The aim of this thesis is to investigate the association of ownership structure and bank risk-taking as well as the effects of capital regulation. This study employs simultaneous equations, panel data and instrumental variables (IV) models on a sample of 192 banks from Eastern Central Europe and Asia Regions from 2005-2014. An assessment was made on how banks adjust their capital level as well as portfolio risks when there is a minimum capital regulatory ratio. The results indicate that firstly, banks react to the capital regulatory pressure by increasing capital and changes in capital and bank risk changes are positively related. Secondly, it is found that Foreign-owned banks have higher default risks than Domestic-owned banks; however, Government-owned banks are more stable in terms of asset risks measure during the year when there is election. When taking the market forces into account, in listed banks, insider owners and institutional owners have positive impacts on asset risks while positive asset risks on listed Government-owned banks only during the election. Finally, the findings also show that when capital regulation is taken as a moderating variable, it has influenced the impacts of ownership structure and bank risk, however, the increasing effects can only be proven for insider owners...

The aim of this Master thesis was to find out whether the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union was able to exert influence in EU's external relations after the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force. Thesis was looking on two post-Lisbon Council Presidencies- Hungarian Council Presidency and the Polish Council Presidency and their influence in Eastern Partnership-the flagship initiative of both of these presidencies. Through the identification of the informal roles of the rotating presidency-agenda setter role and broker's role, the influence on the development of Eastern Partnership of both Council Presidencies was determined. The other factors such as the reputation of the presiding country, stable domestic political situation, ability to deal with unexpected developments have been considered as important pre-requisites for the Council Presidency to be able to exert influence through its informal roles.

Foreign policy of Czechoslovakia in 70's and 80's depended completely on the policy of the Soviet union and its promoted ideology. The Czechoslovak socialist republic preserved the narrowest relationship with the Soviet union and its sattelite states in Eastern Europe, while the relationship with the western countries oriented to co-operation with the United states, was very cold and was beeing restored very slowly and gradually. The developing countries, especially those heading to a socialist establishment, had a special position in Czechoslovak foreign policy. Especially these countries benefited from Czechoslovak aid such as financial, military or material support. Another way Czechoslovakia implemented its development aid was offering scholarships for university students. The purpose of this form of aid was to contribute to the progress of developing countries, most of whom gained independence recently. Simultaneously the policy pursued another aim - to spread the socialist ideology and the influlence of the Soviet union around the world. Hundreds of foreign students studied in Czechoslovak universities every year during 70's and 80's. Most of them came from so called developing countries. Foreign students came from various countries of the world, various cultures and therefore they perceived...

This thesis concentrates on the role of the European Union as a state-building power. It scrutinizes EU foreign policy in terms of state-building phenomena in three selected areas: Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership, and Southern Neighbourhood. First, it presents the EU as an increasingly powerful international actor and a normative power. Then, it overviews the existing literature on state-building with a special focus on Francis Fukuyama's neoliberal approach and David Chandler's critical remarks. The thesis is methodologically grounded in the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), specifically the four-value fuzzy set QCA, which enables to bridge the quantitative and qualitative approaches. The analysis operates with 23 cases (countries) and five variables in order to assess the EU state-building practices in relation to the targeted states' resilience. Drawing on the moderate generalizations from QCA results, the thesis concludes that the EU is, indeed, a state-building power which strengthens the resilience of states through its state-building practices.

This dissertation is based on my research into distinction processes (Calhoun, 1994; Cerulo 1997) between tourists and inhabitants of West Sumba in Eastern Indonesia. The imaginiaries (Castoriadis, 1987; Strauss, 2006; Lacan, 1977; Anderson, 1991; Salazar, 2012) of West Sumbanese people about foreigners also emerge from diving rumors (Bysow, 1928; Allport and Postman, 1947/1965). Their origins, dissemination, and sharpening processes, as well as their consequences will be analysed herein. This case study demonstrates how mental models of otherness are formed and reified, how they clash, and for what purposes they may be utilized. It will also analyze how imaginaries influence behavior and may lead to miscommunication in West Sumba.

