Lucie Csajková won three times in the ESOP competition
The aim of the ESOP – Excellent Student Professional Theses competition is to support the creative activity of students by selecting, awarding and presenting outstanding theses – seminary, bachelor and diploma theses. The ESOP competition is announced for seminary, bachelor and diploma theses and is awarded annually for the best faculty thesis.
Ing. Lucia Csajková, a graduate of the International Studies and Diplomacy programme with a minor in Development Studies, was the winner of the ESOP Prize for the third time. Lucia, who now works in her native Košice, among others in the civic association Klíma Ťa potrebuje, won the ESOP competition in all three categories.
Lucie Csajková about the ESOP experience
I am grateful that the supervisors of these jobs gave me the opportunity to apply for the ESOP. I think it has opened the door for me to some extent to do an internship at the Ministry of Investment, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic, or to contribute to an article on space diplomacy for The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, which is still waiting to be published. Thanks to ESOP, I have also started thinking about continuing my studies for a Ph.D., as I enjoy writing and producing analysis and appreciate that this activity has had a positive response.
In the category of thesis, Lucia Csajková was awarded for her thesis “City as a global actor: a case study of ELA in Bratislava”. This thesis examines the current state of Bratislava’s use of city diplomacy resources with regard to the agenda of the European Labour Authority (ELA) and also identifies possible global opportunities for the capital city in connection with hosting this decentralised EU agency. The results of the qualitative research show that Bratislava does not directly reflect the ELA agenda in its city diplomacy, despite the fact that there is room for incorporating the topic of seconded workers mainly in relation to existing bilateral and multilateral agreements, activities in city networks, international advocacy of the city, as well as the organisation and participation in international events.
The ESOP Prize in the category of Seminar Paper on “Theory of Compliance with International Norms: India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” was awarded to Lucia Csajkova in 2020. The paper examines the behavioural compliance of international norms in the case of India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) for compliance with the targets set by the Paris Agreement. The objective was to determine whether India acted in behavioural compliance with international norms arising from the Paris Agreement. According to the qualitative analysis used, it was found that India did not act in behavioural compliance with international norms as it failed to meet any of the recommended measures.
Lucie Csajkova’s undergraduate thesis on “US environmental policy: a case study” won the ESOP award for the best faculty thesis in 2019 and analyses US environmental policy during the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump with respect to the features of unilateralism, bilateralism and multilateralism. The qualitative analysis found that neither of the actors examined acted explicitly unilaterally, bilaterally, or multilaterally in environmental policy; both actors tended to act in a particular way-Barack Obama toward multilateralism and Donald Trump toward unilateralism.
