Karl Deutsch focused in his work on many social, political and technical aspects of building political community which can enrich our understanding of international cooperation and European integration. It is especially his concept of the political community that helps us to explain current problems of the European integration: namely, the current pre-occupation with the market and institutions leads to the neglect of the common redistribution and of the horizontal ties among the state institutions and among the peoples. This article also points to the tension between Deutsch's awareness that the study of political communities requires the examination of values, love and spirituality, and his positivist, quantitative methods which do not allow for such an examination. This tension invites to a re-reading of Deutsch, which can enrich the liberal tradition of international relations (IR).

Since 2016, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), one of the most prominent worldwide corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives, has been linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, despite the enormous scholarly interest in the UNGC since the very beginning, its impact on the integration of the SDGs into the business activities, risk management and reporting of its participants remains understudied. This paper examines support and action for the SDGs among companies from the Visegrad Four (V4) countries. It attempts to find out whether the recent UNGC efforts result in their mobilisation towards the SDGs' implementation or merely creates a new space for instrumental adoption to improve image and reputation. The paper adopts qualitative content analysis of 42 Communications of Progress (COPs), submitted by 25 companies from the V4 in 2017-2019. The related self-assessments in the UNGC Participation Database were also used. It reveals that the companies obviously fulfil their obligation to report their activities related to SDGs but fail to provide relevant details. Moreover, divergences between the challenges faced by V4 countries and the priorities of the companies related to individual SDGs are also identified. This raises serious concerns about the UNGC's practical effects.

No abstract

No abstract

The article deals with the economic dimension of the Czech Republic's official development assistance. It discusses that aid and trade need not act contradictorily; in fact, they may work complementarily. In particular, the study focuses on the Czech Republic's bilateral official development assistance towards Serbia, which shows synergic effects of development assistance and business interests. The first part of the paper is concerned with the various forms of private sector involvement in the Czech Republic's official development assistance. The second part describes the Czech Republic's official development assistance on the example of Serbia. First, this section concentrates on the Czech Republic's relationship towards the Western Balkans and its bilateral relationship with Serbia. Afterwards, it regards the particular projects implemented by Czech actors operating in the framework of the official development assistance. Specifically, it deals with three Aid for Trade projects carried out by the Czech Chamber of Commerce and two projects implemented by Czech companies in the region of Pešter/Sandžak and the municipality of Kruščica.Keywords: international development cooperation, economic diplomacy, commercial link-up, Czech Republic, Serbia JEL classification: F63, P45, F35 ÚvodPropojení zahraniční rozvojové spolupráce, která představuje neekonomické zájmy státu, s ekonomickou diplomacií, která se orientuje na dosahování ekonomických zájmů země, bývá často vnímáno jako rozporné a možná až kontroverzní. Zatímco zahraniční rozvojová spolupráce vychází primárně z mezinárodní solidarity [Sagasti, 2005, s. 2], tedy z altruistického přesvědčení, že bohaté státy by státům chudým měly poskytovat pomoc, ekonomická diplomacie se pragmaticky soustředí na vytváření podmínek pro prosazování ekonomických zájmů státu v zahraničí, tedy na realizaci ekonomické dimenze své zahraniční politiky [Štouračová, 2008, s. 24]. Dokonce ani odborná literatura nevěnuje analý-zám možné symbiózy ekonomických a neekonomických zájmů státu velkou pozornost. * Článek vznikl s podporou Grantové agentury České republiky poskytnutou pro léta [2013][2014][2015] grantovému projektu Možnosti a meze českého zahraničně politického aktivismu (13-30724S)