Thesis abstract: Geopolitical Rivalry in Central Asia and Turkmenistan's power as a weak state Charles University, Institute of International Studies, MAS programme 2019 Emma Welsink English Abstract Research on weak states and their position in the international system has been a widely discussed topic for decades, especially in relation to the Cold War bipolar system that revolved around Russia and the United States as great powers. Yet what is lacking is a contemporary analysis that concentrates on the current multipolar system in which the importance of economic alliances and power surpass military power, and how this affects weak states' foreign policy behavior and trade opportunities. This research therefore offers an empirical analysis on great power geopolitical competition between Russia and China over Turkmenistan's economic allegiance, specifically regarding its natural gas export, and seeks to explain how this geopolitical competition has affected Turkmenistan's foreign energy policy behavior as a weak state vis-á-vis these great powers. Additionally, this research seeks to examine how Turkmenistan has even instrumentalized this competition to further its national interest of energy export diversification. More specifically, this research shows that great power competition has played a...

Les États-Unis et la Chine sont en relations dans différents contextes et il est admis que les États-Unis soient la première puissance mondiale, alors que la Chine est une grande puissance montante. Cette réalité fait en sorte que Washington doit évaluer les intentions de la Chine, afin de bien définir si cette dernière sera une force coopératrice, ou au contraire, si elle sera compétitrice des intérêts américains. Dans ce travail de mémoire, deux contextes sont à l’étude, soit le contexte général de la dynamique de grandes puissances entre les États-Unis et la Chine, et le contexte nordcoréen, où les deux acteurs sont présents. Ainsi, ce travail propose d’étudier différents cas dans le contexte nord-coréen, afin de voir comment ceux-ci ont influencé la perception des États-Unis envers une Chine montante dans le contexte général de grandes puissances. Suite à un chapitre méthodologique et théorique, les chapitres analytiques sont construits par présidence américaine. Ces derniers ont la même structure, où un épisode de coopération et de compétition sont analysés. Un chapitre porte donc sur la présidence de George W. Bush, l’autre sur celle de Barack Obama. L’objectif est de voir si la perception américaine a changé ou est restée la même avant et après les épisodes, et de voir s’ils ont eu une influence sur la perception générale des États-Unis. Le mémoire a aussi une dimension explicative. Avec l’utilisation de différentes composantes du réalisme défensif, il sera possible d’expliquer pourquoi il y a eu changement de perception américaine, ou non. Le mémoire tire des conclusions différentes pour les deux présidents. Pour George W. Bush, la perception envers la Chine a été influencée par les épisodes. Pour Barack Obama, les perceptions initiales ont été consolidées. / The United States and China relate in different contexts and it is accepted that the United States is the leading world power, while China is a great rising power. This reality means that Washington must assess China's intentions, in order to clearly define whether the latter will be a cooperative force, or on the contrary, whether it will be a competitor to American interests. In this work, two contexts are studied, namely the general context of the dynamics of great powers between the United States and China, and the North Korean context, where the two actors are present. Thus, this work proposes to study different cases in the North Korean context, in order to see how these influenced the perception of the United States towards a rising China in the general context of great powers. Following a methodological and theoretical chapter, the analytical chapters are built by American presidency. These have the same structure, where an episode of cooperation and competition are analyzed. One chapter therefore deals with the presidency of George W. Bush, the other with that of Barack Obama. The objective is to see if the American perception of China changed or remained the same before and after the episodes, and to see if they had an influence on the general perception of the United States. The work also has an explanatory dimension. With the use of different components of defensive realism, it will be possible to explain why there has been a change in American perception, or not. The work draws different conclusions for the two presidents. For George W. Bush, the perception of China was influenced by the episodes. For Barack Obama, the initial perceptions have been consolidated.

