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The study assesses the evolution and the current state of the IR studies in the CzechRepublic. It starts from a critical stance towards those interpretations that succumb to the simplifiedbackwardness-modernization logic. Instead the study puts forth an analysis that builds on postcolonialand subaltern approaches while showing that modernization can paradoxically reinforcethe structural dependence of the discipline. The current Czech IR studies are thus better describedas a hybrid discipline based on both the mechanical acceptance of Western theoretical approachesand exclusionary practices than as a successful modernization. The ability to conduct theoreticallyorientedresearch is often seen as one of the benefits of the discipline’s integration in the internationalacademic structures. However, what is entirely ignored is the negative impact of the neoliberaldisciplining techniques, commodification of research and consequently also the emergence ofacademic mimicry and the related fragmentation of the entire field.
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The article considers the 50th anniversary of the journal Mezinárodní vztahy from the perspective of Immanuel Wallerstein’s world-systems theory. It shows how the journal and its establishment and development reflect the structural position of the Czechoslovak/Czech International Relations research at the semiperiphery. The concept of semiperiphery captures both the place of a political community (Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic) in the global world-system and the position of a research community (International Relations) within the global scientific field. The article poses three questions. First, is it possible, despite structural constraints, to produce world class research in the Czech context? Second, are there any advantages stemming from the semiperipheral position? Third, does the Czech research community have an exceptional role to play with regard to any questions and topics? The article argues that it is possible to produce world class research in the Czech Republic because there are some advantages to the semiperipheral position. The Czech research community has a key role to play in shaping social and political debates within the Czech political community.
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The analysis surveys the evolution of security studies in the Czech Republic after 1990. Firstly, the historical context and institutional development of the discipline are analyzed; afterwards the intellectual tradition of Czech security studies is introduced, and the theories used in the discipline in the Czech Republic are mentioned. The central point of the analysis is the character and content of the articles published in the journal Mezinárodní vztahy. We conclude that the research of international security in the Czech Republic is strongly interconnected with the country’s executive politics and that Mezinárodní vztahy is the central platform for Czech security research.
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In 2012, Islamist violent non-state actors in northern Mali succeeded in fighting against the Malian army, and they got the entire north Malian territory under their control. This paper seeks to answer the question of why the Islamists were islodged and the territory was brought back under the control of the Malian state only after a time gap of one year. Using the theoretical conception of an enemy-centric approach, the criteria of competence, willingness, empowerment, and the successful execution of the counterinsurgency military operation are conceptualized. The paper uses this research framework to analyze the actions of the three counterinsurgency actors – Mali, ECOWAS/CÉDÉAO, and France – and explains the above-mentioned gap. The research shows that IVNSAs were eliminated and the ability of the (Malian) state to control the territory was restored only when the counterinsurgency actor (France) was able to accomplish the given criteria of competence, willingness, and empowerment simultaneously.
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This article explores the variation in the reviewing activity of the member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). It puts forward a comprehensive descriptive account of the member states’ reviewing activity in the TPRM in the years 2013 and 2014. The account is based on a quantitative analysis of 12 000 written questions and a quantitative and content analysis of more than 8000 statements made within the TPRM in the given period. Empirically, we identify a gap between the reviewing activity of several of the largest actors, namely Canada, China, the EU, and the USA, and that of the rest of the WTO membership. Nevertheless, we also find out that the TPRM is not dominated by the most powerful actors since a relatively high number of the member states display a considerable amount of reviewing activity.
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The aim of this consultation is to identify the roots of Japan’s perception of multilateralism through the work of two pre-war Japanese scholars – Chomin Nakae and Sakuzo Yoshino. The article assumes that intellectual and cultural traditions influence modern perceptions of basic political concepts. Japan is a country which has long been marked as isolationist and militarist, and whose political thinking has been disregarded by the discipline of international relations. However, on the example of Nakae and Yoshino’s thought, we can observe that the idea of international cooperation had been researched well before the end of the 19th century. However, Japanese scholars projected their cultural and sociopolitical background into their perception of multilateralism. Nakae depicted a vision of a functional long term cooperation uniting Western and Confucian thought; meanwhile, Yoshino saw multilateralism as a way towards the emancipation of the enlightened Japanese man.
