The continued commitment to and assertion of the primacy of the sovereign state within international relations theory has resulted in a discourse which theorizes and examines only those issues and conflicts of international politics which can be made to fit neatly within the prism of the neorealist discourse. As such, there exists a void in the examination of such issues as the nature and possibilities of alternative forms of political community, or into the political and economic effects these alternative forms of political community (such as social, economic, religious and environmental) pose to the traditional state and the envisioning of a global society. The aim of this thesis is two-fold: first, to renew interest and inquiry into the discursive limitations of the neorealist discourse of difference and negation; and secondly, to call attention to how the practical and discursive constraints of the neorealist conception of the state as political community effects the ability of international relations theory to address current conflicts and issues on the international stage. The intent of this analysis is to spark a renewed interest in exploring not only the emergence of new forms of political community but the possibility of being able to speak about these new forms within a discourse of international relations. Only through a commitment to the critical examination of its discourse can international relations theory uncover new ways to re-envision such concepts as political community and international politics. / Master of Arts

This thesis examines an impact of Greek membership in eurozone on a trustworthiness of Greek economy. In order to do that, it uses a methodology of rating agency Moody´s, on which it applies macroeconomic data. The goal is to identify key factor, which caused the discrepancy between awarded rating and real economic stability. The text itself is divided into two thematic parts. The first introduces an institution of rating Agency and explains the Sovereign Rating Methodology 2013. The second than analyze Greek economy using this methodology and applies findings on the causes of Greek debt crisis. Even though Greek membership in eurozone indeed lowered the interest rates of their bonds, direct impact of this membership on country rating wasn´t proved. Therefore one of the reasons of Greek crisis was also a moral hazard, when the financial markets relied on the fact, that eurozone will not let a member state go bankrupt.

Cette thèse porte sur l'étude des facteurs sous-jacents au risque du défaut souverain, tel que mesuré par les spreads des CDS souverains, au cours de la crise de la dette souveraine en Europe. En analysant les données mensuelles de janvier 2007 à septembre 2015 en utilisant un modèle à correction d'erreur (VECM), nous constatons que le risque de défaut souverain européen répond en partie à un environnement macroéconomique caractérisé par de mauvaises politiques budgétaires et une détérioration des facteurs économiques. Plus précisément, la hausse du taux de chômage, le niveau d'endettement et la réduction des soldes de la balance courante ont accru les spreads des CDS souverains. Ces résultats ne permettent pas de rejeter l’hypothèse selon laquelle le défaut souverain a été motivé par des fondamentaux économiques faibles. Mais l'importance relative de ces facteurs change avec le temps et le groupe de pays. La présence et l'absence de la Grèce ont joué un rôle clé dans l'évolution des spreads dans les pays de la zone euro. La dégradation des notations en Grèce et l'aversion accrue pour le risque de la part des Européens ont contribué à une augmentation significative des spreads de CDS des pays de la zone euro et des autres pays. Notre analyse VECM met en évidence des retombées directes de la Grèce vers la périphérie de la zone euro via des canaux non fondamentaux. Enfin, nos résultats suggèrent que l’émergence de la crise de la dette a été causée par des fondamentaux faibles, mais a également un caractère auto-réalisateur. / This thesis attempts to identify the factors behind the sovereign default risk, as measured by sovereign CDS spreads, during the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. By analyzing monthly data from January 2007 to September 2015 using vector error correction model with panel data, we find that European sovereign default risk is partly a response to a macroeconomic environment characterized by poor fiscal policies and deteriorating economic factors. Specifically, higher unemployment rate, debt levels and lower current account balances have increased the sovereign CDS spreads. These results do not allow us to reject the hypothesis that the sovereign default was driven by weak economic fundamentals. But the relative importance of these factors changes over time and group of countries. The presence and absence of Greece have played a key role in the developments of the spreads in the euro area countries. The rating downgrades in Greece and the higher European risk aversion had contributed to a significant rise in the CDS spreads of euro and non-euro area countries. Our VECM analysis does suggest direct spillovers from Greece to Euro area periphery via non-fundamental channels. Finally, our results suggest that the emergence of the debt crisis was caused by weak fundamentals but has also a self-fulfilling character.