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Diese Dissertation analysiert den Zusammenhang von neokonservativer Logik und der Idee des „American Decline“ in der außenpolitischen Debatte der USA von den 1960er-Jahren bis 2021 mit einem Fokus auf der Obama-Präsidentschaft (2009-17). Unter Anwendung der Imperiumstheorie untersucht sie Texte führender neokonservativer Plattformen und Denker_innen, die sich mit dem Wesen, den Aufgaben, den Kosten, dem Nutzen und der Zukunft amerikanischer Weltmacht befassen. Die Studie enthüllt die Niedergangsidee als einen integralen Bestandteil der neokonservativen Logik, der US-Superiorität legitimiert und stabilisiert. Sie vermittelt den Amerikaner_innen einen höheren Zweck und Orientierung, unterdrückt aber alternative Pfade für die Vereinigten Staaten durch die Gleichsetzung von US-Superiorität mit Weltordnung. / This dissertation examines the relationship between neoconservative logic and the idea of „American Decline” in the U.S. foreign policy debate from the 1960s until 2021 with a focus on the Obama presidency (2009-17). Building on imperial theory, the project analyses texts from leading neoconservative platforms and thinkers, dealing with the nature, tasks, costs, benefits and future of American world power. The study reveals the idea of decline as integral to neoconservative logic, as an element that legitimizes and stabilizes U.S. superiority. It provides Americans with a sense of mission and orientation and suppresses alternative paths for the United States due to its equation of U.S. superiority with world order.

This work covering the period 1795 to 1948 has four main features. It firstly examines the role of international and domestic factors in determining regional interaction and cooperation between South Africa and Chile. Secondly, it documents the whims of the international community, and more particularly the world powers which was a motivating factor in Chilean and South African politics, economy, society and their bilateral relations. Thirdly it covers the period when Britain rose to world power status. Eventually, this gave way to her displacement by Germany and then ultimately the United States. This study's fourth feature is that it marks the first documented account of direct contact between the inhabitants at the Cape of Good Hope and Latin America. The period ends with a cornerstone in the history of South African-Chilean bilateral relations when direct diplomatic and consular relations were established by both South Africa and Chile in May 1948. / M.A. (History)

This thesis develops a theory of international social closure to examine (i) the politics of membership in status groups – or, clubs – in international society and (ii) the persistence of clubs in international society. This thesis offers new concepts to improve the English School’s understanding of international society, its expansion, and its reproduction. In so doing it also addresses limitations and gaps in the IR status literature and the global governance and diplomacy literatures concerned with clubs and networks. This thesis analyses strategies of exclusion, entry, and incorporation used by actors to deny, attempt, or grant inclusion into clubs as well as the institutional contexts underpinning those clubs. Specifically, this research undertakes a study of instances of exclusion, entry, and incorporation in the context of three clubs: the Family of Civilised Nations, the Great Powers club, and G-summitry. In the first two cases, this research relies primarily on secondary sources while in the case of G-summitry it presents original empirical research gathered through archival research, interviews, and ethnographic participant observation. This thesis presents four main conclusions about the operation of closure: (i) the logics of different closure games are defined by overarching normative institutions of international society; (ii) despite a collectivist closure rule, closure in international society is predominantly individualistic; (iii) actors seeking entry tend to employ deferential entry strategies that reproduce a stratified status quo order; and (iv) incorporation promotes stratification along both functional and cultural lines. This thesis also draws three specific conclusions that run counter to much current scholarship: (i) contemporary international society is neither more open nor less hierarchical than nineteenth century international society; (ii) hierarchy is reproduced to a large degree by entry and incorporation strategies rather than exclusion strategies; and (iii) closure does not run along a ‘west versus the rest’ fault line.

