Human rights, European Union and Constitutional Discourse Abstract This thesis deals with human rights within the case law of the ECJ. Purpose of this thesis is to denominate and analyze situations of application of human rights in ECJ's case law, especially from the point of view of critique of rights. For such purpose the thesis is divided into six main sections. First section delimits the foundation of (i) liberal theory of human rights, which gives foundations to the contemporary mainstream human rights discourse and (ii) basic notions of ciritique of rights. The first chapter thus create conditions for understanding of arguments developed in the following sections of this thesis. The second sections briefly describes evolution of case law of the ECJ in the field of human rights protection, particularly landmark decisions of the ECJ, in which it afforded protection to human rights as general principles of the Community law. The third section follows the second section and tries to analyze the human rights case law of the ECJ from the point of view of their recognition as general principles of the Community law. This thesis reflects the self-evident nature of human rights within the Community law and argues that despite the self evident presuppositions of human rights the has been quite selective when...

1 Abstract Central Asia is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. The region includes five different countries, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The countries differ in the terms of the economic development, and a degree of the openness of the national economies, as well as in the foreign trade and the orientation of the foreign policy. Some states of the region belong to the poorest countries of the world while the others keep a quite successful way of the economic development. In the region there are countries which retain sufficiently isolated from the world economy (such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and Kazakhstan which formed an open liberal economy since gaining the independence. Also there are countries which focused on the development of cooperation with Europe as well as the other regions abroad and at the same time there are countries aimed at preserving and developing the deeper ties with neighboring Russia and China. In June 2007 the European Council of the EU adopted a new strategy towards Central Asia for the period from 2007 to 2013. And despite the strategy is short-term, yet it is a political document (Council of the European Union, 2007). In accordance with the adopted «Strategy for a New Partnership» the EU engages with the region in many areas,...

AAAAbstractbstractbstractbstract The main purpose of my thesis is to analyse how Czech legal order deals with the obligation to implement European legislation, and also, how it is affected by the process of implementation. The thesis consists of two major parts. Part One describes the European law system from the point of view of its effects on a national law; the direct effect as well as the obligation to implement the EU law into national legal acts are considered. Part Two is divided into six chapters; each chapter deals with a different aspect of Czech obligation to implement and apply the EU law. Czech government is the main legislative initiator and has developed detailed rules for preparing government bills. However, the praxis is far from ideal. Both chambers of Czech Parliament are affected by serious lack of interest in the process of implementation. The Constitutional court provides a constantly growing judicature of open-minded interpretation of the national law with respect to the EU law. On the other hand, it shows a surprising reluctance to refer for a preliminary ruling at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Czech courts have to deal with principles of application of the EU law. With respect to a principle of damages for failure to fulfil the member state's obligations under EU law,...

Trends and patterns of cancer mortality in Kazakhstan in comparison with some selected European countries from 1986 to 2008 Abstract Cancer is the third leading cause of premature death in Kazakhstan. Every year more than thirty thousand Kazakhstani people are diagnosed with cancer. This master thesis tries to provide base for the cancer control programmes in Kazakhstan. It also analyses the changes of the mortality level and distribution by the most important groups of tumours for men and women. The most common types of cancer are lung, skin, breast and stomach. These four cancers combined account for over 44% of new cases of cancer. Lung cancer is the most common cancer in men accounting for nearly a quarter of cancer cases in men. Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women accounting for 20%. Cancer remains mainly a disease of older Kazakhstanis. The largest proportion of cancer deaths for both men and women were from lung cancer mainly caused by smoking. Deaths from cancers of the lung, stomach, breast and esophagus together accounted for almost a half (46%) of all cancer deaths. With an estimated ASMR 225.5 for males and 122.0 for females in 2008, cancer remains an important public health problem in Kazakhstan. The international comparison illustrates the differences in cancer mortality in...

Resumé A comparison of national Trade mark with Community Trade mark. The purpose of thesis is to provide fundamental information about trademarks and their legal regulation. The reason why I decided to write a research about trademarks is that they are one of the most popular and widely used method of labeling products and services. Indisputable advantage of European union Trade mark is that the registration is not need for national Trade mark. Another advantage of European legislation of Trademarks is automatic and free dissemination of the accession of the new member states. Despite the fact that national trademark law is fully in compliance with European legislation, not all questions are completely identical. In thesis I would like to show influence on the czech national Trade marks after European union accession. I focus on the practice of the The Court of Justice of the European Union which has of capital importance on decision making practice of the Czech Courts. In the thesis I focus on the amendment of European union trade mark through regulation European Parliament and Council (EU) 2015/2424. There are some changes in three areas: institutional, produceral and changes in the level of charges. This regulation is step forward in the development of trade marks. This regulation provides for...

