This thesis has for major aim to present the de facto state through another approach, by placing their intrinsic frozen conflict situation as a rational choice rather than a symptom of the lack of recognition. To do so, the case studies of Transnistria and Somaliland have been chosen since, the de facto state's academic field had, so far, focus more on the Caucasus' cases - therefore lack of similar comparisons. It appears indeed that, both these cases possess numerous similarities - such as not basing their identity on ethnicity or religion. Thus, through an empirical research, it has been possible to approach the establishment of these two de facto states and the reason behind the lack of international recognition; but also the role and influence of the frozen conflict within their internal evolution as well as their role in its perpetuation; and finally, the place of their parent state and the international community in the continuation of the status quo. It seems thus that, if it remains unlikely to find out if Somaliland and Transnistria do use the frozen conflict as a political tool to reach their political goals - namely international recognition but also identity building -, it appears that all actors involved in these conflicts do benefit from the perpetuation of such status quo.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the origin and development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defense Policy within the European Union and its functioning in the events of two selected conflicts - between Kosovo and Serbia and between Georgia and South Ossetia and Russia. The thesis deals with the European Union´s approach towards Kosovo and Georgia before the conflicts, during the post-conflict situations and with civilian missions in the framework of Common Security and Defense Policy, which operates in both countries.

Over the course of history, the organisation of human societies has gone through several evolutionary stages. Their peak, primarily in Europe, took the form of states as polities structured around an ethnical basis-nation states. In many cases, their rise and downfall could be rather violent which led to growing social instability. Therefore, international communities began looking for mechanisms to regulate these processes. From the perspective of international law, it was necessary mainly to define the term state and codify the requirements an entity had to meet in order to be considered one. The Montevideo Convention established an elementary quartet, necessitating the presence of a population, territory, executive power and the ability to fully participate in international relationships, i.e. possess external sovereignty. These four aspects, however, still did not entirely suffice which is why secondary requirements kept being inconsistently added, addressing primarily the entity's inner character and its attitude to, for example, upholding universal human rights or minority rights. Nonetheless, simply meeting the above-mentioned criteria is not enough to establish a fully functioning state. In the modern world, it is essentially impossible for a new state to be created without infringing on...

This master thesis deals with the mapping and analysis of Russian-Georgian relations in the period between 2004-2011. It focuses primarily on the development of relations after the onset of the new Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and after his transformation of Georgian Policy. The work is divided into chronological historical axis of events, from the history of Georgia and Georgian people, the author gets to the problems of August war in 2008. The main objective of this work is to find the causes of the war between Russia and Georgia, to map out its long-standing hostile relations and try to find its solutions. Starting point of this work is the assumption that Georgia and Russia have always been nations culturally very similar and therefore its friendly relations are essential for the regulation of conflicts on Georgia's borders. Russia as a powerful neighbor, has always had a superiority over Georgia. Therefore, in subsequent chapters is enhanced the need for intervention by international organizations such as NATO, OSCE, EU, etc. issues in Russian-Georgian conflict, in order to offset the forces of power on both sides. In the last chapters the thesis deals with the intervention of the international community, whether their pressure on Russia will be still intense and if in the future...

The topic of this thesis is a comparation of separatist tendencies of Transnistria in Moldova with Abkhazia in Georgia in the post-Soviet space. From the point of view of separatism in these de facto government departments the focus of this work is not only on the current sate and development. Motives and historical traumas are shown and reflected in today's context because understanding of history is the key for present explanation. It seems that the situation in both areas is similar, but explanations and reasons for secession are in some points different. However, comparation and explanation of the different aspects of the development is the basis to understand the past, present and future state in Transnistria and Abkhazia not only in terms of separatism, but also locally-political, geo-political and socio- economic progress or stagnation. Key words: Moldova, Transnistira, Gruzia, Abkhazia, separatism, Russia, Soviet Union, soviet heritage, European Union, secession

This master thesis deals with the mapping and analysis of Russian-Georgian relations in the period between 2004-2011. It focuses primarily on the development of relations after the onset of the new Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and after his transformation of Georgian Policy. The work is divided into chronological historical axis of events, from the history of Georgia and Georgian people, the author gets to the problems of August war in 2008. The main objective of this work is to find the causes of the war between Russia and Georgia, to map out its long-standing hostile relations and try to find its solutions. Starting point of this work is the assumption that Georgia and Russia have always been nations culturally very similar and therefore its friendly relations are essential for the regulation of conflicts on Georgia's borders. Russia as a powerful neighbor, has always had a superiority over Georgia. Therefore, in subsequent chapters is enhanced the need for intervention by international organizations such as NATO, OSCE, EU, etc. issues in Russian-Georgian conflict, in order to offset the forces of power on both sides. In the last chapters the thesis deals with the intervention of the international community, whether their pressure on Russia will be still intense and if in the future...

This paper explores the current understanding of the right of peoples to self-determination and its impact on international relations. A number of new states have gained international recognition outside the scope of decolonisation, several of which have not fulfilled the usual criteria for statehood, based on existing state practice. In addition, the parent states of Bangladesh, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Kosovo have not consented to the secession of these territories. The main purpose of this paper is to determine whether based on the stipulations of international documents and mainly on existing state practice, it is possible to verify the existence of a customary law enabling peoples to unilaterally secede. Such a right would pose a threat to the future application of the principle of territorial integrity as one of the basic principles of international relations. In order to answer this question I compare case studies of successful and unsuccessful nations striving for their own state outside the realm of decolonisation. Based on this comparison I analyse the current understanding of the right to self-determination and its impact on international relations. I conclude by stating that it is not possible to unambiguously confirm the existence of such a right. However, in practice the principle of territorial integrity is being breached nonetheless, due to persisting uncertainties regarding the possible application of secession by peoples whose internal right to self-determination was not respected. Together with the fact that the current concept of self-determination ignores collective rights of national groups, this poses a threat to international stability.