Germany in the Czech Foreign Policy

CZECH FOREIGN POLICY IN 2007–2009: Analysis Michal Kořan at al. Czech Foreign Policy in 2007–2009 ANALYSIS Prague 2010 The Editorial Board of the Institute of International Relations Publishing: Prof. PhDr. Pavel Barša, M.A., Ph.D. (Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague), Mgr. Ing. Radka Druláková, Ph.D. (Faculty of International Relations, University of Economics, Prague), Doc. PhDr. Jan Eichler, CSc. (Institute of International Relations, Prague), JUDr. PhDr. Tomáš Karásek, Ph.D. (Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Praha), Prof. PhDr. Michal Klíma, M.A., CSc. (Metropolitan Uni- versity, Prague), PhDr. Michal Kořan, Ph.D. (Institute of International Relations, Prague), Mgr. Ing. Petr Kratochvíl, Ph.D. (Institute of International Relations, Prague), PhDr. Pavel Pšeja, Ph.D. (Faculty of So- cial Studies, Masaryk University, Brno), Mgr. Dan Marek, PhD., M.A. (Faculty of Arts, Palacký Univer- sity, Olomouc), Prof. PhDr. Lenka Rovná, CSc. (Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Praha). Publishing of this book was fi nanced from a research programme ‘Česká republika v mezinárodní polit- ice’, identifi cation number MZV 4854605401 and from a research programme ‘Národní program výz- kumu II’, identifi cation number 2D06010. Peer reviewed by Mgr. et Mgr. Oldřich Krpec, Ph.D. Mgr. Juraj Marušiak, Ph.D. Michal Kořan et al. Czech Foreign Policy in 2007– 2009: Analysis Published by the Institute of International Relations, Prague 2010 Cover: a section of the painting Vnitřní vlnění (Inner Undulation, 180 x 145), 2005. © Aleš Lamr Research editor-in-chief PhDr. Vladimír Trojánek Cover, graphic design and layout Jan Šavrda Printed by S-Tisk Vimperk, s.r.o. ISBN 978-80-86506-90-6 Contents Introduction ...............................................................................................................9 PART I: CZECH FOREIGN POLICY IN 2007–2009: CONTEXT AND MAKING Chapter 1 The Political Context and the Making of the Czech Foreign Policy in 2007–2009 ..........................................................15 Michal Kořan Chapter 2 The Media Context of the Czech Foreign Policy in 2007–2009 ........................40 Vlastimil Nečas, Lenka Vochocová PART II: THE EUROPEAN AND SECURITY DIMENSIONS OF THE CZECH FOREIGN POLICY IN 2007–2009 Chapter 3 The European Dimension of the Czech Foreign Policy .....................................59 Vít Beneš, Mats Braun Chapter 4 The Security Dimension of the Czech Foreign Policy ........................................93 Vít Střítecký PART III: BILATERAL RELATIONS WITH SELECTED COUNTRIES AND REGIONS IN 2007–2009 Chapter 5 The Visegrad Cooperation, Poland, Slovakia and Austria in the Czech Foreign Policy ................................................................................115 Michal Kořan Chapter 6 Germany in the Czech Foreign Policy...............................................................148 Vladimír Handl Chapter 7 The United States of America in the Czech Foreign Policy.............................163 Ondřej Ditrych Chapter 8 West European Countries in the Czech Foreign Policy ...................................177 Ondřej Ditrych, Elsa Tulmets, Mats Braun Chapter 9 Russia in the Czech Foreign Policy ...................................................................196 Petr Kratochvíl, Petra Kuchyňková Chapter 10 The Countries of the Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy and Czech Foreign Policy ...............213 Elsa Tulmets Chapter 11 The Balkan Dimension of the Czech Foreign Policy ........................................231 Filip Tesař Chapter 12 The Middle East, the Mediterranean and Afghanistan in the Czech Foreign Policy ................................................................................246 Jaroslav Bureš Chapter 13 The Far East in the Czech Foreign Policy ........................................................275 Rudolf Fürst Chapter 14 Sub-Saharan Africa in the Czech Foreign Policy .............................................286 Ondřej Horký Chapter 15 The Latin American Dimension of the Czech Foreign Policy .........................297 Ondřej Slačálek PART IV: THE MULTILATERAL DIMENSION AND OTHER THEMATIC AREAS OF THE CZECH FOREIGN POLICY IN 2007–2009 Chapter 16 The Multilateral Dimension of the Czech Foreign Policy ...............................311 Veronika Bíliková, Šárka Matějková Chapter 17 The Economic Dimension of the Czech Foreign Policy ...................................322 Jana Peterková, Štěpánka Zemanová Chapter 18 Human Rights in the Czech Foreign Policy ......................................................334 Veronika Bílková, Šárka Matějková Chapter 19 Development Cooperation in the Czech Foreign Policy ..................................347 Ondřej Horký Chapter 20 The Cultural