Why has international society been unable to develop political and judicial collective-security arrangements to limit external aggression? The thesis argues that efforts to limit aggression in moral and legal theory have created an unjust order in which great powers have used these theoretical traditions to reinforce their power in the global order. The thesis argues that is not a new development but can be found in one of the oldest traditions of moral reflection on war, the just war tradition. To substantiate this point, the thesis critically surveys the philosophers of the ancient Greek, Roman, Medieval Christian Renaissance, and early modern theorists of just war and demonstrates that their just war ideas contain assumptions about exclusion, identity and power reflecting their cultural superiority which underlie the practices and theories of the leading states and justifications of their aggressive wars. The thesis connects these moral reflections to the emergence of modern international law and the European pluralist international society of states based on mutual respect for sovereignty and the norm of non-intervention, highlighting how justifications of its colonial aggression against non-Europeans established an unjust solidarist order against them which persists in the post-Cold War era. To conclude it presents suggestions for improvement in the current pluralist international arrangements to address the issue of aggression.

This work covering the period 1795 to 1948 has four main features. It firstly examines the role of international and domestic factors in determining regional interaction and cooperation between South Africa and Chile. Secondly, it documents the whims of the international community, and more particularly the world powers which was a motivating factor in Chilean and South African politics, economy, society and their bilateral relations. Thirdly it covers the period when Britain rose to world power status. Eventually, this gave way to her displacement by Germany and then ultimately the United States. This study's fourth feature is that it marks the first documented account of direct contact between the inhabitants at the Cape of Good Hope and Latin America. The period ends with a cornerstone in the history of South African-Chilean bilateral relations when direct diplomatic and consular relations were established by both South Africa and Chile in May 1948. / M.A. (History)

Martin Šmejc Abstract: "Conception of reconstruction of Yugoslavia after WW II." The topic "Conception of reconstruction of Yugoslavia after WW II." covers three different phenomena. The most important factor, that determined the development of Yugoslavia during the WW II., was the coming to power of the communist Partisans led by Josip Broz Tito. Their vision of Yugoslavia's reconstruction after the war was defined during the second session of the AVNOJ in Bosnian town Jajce in November 1943. How should according to those visions reconstructed Yugoslavia look like is one of the research questions this thesis is going to answer. The second phenomenon touches upon the conceptions of Yugoslavia's reconstruction by the royal Yugoslav governments in exile. Their project was quite as important as of the Partisans. Their importance resides in the fact that until March 1945, when a united government of Royalists and Partisans based on Tito-Šubašić agreement was created, the government in exile were considered as the only legitimate representatives of Yugoslavia. The third analyzed phenomenon is the impact of the three Allied powers on the situation of Yugoslavia until 1948. The third question posed in this analysis will determine the scope of influence of the USA, UK and USSR on the development of Yugoslavia -...