This study seeks to examine and assess the effectiveness of the Eastern Partnership Policy (EaP) of the European Union. Beside introduction of positive novelties of the Eastern Partnership, this paper gives a premium attention to scrutinize the possible limitations and shortfalls of EaP. Hence, the study aims to analyze some internal and external factors that complicate the effective functioning of the EaP. The inconsistency of the EU policy structure, the role of Russia and its Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) in EAP, the ambivalent policy of some Member States (Germany and Italy are examined) toward the EaP, unconsidered discrepancy of eastern partners are analyzed and considered as prime reasons of ineffectiveness. In addition, examined case studies of Ukraine and Azerbaijan reveal that the EU's commitment to their "shared values" are controversial. This paper presents that the EU should find a balance between its economic/energy interests and normative values vis-a-vis Eastern Partners in order to fill the gap between its goals and achievements.

In the last thirty years, European local authorities have played a pro-active role in the realm of sustainable development, taking part in several European initiatives and projects and setting up municipal networks. The latter, which connect cities scattered across Member States, may focus on specific environmental issues, such as sustainable mobility or energy, or include sustainable development in a wide range of policy priorities. These socio-ecological urban networks (hereafter SEUNs) have attracted growing academic attention. However, the bulk of the literature is located within Geography and Urban Studies, and it is more focused on the structure of the networks, the process of decision-making, and the policy outcomes than on the drivers of cities’ membership of SEUNs. Within this debate, the contribution of Political Science has been scant, and the political and economic drivers of cities’ engagement in European socio-ecological municipal networks have been overlooked. Understanding why local governments decide to participate in these networks is important for two main reasons: firstly, it contributes to shedding light on how contemporary local political elites govern cities within the European context; secondly, it allows us to understand why European cooperation for sustainable development has become a dominant discourse in urban politics. Conversely, this thesis adopts an urban approach to isolate the urban-level economic, political and institutional factors that impact on local authorities’ participations in European socio-ecological urban networks. Using a nested research design that combines a quantitative and qualitative analysis, the thesis seeks to shed light on the factors and motivations underlying the choice of cities to participate in European networks for sustainability. The results show that cities’ European commitment to sustainable development is part of a broad strategy to achieve urban regeneration. Therefore, participation in SEUNs is not necessarily motivated by environmental preoccupations but is functional to achieve economic and political objectives.

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M.A. / Since the end of the Cold War era, peace and security have been the first priority of the African states. Africa has been afflicted by armed conflicts, wars and genocide since the African states gained their independence in 1960s. Presently, there are still some countries that are involved in conflicts including Sudan and Somalia. Armed conflicts undermine Africa's social and economic developments. Furthermore, this situation threatens African political stability in particular, peace and security. The international community is actively engaged in promoting peace, security and stability in Africa. So far, the United Nations (UN) has conducted eighteen peacekeeping operations and it still leads eight peacekeeping operations in Africa. It was found that peacekeeping operations are crucial to sustain peace and stability on the continent. The focus and aim of this study is to investigate cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) with regard to peacemaking and peacekeeping in Africa. It was found that cooperation between the EU and AU has increased since the first EU-Africa Summit in Cairo in 2000. Both the EU and the AU have recently strengthened their relationship in a wide range of activities including human rights and governance, economic growth as well as peace and security. Importantly, the second EU-Africa Summit was held in Lisbon, in December 2007. At this, the EU highlighted the importance of a comprehensive, robust and long-term framework for its relations with the AU. The EU and Africa are connected by strong historical, trade and colonial links and the EU has a deep interest in a prosperous and stabilised Africa. Meanwhile, armed conflicts not only paralyse the African continent's, but also the European states' interests. Thus, the EU has reinforced its relationship with the AU in the fields of peace and security.

This thesis proposes a realist analysis of the contemporary concept of popular sovereignty in its ability to make sense of the EU's legitimacy. Drawing upon Bernard Williams' political thought, a conception of legitimacy should make sense of hierarchical rule as a desirable civic order from within its own historical circumstances at the normative level. In addition, it should offer realistic guidance to political agents, meaning that its political fictions must therefore acquire a certain degree of practical resonance in order to act as heuristic tools. The modern concept of popular sovereignty sets appropriate criteria of legitimacy based upon the bonds created between citizens. Through a genealogical inquiry, I reconstruct conceptions of popular sovereignty which underpin defences of the EU's output, democratic, and identitarian legitimacy from canonical arguments. These justifications of the state consider the people as beneficiaries of security and economic prosperity, as a self-governing demos, and as a cultural nation, respectively. I propose a realist vindication of this multi-faceted conception of popular sovereignty at the normative level, because these different conceptions complement one another in making sense of the sovereign state's legitimacy. The thesis then discusses how the political fictions of the people could simultaneously make sense within the European polity. In short, the citizens of Europe's polities have become part of the normative systems which create judicial-economic, civic-democratic, and socio-cultural relationships within the territorial borders of the European states. In addition, the centralisation of decision-making power and implementation resources has given plausibility to the political fiction of sovereignty. European integration has, however, resulted in a reconfiguration of these normative systems and restructuring of power into a two-tier political order. In this novel context, a realist vindication of the contemporary conception of popular sovereignty is no longer possible. The thesis concludes by suggesting that a demoicratic reconceptualisation of popular sovereignty offers a constructive way to make sense of the EU's legitimacy.