The diploma thesis "New Regionalism and Sub-Saharan Africa" deals with the question of economic integration in Africa and its theoretical reflexion. First chapter deals with the question whether different integration theories are applicable to African reality or not. Author subsequently analyzes Pan-Africanism as a specifically African ideology, classical economic integration theories, classical theories of political science on integration and modern theories of political science, with the conclusion that neither of these theories provides explanation of speeding up African integration in recent years. Chapter two deals with the phenomenon of so-called "new regionalism" as a process in world economy, second part deals with different theoretical conceptions and theories trying to describe and theorize about this process. Chapter three briefly describes evolution of African integration from its colonial starts to the newest initiatives connected with the transformation of Organization of African Unity into African Union. Chapter four offers five case studies of integration in different regional organizations. Each case study outlines starting position in 1991 in the sense of creation of organization, its aims and evolution of integration up to signing of the Abuja Treaty creating African Economic...

This thesis deals with the interregional relations between the European Union and Mercosur. It is approached as a single case study where the examined case is defined as "the strategic partnership between the European Union and Mercosur in the context of new regionalism". The thesis consists of three main chapters. The first chapter explains the phenomenon of new regionalism and interregionalism and deals with two theoretical approaches to regional integration - neofunctionalist and intergovernmental. The subject of the second chapter is the development of regional integration within Mercosur and the analysis of the relations between the EU and Mercosur from the early 1990's till present. The current negotiations between the two regions are aimed at the conclusion of the Association Agreement creating free trade area and consisting of three pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and trade. The negotiations were officially launched in 1999, later suspended in 2004 and re-launched at Madrid Summit in 2010. The thesis seeks to find out how the EU and Mercosur are motivated to sign the agreement and what are the main obstacles blocking the successful conclusion of the negotiation process. To this end, the third chapter analyzes the three pillars of the Association agreement under negotiation paying...

This thesis provides a moral analysis of micro-regional forces in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, using the framework of the New Regionalism Approach (NRA). It presents an original contribution to the field through the addition of the Ghanaian-Ivoirian case study, as well as a unique application of Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach to the NRA. In an attempt to counter the view that borders in Africa are artificial, arbitrary and the result of colonial imposition, this research employs the Capabilities Approach, providing a narrative of both positive and negative impacts resulting from the opportunity created by borders in West Africa. The way in which the Ghanaian-Ivoirian border is used by individuals in their security strategies in the face of economic deprivation and physical threats represents a positive impact of borders. Conversely, the role of borders in the continued prevalence of human trafficking in West Africa is also questioned in this piece, providing a balanced account of the impact of borders. This research concludes that the Ghanaian-Ivoirian border presents opportunities that can be exploited to both positive and negative ends at the micro-regional level. This interpretation suggests that any complete account of borders in West Africa more broadly ought to employ a moral framework in addition to a multi-levelled scale of analysis.

L’action extérieure du Parlement écossais est l’objet de notre étude. D’abord, nous avons identifié la capacité opérationnelle de cette institution au sein du système institutionnel britannique, sur la scène communautaire et dans les échanges internationaux. Puis, nous avons détecté les facteurs structurant cette action. Selon notre étude, trois pôles prennent forme dans l’action parlementaire tels que les îles Britanniques, l’Europe qui couvre l’espace géographique européen, l’environnement institutionnel communautaire. Enfin, le troisième pôle est l’espace hors d’Europe, notamment les pays du Commonwealth et les Etats-Unis d’Amérique. Nous avons également établi une certaine spécialisation des méthodes et des moyens d’action dans les trois pôles évoqués. / The focus of my dissertation is the external action of the Scottish Parliament. My study identifies the operational capacity of this institution within the British institutional system, on the European Union arena and in international relations. I have identified the factors structuring the parliamentary action that shaped three poles such as the British Isles, Europe and outside the geographic European space. The pole of Europe covers both Continental Europe and the EC institutional environment. I have also identified the specialisation of methods and tools of action within the above mentioned poles

1980年代，全球化在新自由主義的經濟發展模式驅動下，風起雲湧的在世界各地攻城掠地，不到幾年的光景，新自由主義的意識型態成為世界各國主要的經濟發展模式，就連一向為保護主義大本營的拉丁美洲，也改弦易轍的擁抱新自由主義，希望這樣的琵琶別抱，可以獲得一個美好的未來。 全球化由經濟力量帶領，對人類舊有的世界秩序產生衝擊，衝擊的層面不只侷限在經濟面向，社會是一個整體，經濟面向進一步影響了政治、社會、文化、安全等，帶來了一個廣泛而全面的鉅變。然而，經濟全球化的速度發展過快，人類社會還來不及產生一個相應社會來配合發展，於是，一股來自社會的政治力量反撲，也從世界每個角落，吹起出征的號角。政治反撲的形式之一，就是1980年代中期開使興起的新區域主義，南錐地區便由巴西、阿根廷帶頭，成立了南錐共同市場，以區域整合來迎接全球化所帶來的衝擊。 舊有的世界秩序，在全球化與區域化兩股力量的衝擊下，正在改變，新的世界秩序，在這兩股力量的激盪下，正在形成。處在一個舊世界秩序正在改變，新世界秩序尚未形成的年代，必須有一套理論來解釋這樣的現象，舊有的國際政治經濟理論無法給人類一個滿意的答案，於是到了1990年代中期，Bj□rn Hetten等人為主的「新區域主義方法」興起，強調區域是一個動態的概念，從區域性來看區域整合，將其分為區域空間、區域複合體、區域社會、區域共同體、區域國家等五個階段，此外，新區域主義方法認為區域化動力來自於多面向，必須從文化、安全、經濟政策、政治體制等多面向來觀察，而在層次上，則可從世界體系、區域間、區域、次國家等多層次來分析。對於形成中的新世界秩序，新區域主義方法也提出新世界秩序必須包含和平、發展和環境永續的價值，而這些便可透過安全區域主義、發展區域主義和環境永續來達成。 南錐地區的區域整合，在1979年之前，由於安全上處於衝突形成狀態，經濟往來程度亦不高，屬於新區域主義方法下的區域複合體階段。1979到1991年之間，南錐站在區域複合體的基礎上，加速了區域整合的進程，南錐地區的實質區域形成，區域性增加，進入新區域主義方法的區域社會階段。1991年之後，南錐共同市場成立，南錐地區的整合成為一個具有正式組織的法理區域，整合的速度、廣度、深度都不斷的成長，成為一個具有認同的區域主體，尤其在對外談判上，更是展現南錐共同市場作為一個活躍區域主體的實力，經過這些區域整合的努力，南錐地區已經達到新區域主義方法中，區域共同體的階段。 全球化對於舊有的世界秩序帶來衝擊，人類社會處在一個十字路口，未來的世界新秩序到底要往哪裡走，仍舊是目前爭辦的課題之一。當今浮上台面的世界新秩序選項，主要為以區域為主體的後西發利亞秩序，以及以國家為主體的新西發利亞秩序，這兩個選項的背後，隱藏著全球化與區域化兩股力量的相互激盪，而其中南錐共同市場的整合，也深受這兩股力量的影響。當我們對未來混沌不知時，掌握這兩股力量的脈動，將有助於我們走向下一個路口。

