Petra Kuchyňková

Energetická bezpečnost asijských zemí a Ruské federace

Na jakých zakladech stoji energeticka bezpecnost Ciny a Indie? Jak na razantni ekonomický, potažmo energetický růst těchto zemi reaguje Japonsko – tradicni asijský spotřebitel? Jake jsou hlavni rysy energeticke politiky Ruska coby jednoho z největsich producentů a exporterů energetických surovin s mimořadnou významnosti v evropskem, ale i asijskem kontextu? Tyto a dalsi otazky si klade aktualizovana verze publikace Energeticka bezpecnost asijských zemi a Ruske federace . Kniha je rozdělena do dvou casti, z nichž prvni komplexně hodnoti aktery, energeticke politiky a pozici na světových trzich Ciny, Japonska a Indie; druha potom poskytuje ucelený rozbor ruskeho sektoru energetiky, představuje klicove aktery a konecně analyzuje význam sektoru energetiky v Rusku jak z ekonomickeho, tak politickeho hlediska s mimořadným důrazem na evropskou dimenzi ruske energetiky. V neposledni řadě je prostor věnovan energeticke politice Ciny, Indie a Ruska vůci dalsim akterům, kaspickými producenty pocinaje a Ukrajinou a Běloruskem konce. Aktualizovana verze zachycuje nejnovějsi vývoj specifických problematik ve vztazich asijských zemi na pozadi energeticke bezpecnosti.

The Conduct of Gazprom in Central and Eastern Europe: A Tool of the Kremlin, or Just an Adaptable Player?:

This article presents the results of evidence-based research into the behaviour of Gazprom and the relevant behaviour of the Russian government in selected countries of Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe (the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Belarus). The authors’ aim was to determine the scope of involvement by the Russian government in problems that have arisen in supplying these states, and the degree to which these issues have been linked with Gazprom’s conduct and Russia’s foreign policy toward the countries. Another interest was to seek out the key factors that may determine this behaviour in particular environments. To address these goals, the authors monitored specific indicators defined by the strategic approach to energy security (indicators that uncover governmental support, the linking of foreign policy to gas supplies, and misuse of a dominant market position). The core of the research underlying the paper was organized as a set of individual idiographic, theory-guided case studies. Data were gathered from official documents, statistics, articles, analytical studies, and from semi-structured interviews with experts. The exploration revealed that Gazprom has behaved in such a way as to indicate that it is being used as a tool of foreign policy, but the primary factor controlling its behaviour remains the environment in which the company is operating. Two points were crucial: implementation of the IEM rules and—above all—the diversification of sources.

Jak zkoumat koalice v Radě EU? Analýza výzkumných přístupů ke koaličnímu chování v Radě EU

Both in the Czech and European contexts, the Council of the EU is a relatively frequent subject of interest in political science research . A substantial amount of work (both in the t radition of qualitative and quantitative research) focuses especially on the process of coalition building and the impact and functioning of the different levels of the Council. This theoretical discussion analyzes the possibilities which both the qualitative and quantitative approaches offer concerning research dealing with the coalition behavior of one concrete EU member state. In doing so, it takes into account various specifics which characterize the Council of the EU and which substantially influence the behavior of its member states. The paper concludes that the qualitative approach (while being to a substantial degree complementary to the quantitative tradition) offers better tools for an analysis focusing on the coalition behavior of one member state than its quantitative counterpart. One of the reasons lies in the nature of our research which deals with the process of promoting the interests of the Czech Republic in the EU Council, with a special emphasis on coalition building and searching for compromises.