its inception with more and more nations becoming member states. In 2016 that changed, when, for the first time, a member state decided to leave, and the EU might explore its enlargement strategy to fill the void left by the United Kingdom. Turkey is a potential addition to the EU, one that could provide a valuable ally from both a monetary and a security perspective. However, there are some doubts regarding democracy in the country, which is one of the cornerstones of the EU. This paper is a qualitative case study that examines Turkish democracy in the period of 2011-2021, and its alignment with the EU accession criteria. Robert Dahl’s famous definition of democracy will be used as the theoretical framework of the study, and the European Commission’s own reports on Turkey’s progress on the EU accession criteria will be the material used for the analysis. The main conclusion of the study is that Turkish democracy is in sharp decline, and fundamental freedoms are regressing in the country. The negotiations have stalled in the wake of the coup attempt in 2016, and restrictive and anti-democratic measures introduced by the government has brought Turkey further away from having a realistic chance of becoming a member state. Future research could focus on other aspects of the Turkey-EU accession talks, for example the economic criteria.