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

In my work I have focused on the Eastern Partnership (EaP) as an instrument of EU (foreign) policy towards its eastern neighbors with regard to the geopolitical implications of collaboration through the given initiative. My ambition has been to identify the potential benefits of initiating the project, especially in political-security and energy aspects. The first chapter focuses on the theoretical concept of geopolitics as well as the geopolitical definition of the East-European region. The second chapter is devoted to the conceptualisation of the EaP as an specific instrument of the European foreign policy as well as the concrete implementation of the EaP in practice. The third chapter deals with particular relevance to this project with the (geo)strategic objectives of the EU as well as the analysis of the EaP in terms of effective functioning.

MARTA, A. Geopolitical Position of Caucasus. Diploma thesis. Brno: Mendel University. Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies, 2015. Thesis Supervisor Mgr. Lukáš Nevěděl, Ph.D. The thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is especially concerned with introduction of political geography and geopolitics as independents sciences, with history of Caucasus, his physical-geographic character and conflicts in Caucasian unstable regions. This part is after all closed up by determination of Caucasian martial-protective, economical and energetic relationships with nearby states. Analogous to theoretical part, the practical part is also divided into two parts, quantitative and qualitative. Whilst quantitative part's focusing on region's geopolitical dispensation and religious or language diversity, that qualitative on the contrary point out the Caucasian social side and everyday life within it.

The thesis deals with the importance of water resources and their influence on political development with the example of Kyrgyzstan. The main objective was to find out the role of water resources in domestic politics, how water influences the relationship between Kyrgyzstan and its neighbors, and whether water resources are of interest to the world's superpowers. Geopolitical analysis was carried out on three levels. At national level, water scarcity, uneven distribution and obsolete water systems are a cause of civil discontent. Corruption in the state sphere negates the possibility of modernization of existing water facilities. Water management is dependent on non-governmental associations and foreign financial assistance. At regional level, there is constant tension between Kyrgyzstan, where all the important rivers of the region rise, and the states lying downstream of these rivers. The cause of this tension is different demands of individual states on water use. International treaties address the situation, but are mostly non-functional in the long term. At the supra-regional level, the interests of especially Russia and China collide. Both superpowers seek to prevent US influence in the region. At the same time, they gain a dominant position in Kyrgyzstan in the economic and security spheres....

Diploma thesis "Astropolitics" analyses of the evolution of the geopolitical a strategic thought from the classical geopolitical school of Mackinder to the Astropolitik, which is the brainchild of E.Dolman. This essay is focused mainly on space and on the military doctrines and strategies that were applied to it from Cold war to the present. The last capitol analyses the potential of the environment in the present and in the imminent future. A last thought will be dedicated to the cyberspace. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Decades of cooperation between the United States and its Middle Eastern partners have come to a turning point. The 2008 Shale Revolution has brought the United States heretofore unknown scale of energy independece. The Revolution has created an unprecedented increase in United States' unconventional cost-effectively extractable energy reserves. It is estimated that within next two decades the United States should change from net importer of hydrocarbons to net exporter. There is a lot of speculation, whether due to possible energy independece, the foreign policy towards its Middle Eastern partners would change and whether the United States would isolate itself. Aim of this work is to explore the impact of the Shale Revolution on energy security of the United States and its implications for future geopolitics towards the Middle East. The main question to be explored is whether it would change United States' geopolitics at all and if yes, how would it look like. Since domestic oil prices are based on global energy prices and since Middle Eastern partners are unique in their capability of supplying global energy markets with large quantities of oil in the long run, even after the Shale Revolution it will be essential for the United States to continue its cooperation with its Middle Eastern partners....

The presented master's thesis titled The Power Rivalry between China and India: Managing the Buffer Zone between the Two States examines the strategic behaviour of China and India with respect to the buffer zone located around their common border. In recent years, it is possible to observe a higher intensity or tension in the mutual relations of China and India on both the regional, as well as global level. In regard to China and India, the buffer zone located near their common border is a distinctive factor of strategic importance that influences the dynamics within mutual Sino-Indian relations. The main pillars of the analysis of China's and India's policy towards each other and towards the common buffer zone present in the thesis are offensive and defensive realism in combination with the geopolitics of buffer zones. From the analytical point of view, the thesis divided into two parts. The first part of the analysis focuses on the common Sino-Indian border and adjacent areas, and whether it is possible to characterized them as the buffer zone. The second part concentrates specifically on China and India and their policies, not just towards each other, but towards the buffer zone as well. Regional interactions of China and India are analysed especially from the perspective of offensive and...

This study analyses the strengths and limitations of Turkey on its way to becoming a regional power in the Middle East. Using the major theories of International Relations (Realism and Liberalism), the study presents the definition and main criteria of the term of regional power. The key purpose of this study is to examine if today's Turkey meets the requirements of being a recognized regional leader. The paper examines the period under the governance of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) which has started in 2002 and continues since then. During these 17 years, Turkey has gone through 3 distinct stages; Recovery from the internal political and economic crisis, ascendancy to a regional power level in the Middle East region and the decline phase which came as a result of failures in internal and external affairs. In order to understand the position of Turkey in the region and its regional influence during this period Turkish economic and military power capabilities are thoroughly analyzed and compared to the same statistical indicators of other Middle East countries. Moreover, the paper also analyses the foreign policy of Turkey towards the regional actors and the level of its recognition as a major power by international players. The study confirms that Turkey has lost its status as a regional...

This work aims to fill the gap in the civil scientific agenda by offering its own, two- stage version of a systemic, dynamic, and interdisciplinary analysis of the developments in the Arctic transborder region; by fixing the region"s southern border at the Arctic Circle, adjusting to the premises of new geopolitics, using systemic modeling, and viewing geostrategic analysis as an obligatory academic contribution to the "art" of statecraft.The first stage of analysis is inductive, descriptive, and static. It defines the Arctic region as a system of five geostrategic action spaces, physical space (S1), military space (S2), economic space (S3), demographic space (S4), and information space (S5). After defining essential elements of the physical environment, social network analysis is applied on four human-constructed geostrategic spaces (S2-S5) - i.e. the basic networks of relationship (links) between the key actors (nodes) are created. Matrices of symmetrical relationships for military space (S2), economic space (S3), and demographic space (S4) are constructed to demonstrate the links" intensity. In order to illustrate the fact that changes in one action space ultimately transform other spaces, ten possible channels of inter-space affection are illustrated. The second stage of analysis is deductive,...

The submitted diploma thesis focuses on the role of Russian federation within the post-communist area. The thesis describes the development of the Russian foreign policy, with regard to the post-soviet area, from the disintegration of the Soviet Union to the present. The attention is paid to the idea of the eurasianism and atlantism , which became the most popular in the Russian foreign policy. The other part of the thesis presents the detailed analysis of the development of the Russian federation's relations with the other states and its degree of influence of alternative actors. The greatest attention is paid to the situation in the Caucasus and Central Asia, because in these areas is the most noticeable influence of alternative actors.