SHAGIVALEEVA, Akime. EU Soft Power in the Eastern Partnership countries: the Case of Ukraine. 89 p. Mater thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of International Studies. Supervisor prof. Mgr. Eliška Tomalová, Ph.D. Abstract The thesis studies the EU as a soft power actor, seeking to analyse the way it is favouring soft power tools in its foreign policy, establishing the relations with the neighbouring countries and guaranteeing security across its borders. The research is aiming to prove that the soft power is a relevant approach and an effective foreign policy tool for the EU to persuade Eastern Partnership countries for closer cooperation. The topic is relevant for the EU security, prosperity and its role as a global political actor. The thesis makes a contribution to the debate, providing with the characterization of the theoretical concept of 'soft' and 'hard' power, description of the use of soft power by the EU, its sources and limits and the argumentation for the effectiveness and relevance of 'soft power' approach having studied how soft power sources are being applied. The thesis represents a qualitative research structured to investigate primarily the theoretical framework and further apply it onto the policy on regional level (Eastern Partnership states) and then more...

The goal of this thesis is to clarify the issues related to the New Order in East Asia and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Emphasis will be added to motives which lead Japan to the creation of a new arrangement in East Asia. These motives are represented by both Japan's strategic interests, among which was the struggle for obtaining access to natural resources (such as iron ore, coal and oil), as well as the control over a certain part of Asian territory with the intention of creating a buffer zone, mainly because of fearing the Soviet Union. The effort to control the Far East was further strengthened by the Great Depression, which resulted with the creation of enclosed trade blocks. A significant source of Japanese expansionist policy was presented by the ideology of Pan-Asianism, which played a large role in Japan's foreign policy making since the second half of the1920s. Pan-Asianism had been originally focused mainly on Northeast Asia and only later was it utilized to legitimize the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia. The thesis also pays much attention to the creation of Japanese puppet regimes, both on occupied Chinese territory and in Southeast Asia. An important role here is played by the Japanese effort to cooperate with local elites, both political and religious. Not only...

Diploma thesis "Neoclassical Realism and the Dynamics of Power in Eastern Asia: U.S. Foreign Policy toward China" is testing specific theoretical propositions of neoclassical realism on the evolution of U.S. foreign policy toward China from 1950 until present. This single case study uses congruence method and process-tracing to test the effect of intervening variables on the foreign policy deviation from neorealist proposition. Paper assesses theoretical progressivity of neoclassical realism and on this basis analyzes possible future evolution of Sino-American relations and in similar fashion presents suggestions to effective U.S. foreign policy.

Among the states, the history of which was affected by the Cold War can undoubtedly be ranked both Greece and Turkey. Their geostrategic singularity, accentuated by the outcomes of the World War II, caused that the "struggle" between the United States and the Soviet Union for influence in those countries had considerably contributed to a shift in the course of U.S. foreign policy towards the Soviet Union and to adopting an entirely new strategic concept which was to be called as the "strategy of containment". A number of quality books have already been dealing with the general characteristics of this strategy; however, historians have not turned enough attention - which is rather surprising - to its implementation in particular countries and territories. Therefore, an analysis of particular impacts of the strategy of containment on Greece and Turkey, as well as an evaluation of how successfully this approach of the United States towards both the countries worked, have become primary aims of my dissertation. The U.S. strategy of containment, which can be regarded as an example of the so called "grand strategy", had become a key factor of the U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. The process of its coming into existence was complicated and cannot be marked off by one document or an event; its...

This thesis is devoted to analyze the decentralization process in selected Central and Eastern European countries. Its aim is therefore to evaluate and compare the results of decentralization in selected countries in the context of European regional policy - the Europe of the regions. The basic hypothesis is that regional policy provides a sufficient incentive for the EU nation-states to launch decentralization and proceed into the establishment of regional levels of government in the form of new political entities that are institutionalized, have their own poltickou representation and play a key role in planing and implementation of the structural and cohesion funds. The hypothesis will be investigated using analysis and comparison of the results of decentralization in the five Central and Eastern European Countries: Estonia, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.