Dimension of the Czech Foreign Policy .....................................362 Jana Peterková Conclusion Czech Foreign Policy: Ideologies, Prejudices and Co-ordination ..................371 Petr Drulák Notes on Contributors ...........................................................................................385 INTRODUCTION Introduction What was the Czech foreign policy like during the years 2007–2009 and why? The team of authors from the Institute of International Relations (IIR) and other partner in- stitutions has been looking for answers to these questions for three consecutive years. For three years the IIR also has been producing Czech written thorough analysis of the Czech foreign policy. The book Czech Foreign Policy in 2007–2009: Analysis in- tends to become the fi rst volume of regularly presented deep analyses of the Czech foreign policy in English which builds on the fi ndings and analysis of the previous three Czech language analytical books1 and presents their synthesis. The English edi- tion thus aims to offer a long-term and continual observation of the development of the Czech foreign policy in various areas: its ideational background, its concrete agenda and events that occurred in a given period, the infl uence and involvement of various actors and the overlap of the Czech foreign policy with the media and public spheres. These referential points are built into the structure of each chapter, so that the analysis enables the reader to differentiate and trace the various ways in which the Czech foreign policy is contemplated, produced, executed, implemented and refl ected. This concept, among others, promises to disclose the changes in the process of the Czech foreign policy making with respect to different issues and different actual political contexts. As the issue area approach to the study of foreign policy suggests, a spe- cifi c agenda tends to attract different sets of actors. Thus the process of foreign policy making is not constant and does not remain the same in regard to various issues and agendas.2 Our approach enabled us to enhance our ability to capture the mutual relationship between issues that have the potential to initiate political and media debates on the one hand and actual foreign policy making and execution on the other. The book is divided to four broader parts that refl ect several distinctive dimensions of the Czech foreign policy. The analysis begins with a general part that explores the nature of the political context of the processes of the Czech foreign policy making. The main argument is that even if the executive and administrative background of the Czech foreign policy is solid and full of potential, the worsening political context seri- ously hampers the outcomes of Czech foreign policy. The second general chapter adds an important analysis of the media coverage of the Czech foreign policy as a part of the policy’s context. This chapter includes a quantitative as well as a qualitative analysis of the coverage of foreign policy by the Czech media. The second part focuses on the European and security dimensions of the Czech foreign policy. The EU oriented chapter refl ects political debates on various EU issues, 9 the preparations and execution of the Czech EU presidency and it also discusses the main challenges of the Czech EU policy. The fourth chapter is focused on the security dimension of the Czech foreign policy. The third, most extensive part is dedicated to the Czech foreign policy towards selected countries and regions. The fi fth and sixth chapters analyze Czech relations with its immediate Central European neighborhood, namely Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Austria and the related regional – Visegrad – cooperation. There are ten more bilater- ally oriented chapters covering the USA, West European countries, Russia, Easter Eu- ropean countries, Balkan countries, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Far East, Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America. The fourth part explores the multilateral dimension and other thematic areas of the Czech foreign policy. The multilateral dimension is the subject of chapter 16. Chapter 17 analyses the economic dimension of the Czech foreign policy. The human rights dimension of the Czech foreign policy is analyzed in chapter 18, followed by a chapter dedicated to the development cooperation. Chapter 20 studies the cultural dimension of the Czech foreign policy. The book is concluded with a broad and critical as- sessment by Petr Drulák. All individual chapters follow the same unifying structure. Each chapter fi rst in- quires into the conceptual background of as well as into the nature of the political context of a given foreign policy dimension, and then it goes on to follow the actual agenda and main events during

Load more