Debt-trap diplomacy (DTD) is seen as a relatively new Chinese policy tool connected to BRI. DTD builds on the approach that China intentionally excessively lends money to low-income indebted states that cannot later repay Chinese debt. The borrowing state thus relinquishes some of ...

Non-state actors represent equal partners, viable competitors, and/or serious enemies in the current international system. Their specific position depends on how their behaviour in the system is perceived by states, international organizations, and civil society. The behaviour itself can be ...

In this article, I present tools for more accurate data collection in selected types of research. My premise is that tools for identifying the equivalence of meaning of different data units can minimise the room for potential error in data collection. A major error may be...

The multiple engagements of the Middle East powers (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey) are self-evident, mainly in the case of hard power tools use. However, the disposition of foreign interference in Yemen is multifaced. The current research has primarily focused on...

The central aim of this article is to consider tools and methods for studying expert knowledge (EK) diffusion in international politics. What we need are methodological devices to enable research of the object in motion and&#x...

Until the end of the 1980s the role of the United States (US), European Communities (EC) and China in Central Europe (CE) was marginal. However, with the end of the Cold War the situation dramatically changed. The present article collects and analyses the evidence about t...

The current international system finds itself at a stage where foreign relations are being formed by the official governments of individual states and also by other, often diverse, actors. In particular, non-state actors have been establishing, far more than ever, foreign contacts with&...

The presented text focuses on the transformation of the use of the topic of corruption in the election manifestos of Czech political parties throughout the entire post-communist period. The theoretical framework used to grasp the anti-corruption positions expressed in the manifestos is ...

The article seeks to provide a critical reflection of the political debate in the Czech Republic about the quality of the democratic system and the quantity of democratic mechanisms. The analyzed example is the political requirement for recall, a mechanism of a type of "r...

Southeast Asia is a major theater in the superpower rivalry between China and the United States. The states in this region face the challenge how to react to this intensified strategic competition. Some authors suggest a concept of hedging as the main behavioral response of&#x...

The idea of human rights is undeniably an achievement. After the terrible atrocities that the tyrannical dictatorships of the 20th century inflicted on their citizens, it can hardly be denied that every human being is entitled to the protection of his or her life, dignity,...

In the 2017 Czech parliamentary election, the Czech Pirate Party succeed unprecedentedly, compared to most of the Pirate parties across Europe. However, while the Pirate-led alliance PirSTAN won 15.62% of the votes in the 2021 Parliamentary Election, the number of Pirate MPs dropped...

The aim of this text was to evaluate Mongolian foreign policy by applying the hedging strategy. We have arrived at the conclusion that the way Mongolia strives to secure itself against insecurities and risks in the fast-changing environment of East Asia corresponds to main pri...

This paper contributes to the contemporary discussion about the political consequences of COVID-19 pandemic situation. The goal of the text is to identify and analyze the neo-patrimonial rhetoric of Czech Prime Minister Babiš in connection with his handling of the pandemic. Using the&#x...

Following the discussion on the relation of populism, its typology and neutral bureaucracy, this text examines the communication practice of the former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš regarding the European subsidies. Using the mixed content analysis of several years of Babiš’s statements,...

Many research articles focus on international sporting events that have the potential to gain a global audience, such as the Olympic Games or FIFA World Cups. These sporting events could be valuable sports diplomacy tools for the hosting countries, strengthening the hosting nation’s...

Sport is a complex phenomenon that academics across many social sciences are focusing on. The interest in sports has been observable for a long time by historians, anthropologists and sociologists. Scientists in the field of international relations are no exception. A typical way s...

This paper is supposed to be a contribution to contemporary discussion about creating “the others” as a populist strategy. One can say that the role of the most important “the others” in modern Czech history has been played by the Germans (as a nation) and/or by ...