Thesis (Ph. D.)--Uppsala University, 2002.

The submitted thesis focuses on traditionalist conceptions in the Czech interwar literature. In the First Chapter were considered some literary theories, mainly distinctions between continuity and discontinuity in literary history (modernism and anti-modernism). Author consider tradition in the dialogue with the hermeneutic theories (mainly Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur and New Historicism) regarding tradition as a problem of historical meaning opposite sociological conception of tradition. Tradition suggests interdependence of anti-modern and modern art. The Second Chapter focuses on the polemic about tradition around 1928. Polemics about tradition related with discussions about philosophical sense of the Czech history, revision state and national traditions and also with the traditional character of literature. Further chapter consider tradition in the context of rural literature (ruralismus) and rural novel published in rural library Hlasy země (conception and varieties of time in novels - progress, ancestral continuity, eternity). In this contemporary negotiations over rural themes had an important role regional literature (regionalismus) as a specific variant of the rural novels. On the basis of theoretical disputes and reviews of reception of the French regionalism (Giono, Ramuz, Pourrat)...

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the change in response of Latin American governments to the economic crisis and thus the change in the character of protectionist measures applied. How do the means of the protection of domestic market change? How does the financial globalization reflect in the Latin American protectionism? What are the further perspectives of the development of Latin American countries? The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter examines the forms of protectionism in the reaction to economic crisis of the 20th century. Firstly, it presents Latin America as a traditionally protectionist region in the period of the import substitution industrialization, secondly it focuses on governments' reactions to the cyclic crises of the 80s and 90s that were caused by the liberalization of the capital accounts and high sensitivity of Latin American economies to the sudden stop on financial markets. The second chapter is devoted to the current global economic crisis. It analyses the means of trade and financial protectionism. Simultaneously, it compares the protectionist measures used to the ones employed in previous periods. The final part of the thesis explores further perspectives of Latin American regionalism and improved macroeconomic stability of Latin American economies.

The objective of this work is to analyze the phenomenon of regionalism in Southeast Asia with the emphasize on ASEAN and its impact on member states. The first part of the theses is theoretical and explains the development and characteristics of regionalism. The second part of the theses is practical and analyses impact of ASEAN in economical area, trade area and also area of diplomatic relations.

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,...

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, regionalism as an approach for studying International Relations has been gaining a momentum and popularity, yet, it has been mostly dominated by Eurocentric and deductive postulations, unable to successfully answer many regional issues. The focus of this thesis is to examine the validity of the major regionalist theories in the context of South America, a region that offers an ideal environment for a study of post-liberal regionalism. The thesis attempts to answer what are the main shortcomings of the contemporary regionalist debate. The main hypothesis is that while the contemporary debate of regionalism is dominated by the deductive approach, this can only direct us to some general variables and factors, but it is the inductive approach that leads us to correct assumption by expulsing extra-regional influences while building the hypothesis up. The hypothesis is tested on the South American regional dynamics through four thematic clusters based on the major assumptions of the regional theories that test their validity. The analyzed trajectories of the South American regional dynamic prove that the deductive approach is valuable in directing the research the right way in some general patterns, but it fails to make correct postulations about the type of the regional...

The presented thesis is analyzing the regional cooperation in the Western Balkans (WB) focusing on interactions of local actors. Theoretical background is based on the new regionalism, a theoretical approach to regional interactions. Contemporary studies on New Regionalism (NR) actually do not consider the Western Balkans to be part of this process and as a result we lack sufficient information about the basic characteristics of this region. The author proves that the WB is engaged in the process of the new regionalism and in fact by focusing on the institutional structure he demonstrates that several parallel processes are ongoing in the region as for example regional cooperation, integration or cooperation with another region. For the purpose of this research two projects of regional cooperation were chosen, South Eastern European Cooperation Process (SEECP) and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) which are regarded as the main pillars of the political cooperation in the WB. By examining their structure we may understand the relevance of the region as an independent actor and the general aims of the regional cooperation.

The goal of the thesis "New phenomena in the relations between the EU and Australia New Zealand at the beginning of the third millennium" is to analyze mutual trade and economic relations in the context of new phenomena in regionalism, represented here mostly by bi-regionalism and trans-regionalism. The first part of the thesis characterizes economic positions of EU, Australia and New Zealand in the global economy and emphasizes their historical and societal ties. The second part of the thesis elaborates on the development of mutual relations between the EU Australia and EU New Zealand. In particular it sums up the process of deepening of their cooperation up to the current association of equal partners. This is illustrated by existing legal basis of the relations and the current trade exchange data. The focal point of the thesis is the possibility of further intensification of mutual cooperation, especially through conclusion of a preferential agreement that would remove remaining trade barriers between the EU and Australia New Zealand. In the context of the new phenomena in regionalism, any type of preferential agreement would have potential to foster their relationships as well as bring positive impact to process of multilateral liberalization. The issue of preferential agreement is therefore considered in the light of the steadily rising importance of the Asia-Pacific region. While Australia and New Zealand have concluded an agreement on a free trade zone with ASEAN, negotiations with the EU have been suspended. The thesis confirms one of its main hypothesis, marking their different approaches to agricultural policy as the main obstacle to concluding of a free trade agreement between the EU and Australia New Zealand. Based on the findings, the thesis concludes by outlining several scenarios of possible future development of mutual relations and their positive and negative aspects.