This study investigates the effect of the European sovereign debt crisis on alternative capital sources of public companies from France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Specifically, it studies which financing choices expose a company to potential bank lending and demand shocks during the Euro crisis. To this end, the study employs average treatment effect estimations and difference-in-differences regressions to show whether financially more (less) constrained companies use more (less) alternative capital than matching control companies. I find that two of three financially more constrained company groups show higher use of alternative capital sources than matched companies due to evidence for bank lending shocks in Germany and France. Companies with a high financial dependence behave against the expectation because of high cash holdings and lower need for alternative capital. Companies with high cash holdings showed signs of a demand shock. Swiss and British companies appear to be much less affected by the Euro crisis because of weaker financial ties with the most affected southern Eurozone economies.

Building on the work of Giorgio Agamben and Michel Foucault, this dissertation addresses how the sovereign's command over life intersects with contemporary global governmentality. Particular attention is given to the geographically sedimented normative dimensions entailed in this intersection. Two broad questions emerge from this focus: 1) How are the perceived and actual boundaries of U.S. responsibility for distant (non-national) life formed; and 2) How do emotional sentiments of care and concern within the U.S. populace for distant life impact the sovereign's geopolitical calculations.The case of Sudan, especially Darfur, is utilized to help illuminate these questions. With regard to sovereign power, I analyze the Darfur related discourse being produced by the U.S. executive. I argue that this discourse is part of a bio-normative geopolitics aimed at maintaining the U.S. claim on the valuation of global life, while at the same time challenging the privileged status of the concept of genocide within our contemporary global governmentality. With regard to the societal constitution of global governmentality, I investigate two partially overlapping cases, one on the globally focused Christian Right and the other on the faith based movement to "save Darfur".In the former case, I consider how norms, values, and feelings of care contribute to the facilitation and construction of geographical knowledge, which, in turn, helps to inform particular engagements with the space of Sudan. In the latter case, the question of caring for distant others is taken up from the perspective of the recent work of Giorgio Agamben, who ultimately posits the inherent need to circumvent sovereign power within any form of normative activism. Addressing this problem, I suggest the possibility of establishing alternative communities of care, which are not only grounded on a recognition of our global intersubjectivity, but also on our common predicament in the face of a universally prevalent sovereign power.

Sovereign wealth funds and their regulation The aim of this work is to provide a comprehensive explanation of the current issue of the role and activities of sovereign wealth funds in financial markets and to try to summarize current international regulatory framework, as well as to outline possible changes in this system. This question comes from description and interpretation of the most important international "soft-law" rules on sovereign wealth funds - the so- called Santiago Principles (Generally Accepted Principles and Practices) and the OECD's related legislation. The reason for selection of this topic is a fact that issues related to existence of sovereign wealth funds and their legal regulation have not been discussed sufficiently in Czech scientific circles. This work is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the aforementioned issues. In the second chapter, which consists of two sections, the work is concentrated on general characteristics of existence of sovereign wealth funds. The first section is focused on definition of the term "sovereign wealth fund", categorization of such funds on the basis of their characteristic features and analysis of legal nature of these funds. The second section is devoted to influence of sovereign wealth funds on financial...

