Assessment of Master Thesis – Academic Consultant
Study programme:International Economic Relations Field of study:International Politics and Diplomacy Academic year:2020/2021
Master Thesis Topic:Russia as the master shaper of the Arctic Author’s name:Bc. Jana Volšanská
Ac. Consultant’s Name:Mgr. Miloslav Machoň, Ph.D.
Opponent:Mgr. Ing. Kateřina Kočí, Ph.D.
Criterion Mark
(1–4)
1. Overall objective achievement 1
2. Logical structure 1
3. Using of literature, citations 1
4. Adequacy of methods used 1
5. Depth of analysis 1
6. Self-reliance of author 1
7. Formal requirements: text, graphs, tables 1
8. Language and stylistics 1
Comments and Questions:
The author chose a relevant and recent topic of international relations that is exceptional in the context of the Czech Republic. The thesis aimed to evaluate the position of the Russian Federation in the Arctic region. The author elaborated the evaluation of the hypothesis into two steps. First, she used a qualitative analytical approach to evaluate the military, economic and soft power of the RF in the region. Second, following the precise operationalization of the power’s aspects mentioned above, she continued to assess the ability of the Russian Federation to project nationalistic ideas derived from poems and narratives into Arctic Russian policy strategies. Therefore, the author presented the high goals clearly and defined the narrow research scope in an attainable manner. The theoretical and methodological parts of the thesis match the hypothesis.
The theoretical part goes smoothly, indicating the author’s critical ability to select the relevant works for the writing of the chapter. The theoretical chapter is based on foreign policy concepts, and it covers the problematics of nation-state power in international relations. It also operationalizes the implementation of military, economic and soft power capabilities of a nation-state in international relations. The master shaper represents the central concept in the thesis. It is derived from foreign policy analysis, and it interlinks to the hypothesis mentioned in the introduction. The author continues to elaborate on the relevance of
nationalistic narratives and poems for shaping national foreign policy identity, including concretization of their elements – plot, point of view, and character. All cited concepts contribute to the research goal (hypothesis). The theoretical part constitutes a seamless entity that has balanced and logical content.
The empirical part follows the structure of the theoretical chapters. The author made the qualitative content analysis approach to assess the power dimensions of the Russian Federation in the Arctic. She also defined the set of relevant nationalistic narratives for further evaluation to project national ideas to the collection of strategies of the Russian Federation in the Arctic region. The qualitative analysis is based on primary sources and policy strategies only. Therefore, the author demonstrated an excellent command of qualitative content analysis. The line of reasoning behind the conclusions is apparent and accurate. The findings prove a deep understanding of the topic. The research results provide thorough answers to the posed research hypothesis and have theoretical interest and practical relevance. The author includes graphs, tables, and schemas to highlight and clarify new findings. The entire text is easy to read, and it is linguistically faultless. The formal requirements meet the standards of the Prague University of Economics and Business. An exception is the unclear formatting of citation(s) at the top on page 73. The research is
based on comprehensive scientific literature and primary sources. The author attended consultation hours continuously and completed the thesis within the target time.
Further questions:
1. The thesis highlighted the relevance of narratives in the implementation of national foreign policy.
What Russian narratives and poems were relevant for space exploration in the 1950s and 1960s?
2. What are the significant similarities and differences between Russian and Chinese narratives used to justify space exploration (see Tianwen-1 mission)?
Conclusion: The Master Thesis is recommended for the defence.
Suggested Grade: 1
Date: 17/05/2021 Mgr. Miloslav Machoň, Ph.D.
Academic Consultant