The presented study is an analysis of the regional integration process of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN utilizing theories of international relations and integration. The dissertation studies the factors which contributed to its formation, evolution and transformation and the perspectives of its further development. ASEAN was established by virtue of Bangkok Declaration signed on August 8, 1967 among Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Subsequently Brunei joined the Association in 1984, Vietnam 1995, Laos and Myanmar 1997 and Cambodia 1999. ASEAN's formation falls within the process of creating of regional organizations after World War II, a period of the biggest development of the institutionalization of the international cooperation. Association was based on relatively free and voluntary cooperation and political declarations. With the end of Cold War and bipolarity, with the defeat of communism and the advent of political and economic reforms in the former socialist bloc ASEAN institutionally strengthened and transformed itself, expanded its membership and the decision to form ASEAN Free Trade Area AFTA in 1992 and the Treaty on the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs shifted Association from the stage of cooperation to integration. ASEAN becomes an international organization (based on international legal agreement with the objectives, principles, internal structure etc.) through the adoption of the Charter in 2008. The Charter is the symbol of the transition process from voluntary cooperation based on political declarations to creation of an intergovernmental organization with international legal personality and legal contractual basis for community building, to strengthen the norms and principles. ASEAN has functioned over 40 years based on personal, very frequent and regular contacts between the key elites (who have significantly contributed to its creation and development), as a grouping of common practice and an emerging common identity. It is a form of intergovernmental cooperation, where member states have exclusive position in the decision process; there are no supranational institutions that would have exclusive powers. ASEAN is the initiator of the development of regionalism in Asia, a considerable number of international structures, inter-and trans-regional contacts, forums and programs. Its activities after the Cold War fall into the framework of the new regionalism The thesis tries to point out possible perspectives for its future path, especially in connection to recently born special cooperation ASEAN+3 (China, Republic of Korea, Japan) and plans for building of East Asian Community (ASEAN+3, Australia, New Zealand, India) and its Free Trade Area. Basic characteristics of ASEAN integration process: it takes place in Southeast Asia, it is a process and a state, it consists of economic, political, security, social and cultural part, the emphasis is on economic affairs, its origin is in the postwar period, the main actors are the states and their elites (from the 90's NGO's, think-tanks and civil society become active creating a broad network of socio-cultural relations and interactions), integration expands by the process of ASEAN +3 and EAS, there is a spillover effect within and outside ASEAN, integration process is gradually evolving from a lower to a higher level. Carried out research has its limitations, since it is impossible to generalize the results and formulate a clear assessment of the large international complex, the information is always limited and the social process is miscellaneous. Well-known is the fact that political elites do not act according to the theories, which they often do not know, but based on their own understanding of reality and interests of individual states, eventually groups of countries. No theory is able to explain fully the evolution of ASEAN, failing to capture reality in its full extent, and thus the prospects for the future are some speculations. From the theoretical examination of ASEAN I elect neofuncionalism, since ASEAN represents a process of empowerment, where elites play a crucial role; they share many values and objectives and contribute to the integration process. The rise of transactions in the regional grouping (trade, communication, exchange of ideas), gradually creates a sense of common identity, elites have closer contacts and their values are complementary. Southeast Asia should occupy an important place in the Czech Republic's foreign policy, taking advantage of traditional contacts with the region. Priority should be given to economic ties and active political involvement in the multilateral framework of ASEM, an important part of political dialogue should be question of human rights.

The thesis surveys the formation, development and the present state of integration process in the three developing world regions -- Latin America, Africa and Asia and the Pacific -- as one of the most significant processes of the world economy since the end of the last century. The first part of the opening chapter presents the issues of regionalism, the second one presents the issues of the developing world. The objective of the thesis is to point out the differences in processes of the international economic integration in the three developing regions, in terms of both historical point of view and motives and factors influencing the integration initiatives in developing countries. In that case the individual chapters analyze motives for integration and disintegration, affecting the formation and development of integration processes in each developing region, and present the first attempts to integration in the area as well as the overall development of regional integration as a whole. Finally, the chapters list current regional groupings, focusing on the degree of integration achieved and the set, respectively achieved, objectives.