This dissertation argues on the necessity for an efficient and credible recovery and resolution framework for central clearing counterparties (CCPs).Following the 2008 subprime crisis and the failure of Lehman Brothers, several reforms have been undertaken in order to reinforce the strength of the financial system and, in particular, the over the counter (OTC) derivatives market. Two streams of reforms are of particular relevance in the present context: a) The development of resolution regimes for financial institutions, in particular for systemic “too big to fail” banks. The key objectives of these resolution regimes are to ensure the continuity of the critical functions performed by systemic institutions, the preservation of financial stability and the protection of taxpayers (i.e. avoiding public bailouts). This stream completed regulatory initiatives to reinforce the existing prudential framework acknowledging the natural limits of the latter and the observed forbearance by supervisory authorities in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The academic literature analysing the development and implementation of resolution regimes for banks essentially looked at issues such as the respect of the shareholders’ fundamental rights, the existence of appropriate safeguards for creditors and the execution of bail-in operations. b) The obligation to clear centrally OTC derivatives markets in order to prevent and control the possible contagion of risks across the financial system. The objectives of this stream of reform are to increase the transparency of the OTC derivatives markets and reduce the counterparty credit risk in the system by forcing transactions through professional risk managers, i.e. central clearing counterparties (CCPs). This however assumes that CCPs have the capability and the capacity to manage this centralisation of risks. Therefore, the literature showed interest in the risk management practices of CCPs, in particular margining methodologies, and agency problems created by the ownership structure and the loss allocation mechanisms of CCPs, in particular analysing the effects of a CCP’s skin-in-the-game (i.e. own contributions to the loss allocation mechanisms) on the incentives of shareholders and clearing members. Although recent history has been rather merciful in terms of CCPs' failures, the inherent cross-border and international nature of their activities, their level of interconnectedness with other financial institutions and their growing importance following the G20 commitments on OTC derivatives make them critical nodes of the financial system. It is therefore important to consider carefully the recovery and resolution of CCPs that actually stands at the crossroad of the two streams of regulatory reforms mentioned above and completes them. Similarly, this dissertation intends to build the bridge between the literature on CCPs and the literature on banks’ recovery and resolution. It aims at providing a better understanding of the resolution framework developed for CCPs, associated policy choices and possible issues with a specific insight on the situation in Europe. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis analyzes the Sovereign Citizens Movement—considered a domestic terrorist organization by the FBI— to determine if the label “terrorist organization” is appropriately applied, and then to assess the effectiveness of government protocols. The Sovereign Citizens Movement is a loose organization of individuals who adhere to an anti-government ideology. In most cases their actions are limited to fraudulent activity; however there have been individuals who resorted to violence in their engagements with government officials. This thesis concludes that the label “terrorist organization” does not describe the movement well, but that it is more likely that some individuals extrapolate the ideology and choose violence on their own, making them lone-wolf terrorists. Another conclusion of this thesis is that there needs to be a regular set of protocols established for all government agencies for interacting with Sovereigns. The method created by Rob Finch and Kory Flowers, which incorporates both law enforcement officials and legal professionals, provides the most effective way to interact with Sovereigns.

[pt] O rating soberano pode ser definido como uma nota dada pelas agências de risco às obrigações do governo central de um país. Apesar do primeiro rating atribuído ao país datar de 1986, percebe-se que sua importância cresceu muito a partir de 1994, com a emissão dos brady bonds. Em teoria, as agências de ratings teriam o papel de antever acontecimentos no mercado, e conseqüentemente, seriam suas análises que influenciariam o comportamento dos mesmos; no entanto, severas críticas vêm sendo feitas no sentido de que elas apenas reagem a acontecimentos já amplamente conhecidos. Este trabalho tem, portanto, o objetivo de analisar o impacto das avaliações de risco do país emitidas por estas agências sobre o principal título da dívida externa brasileira, o c-bond. Para avaliar estes impactos, foi analisado o comportamento do spread do c-bond em períodos anteriores e posteriores às divulgações das análises destas agências. O estudo indicou que os ratings soberanos influenciam as cotações do c-bond, sendo os impactos de suas alterações mais significativas para os casos de downgrade ou rebaixamentos das notas soberanas do país. / [en] Sovereign rating can be defined as an assessment of the relative likelihood that a Government will default on its obligations. Although the first rating assigned to Brazil dates from 1986, the importance of sovereign rating increased as from 1994, by which time brady bonds were issued and begun to be actively traded. In theory, the role of credit rating would be to add new information to the market, and therefore, their analyses would influence market behaviour; however, several financial market observers have criticized them for just reacting to completely available information. This study therefore analyses the impacts of sovereign rating changes announcements on c-bond spreads. We analysed how c-bond spreads respond to the agencies´ announcements of changes in their sovereign risk assessments and our analyses indicate that the ratings changes do influence c-bond spreads, most significantly in downgrades events.

The concept of asymmetric information is probably best described by medieval idiom to buy a pig in a poke or to buy a cat in a sack, and is a long standing issue in a market economy. A solution to this predicament, is thought to be an objective third party certifier who would provide true information for the market participants. Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) by all definitions act as such certifiers within financial markets and have been on the public spotlight for the last years. In both cases, the US subprime mortgage crisis and the EU sovereign debt crisis, the agencies were charged for miss-information on quality of financial products, that led to financial losses for the investors or debtors. Theoretical deduction suggest that certain market reaction to CRA announcements may indicate  if markets perceive CRAs themselves as selling a cat in a sack to the investors. Event study approach is employed to investigate how do sovereign debt market react to CRA announcements. The results suggest that sovereign debt market reaction is more pronounced if three major CRAs issue clustered announcements, and more actively react to following announcements as opposed to the leading ones.