L’émergence de la Chine dans le système international post-guerre froide pose un défi pour la position hégémonique des États-Unis et l’ordre mondial libéral. Lorsqu’ils tentent d’expliquer ce défi, les spécialistes tendent à se concentrer uniquement soit sur le hard power chinois (en particulier, sa puissance militaire) soit sur son soft power (l’attrait de sa culture et idéologie). Cette thèse développe un cadre d’analyse alternatif inspiré de la sociologie de Pierre Bourdieu, articulé autour de la notion de pouvoir symbolique. Elle conçoit la politique internationale en termes d’une lutte symbolique (entre, par exemple, une orthodoxie et une hétérodoxie) dont l’issue est déterminée par au moins trois facteurs cruciaux : contexte, capital et lieux communs. Ce cadre est appliqué à l’analyse du nouveau rôle de la Chine dans le monde depuis la fin de la guerre froide, lequel est indiscutablement l’un des développements les plus remarquables des relations internationales des temps modernes. La thèse démontre que la Chine ne défie pas l’hégémonie des États-Unis et l’ordre mondial libéral au sens conventionnel de la puissance matérielle ou de l’idéologie, mais plutôt au niveau symbolique. La thèse soutient que la conjonction des trois facteurs susmentionnés a été nécessaire à l’influence mondiale de la Chine : (1) la crise de légitimation des États-Unis (sur les plan économique, politique et idéologique), couplée à l’extraordinaire ascension de nouvelles puissances dans le système international comme la Chine, ont créé un contexte historique favorable ou « condition de possibilité »; (2) l’énorme capital symbolique accumulé par la Chine, en raison non seulement de son nouveau statut de grande puissance, mais aussi de son approche pragmatique des questions nationales et internationales, en a fait une source d’inspiration convoitée mondialement ; (3) la mobilisation stratégique par la Chine de son capital symbolique, sous la forme d’un ensemble de lieux communs ‘rhétoriques’, a grandement contribué à légitimer sa puissance, en particulier aux yeux des élites dirigeantes dans le monde en développement, dissimulant ainsi le caractère asymétrique et arbitraire de ses relations. Ensemble, ces trois éléments –contexte, capital, lieux communs– expliquent le pouvoir symbolique de la Chine, c’est-à-dire la perception selon laquelle, contrairement aux États-Unis, elle propose des réponses pertinentes et cohérentes aux problèmes d’organisation sociale, économique et politique de ce monde. L’ascension de la Chine remet ainsi en question le « méta-capital » des États-Unis, c’est-à-dire son monopole sur la production du capital économique, social, culturel et symbolique. L’accent mis sur cette dimension symbolique de la lutte pour définir et imposer la « vision légitime du monde social et ses divisions » révèle une rupture avec la pratique conventionnelle de la politique des grandes puissances, au profit d’une transformation pacifique du système international et d’une diplomatie symbolique. Cet accent sur le pouvoir symbolique ouvre des avenues prometteuses pour l’étude du changement et des sources d’autorité sur la scène politique mondiale, traditionnellement définie comme « anarchique ». / China’s rise within the international system in the post-Cold War era challenges the hegemonic position of the United States and the Western liberal order. In trying to explain this challenge, scholars tend to either focus on Chinese hard power (in particular, its military power) or on its soft power (the attractiveness of its culture and ideology). This thesis develops an alternative Bourdieu-inspired framework addressing symbolic power. It conceptualizes international politics in terms of a symbolic struggle (such as that between orthodoxy and heterodoxy) whose outcome is determined by at least three crucial factors: context, capital and commonplaces. The framework is applied to the analysis of China’s new world role, which is arguably one of the most remarkable developments in modern international relations. The thesis shows that China does not challenge U.S. hegemonic position and the Western liberal order in the conventional sense of material power or ideology, but rather at the symbolic level. The thesis argues that the combination of the three above-mentioned factors has been necessary to China’s worldwide influence : (1) the legitimation crisis of the United States (economically, politically and ideologically), paired with the extraordinary rise of new illiberal powers on the world scene such as China, created a favourable historical context or “condition of possibility”; (2) the huge amount of symbolic capital accumulated by China, not only because of its new status as a great power, but also because of the success of its pragmatic approach to national and international issues, made it become a source of inspiration for countries across the world; (3) the strategic mobilization by China of its symbolic capital, in the form of ‘rhetorical’ commonplaces, greatly contributed to legitimize its power, especially in the eyes of ruling elites in the developing world, thereby dissimulating the asymmetric and arbitrary nature of the Chinese power and relations. Together, these three components -context, capital, and commonplaces- explain the emergence of China as a symbolic power, i.e. the perception that, unlike the United States, China now has the authority to speak the truth and to define causes of and remedies for certain problems and crises. China’s rise challenges the Unites States’ ‘meta-capital’, that is, its monopoly on the production of economic, social, cultural, and symbolic capital. The focus on this symbolic dimension as a ‘weapon’ in the struggle to define and impose the “legitimate vision of the social world and its divisions” reveals a rupture in the conventional practice of great powers politics, pointing to a peaceful transformation of the international system and symbolic diplomacy. It shows that a focus on symbolic power opens promising avenues for the study of change and sources of authority in world politics, traditionally defined as “anarchic”.