There is a constant trend in the European Union for heightened pride, desire of extended autonomy and even national independence of regions. The master thesis intends to investigate the relations of selected regions in the EU member states with the European policy level. The general research question to answer is "Which regions are more successful in representing their interests vis-à-vis the European policy level?" The investigation is undertaken in a form of a comparative case study combining qualitative and quantitative research; the examined regions are - following the research hypotheses and intention to provide a multi-perspective analysis of the problem - Scotland (United Kingdom), Hessen (Germany), Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (Italy) and Středočeský kraj (Czech Republic). Based on the comparative analysis the thesis concludes that "regions with wide scope of powers on the national level (usually coming from federal or regionalized member states) with strong economic background are generally more successful in representing their interests vis-à-vis the European policy level."

Strategic narrative is a communicative tool for political elites to construct a shared meaning to the international politics, to articulate state's interests, to change the discursive environment, and to shape the behaviour of other actors. It has three different dynamics, which proceed simultaneously and reinforce each other: formation of the narrative within the given state, its projection in the international arena, and its reception in other states. Theory of strategic narratives fits well into the framework of new regionalism, which tries to analyse relations between the processes of globalization, globalism, regionalization, and regionalism. Until recently, such analyses were conducted from state-level and positivist perspective. As a result, the dimension of reception remained understudied. The presented thesis is an attempt to fill this gap. It analyses global political economy from the interpretivist constructivist perspective: it uses the leading local newspaper as a data sources and analyses media (news) discourse as one form of a broad societal discourse. Such an analysis can help us to analyse how local society assesses and reacts to strategic narratives and their internalization or rejection by local elites. In my thesis, I focus on narratives of the three superpowers (the US, the EU,...

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.

European Union faced several external challenges in the beginning of the 21st century. Its enlargement to 24 member states led to a state of dissimilar and not well interconnected economies in need of a new model of external competitiveness. Finding the model and, more importantly, delivering it on community level, was a new task of the European Commission, especially after re-launch of the Lisbon strategy in 2005. Yet, there was another challenge for EU that was not so easy to address by the Commission: the relative weakening of EU's external economic action comparing to new increasingly assertive policies of other international players, especially BRICs. Was it possible for the Commission focus only on supporting EU competitiveness without any external action, as was expected by articles of the Treaty of Nice? As the thesis argues, indeed there was an external action of the Commission before the Lisbon treaty, through its public support of SME internationalization within the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). A neoinstitutional analysis of the issues on two levels is carried out: Firstly on the level of European institutions (motives, relevant contexts and institutional rules), secondly, on the level of secondary actors (SMEs, NGOs, CIP executive agency EACI), where the...

The study utilizes regional integration theories like neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism and new regionalism to analyse the formation, structure and transformation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines the role of ECOWAS as a sub-regional economic body and its transformation to a political and security body dealing with sub-regional conflict resolution. Though neo-functionalism is generally analysed in reference to European regional integration, the study attempts to draw some lessons from this theory. Also, new regionalism theory is utilized to examine the transformation of ECOWAS from a mere economic body to a security and political entity. Regionalism in West Africa was initially geared towards mere economic cooperation; however, the emergence of ECOWAS on the scene and its subsequent transformation witnessed several changes towards the path of security cooperation. Despite its involvement with the gigantic political and security related activities, a general evaluation of economic integration in West Africa depicts a low level of progress. The poor state of sub-regional economic integration shows that ECOWAS did not complete its regional economic integration agenda before diverting to other sectors of integration. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been the dominant topic in sub-regional conflict resolution in West Africa. However, other forms of conflict resolution, including mediation, negotiation, conciliation and arbitration have been severally utilized. Also, in some of the cases, peacekeeping operations have been deployed only after other peaceful efforts have failed. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations are divergent operations with different forms and mandates. Therefore, they are better analysed under the framework of peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peace-making theories. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been a subject of debate by proponents of the principle of non-interference and those of the responsibility to protect. The expediency of military intervention for humanitarian reasons as well as the prevention of genocide, war crimes and catastrophic loss of lives has questioned the principle of non-interference and validated the principle of responsibility to protect. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (International Politics)