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In this article, we reflect on the research on European integration in the context of the Czech discipline of International Relations (IR). We pay attention to those academic institutions that concentrate on IR and, simultaneously, on European integration. We reach three main findings in the article: 1) a number of Czech institutions and scholars that studied the international dimension of the European integration were also concerned with the domestic level of integration; 2) in the Czech environment the IR discipline is marked by a distinct cleavage between the theoretically and methodologically informed parts of the research on European integration and its descriptively based part; 3) besides International Security, the topic of European integration dominated the Czech IR discipline.
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On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the academic journal Mezinárodní vztahy, the developments of International Relations as a scientific discipline in former Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic that took place so far are subjected to critical reflection. In this context, the article analyzes research papers focused on international economic relations that were published in the periods 1966–1969 and 1992–2015, i.e., the key periods of the journal. It puts the papers into the context of International Political Economy and highlights the differences between the outcomes of the research in former Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, and the international trends and standards for such research. At the same time, the paper captures the initial coherence of the research with the political needs of the state, at first the socialist Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic in transition, and its gradual overcoming of this coherence. It also examines the institutional framework for the research. Due to the diversity of the set of texts in focus, the analysis leans on simple general criteria – the prevailing perspectives used for the analysis of the international economic relations, correspondence with the main branches of International Political Economy, qualitative vs. quantitative methodology and the basic typology of institutions involved in international relations research.
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The aim of the article is to provide an analysis and a deeper understanding of the ways the Czech(oslovak) research community approached the issues related to the Czech/Czechoslovak foreign policy. The main departure point of the text is a formal analysis of the articles related to the Czech/Czechoslovak foreign policy published in the journal Mezinárodní vztahy. We analyze the institutional, methodological, theoretical and disciplinary backgrounds of the individual authors of the articles and also their particular interpretation of the fundamental questions of the Czech/Czechoslovak foreign policy.
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Men’s Transition to Adulthood in the Czech Republic. This paper aims to bring a new perspective to and understanding of the way that Czech men aged 40-55 entered into adulthood in the light of the life course perspective and given specific key life events and historical context. We examine entry into adulthood (operationalized as entry into first marriage), depending on the timing and whether men do or do not go through certain life transitions (e.g. transition from education to first job, gaining independence from parents and first child’s conception). The data have been taken from the Male Reproductive Behaviour Study conducted in 2011. Given the specificity of our data (retrospective) and stated goals, we employ discrete-time event history analysis and estimate the effects by use of binary logistic models. Timing of first marriage was related to completing school, labour force participation and leaving the parental home (at least for men who had entered first marriages before 1990). Completing education occupies a special place among these three transitions. It was commonly the first event in a series of partial transitions of entering into adulthood. The effect of completing education on entering into marriage was negative only in the case of premarital conception. Premarital conception also moderated the effects of labour force participation and parental home leaving.
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Review of the book: Волынец, Т.Н. Современный русский язык: морфология: учебное пособие. Минск: РИВШ, 2013. 326 s. ISBN 978-985-500-666-5
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Review of the book: Русский язык: система и функционирование (К 75-летию филологического факультета БГУ): сборник материалов VI международной научной конференции. Минск, 28–29 октября 2014 г. Часть 1–2. Минск: Издательский центр БГУ, 2014.
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Review of the book: Gunišová, E.; Paučová, L. Slovanský literární svět: kontexty a konfrontace I. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2015. 243 s. ISBN 978-80-210-7915-1
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Review of the book: Махлин, В. Л. Большое время: Подступы к мышлению М. М. Бахтина. Redakcja tomu Roman Mnich i Roman Bobryk. Siedlce: Uniwersytet Przyrodniczo-Humanistyczny w Siedlcach, 2015. 174 s. Opuscula Slavica Sedlcensia, tom VIII. ISBN 978-83-64884-68-9
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