Jaromir Harmacek

Palacký University Olomouc · Department of Development and Environmental Studies

The paper introduces and examines the narratives and specifics of Gulf bilateral donors—namely the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. It confronts established narratives with current data and trends and includes the perspective of both Western and Arab scholars. The research points to some new trends among Gulf donors, notably the dive...

Territorial protection of nature in any country is limited by various factors and therefore it is necessary to carefully select protected areas. Currently, they are often selected according to particular indicator taxa because of the simplicity and applicability of this approach. For example, Natura 2000 Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in EU are es...

This paper focuses on the dynamic of the recent upheaval in the tourism and hospitality sector due to the COVID-19 epidemic in Greece and Santorini island. It uses the case study of a country one-fourth of whose GDP consists of tourism. We compare the available statistical data showing the change in variables in the previous years with 2020 and loo...

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) identified in 2002 three fundamental areas of human development in which the Arab world lags behind the rest of the world. One of those specified areas was the lack of freedom and democracy. To investigate the presence of the democratic deficit, the study introduces a composite democracy index that measur...

The paper investigates the factors influencing the number of asylum applications lodged in Denmark. We conduct an analysis of 190 countries of origin over the years 2005–2015. Using panel data and bilaterally expressed variables, we apply the tobit model and the negative binomial regression method for all potential countries of origin as well as fo...

Traditionally, economists measure middle class from the income perspective. Considering quality of data for many African countries, relying solely on income may, unfortunately, lead to an incorrect picture. This article compares and analyses the African middle class measured by income and by ownership of assets. Results indicate that middle class s...

This paper seeks to bring new insights into the foreign aid allocation behaviour and patterns of two donors from the group of post-communist EU member countries, namely Poland and the Czech Republic. We use quantitative regression analysis to address Polish and Czech foreign aid objectives with a specific emphasis on geopolitical considerations and...

Return migration has been increasingly gaining prominence in migration research as well as in migration policies across the world. However, in some regions, such as the Caucasus, the phenomenon of return migration is little explored despite its significance for the region. Based on 64 interviews with returnees and key informants together with addit...

Using a gravity model, this article explores the determinants driving stocks of international migrants from developing countries in Czechia and in Slovakia. It presents an overview of international migration to both countries between the years 2006 and 2015 including the major countries of origin. It also proposes a brief discussion of different mi...

The paper deals with determinants of Czech democracy aid allocations. Democracy aid is a subtype of foreign aid, its aim is a support of accountable governance and transitions of authoritarian regimes towards democracy. Determinants of foreign aid flows were identified by the literature review and subsequently tested by regression analysis. The res...

This paper analyses factors affecting arrivals of international tourists into countries denoted as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). These destinations are paired to all potential countries of origin for which the data was available in the UNWTO database for at least one year over the studied period 1995-2014. The dynamic panel data regression...

Thorny shrubs are considered as an important driver in the natural development of temperate forest structures, particularly in European lowland forests. We assessed the current role of thorny shrubs in the regeneration of deciduous tree species under heavy browsing pressure in a central European temperate forested landscape. The study’s military tr...

Sustainably managed forests provide multiple ecosystem services in cultural landscapes, including maintaining biodiversity. Better understanding of the benefits regarding the biodiversity of different silvicultural practices is important for sustainable landscape management. Conservation targets in forested landscapes should be determined by land m...

The contribution of foreign aid to environmentally sensitive development has not been the subject of intense research, despite the fact that foreign aid is a significant source of foreign exchange for a number of developing countries. Foreign aid can be classified, based on its likely environmental effects, as clean, dirty or neutral aid. This stud...

This paper examines the responsiveness of foreign aid to environmental needs and performance of developing countries using, as an example, the Czech Republic. It focuses on the environmental component of foreign aid, which is defined as the development intervention of the Czech Government, which can be expected to have positive environmental impact...

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) represent a heterogeneous group of countries with specific development challenges. One of the common characteristics is a significant tourist potential which is not sufficiently exploited in many SIDS. The paper focuses on the analysis of factors that can influence the number of foreign tourists arriving in SID...

The protection of biodiversity is an integral part of sustainable development. All the major international environmental and development programs-Aichi Biodiversity Targets, Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals-have committed countries to conserving valuable ecosystems by ensuring that a certain proportion of their terrest...

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) represent a heterogeneous group of countries with specific development challenges. One of the common characteristics is a significant tourist potential which is not sufficiently exploited in many SIDS. The paper focuses on the analysis of factors that can influence the number of foreign tourists arriving in SID...

This paper presents results of a study focused on using the increased predation pressure of avian raptors for biocontrol of local populations of the common vole (Microtus arvalis) in Haná (Czech Republic), a region of traditional agriculture in central Europe. Five raptor perches per hectare were installed on fields (total number of perches install...

Cukr se vyrábí z cukrové třtiny pěstované v tropických a subtropických oblastech a cukrové řepy pěstované v oblastech s mírným klimatem. Na světě produkován ve 120 zemích, přičemž přibližně 80 % produkce cukru pochází z cukrové třtiny a 20 % z cukrové řepy (1). Výroba je koncentrována především mezi několik hlavních producentů, přičemž téměř dvě pě...

This article analyzes the territorial allocation of Czech development assistance. The first part of the article (sections 2 and 3) provides an overview of the historical development and territorial aspects of Czech aid. The second part (section 4) employs regression analysis to examine the determinants of territorial allocation of Czech aid over th...

Factors of Czech Aid Selection and Allocation: Panel Probit and Tobit Analysis The aim of our paper is to identify factors that influence the territorial selection and allocation of development aid of the Czech Republic. We applied random-effects probit and tobit models in our regression analysis which revealed that flows of Czech aid to individua...

This paper addresses the allocation of foreign aid from the Czech Republic to the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the Czech Republic is seen as an emerging donor, the history of Czech development assistance dates back to the period of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia prior to 1989. This article attempts to shed light on the role of...

The paper analyzes the theory and construction of four indicators of pro-poor growth and applies them to Bangladesh over two time periods, 2000–2005 and 2005–2010. The following indicators were used: pro-poor growth index (Kakwani and Pernia, 2000), poverty equivalent growth rate (Kakwani and Son, 2008), poverty growth curve (Son, 2004), and the ra...

The paper analyses the relationship between economic growth and human development indeveloping countries. While the former is often perceived as a necessary precondition for successful human development, the latter is regarded to be the main development objective. However, the link between economic growth and human development seems to be more comp...

In the paper we discuss the concept of pro-poor growth and apply it to the East African countries. We examine the interlinkages between three development concepts-poverty, inequality, and growth. We use four operationalizations of the pro-poor growth concept: pro-poor growth index (Kakwani & Pernia, 2000), poverty equivalent growth rate (Kakwani &...

This paper assesses the extent to which the development of five East African countries is sustainable. It starts with an overview of the concepts and measurement of sustainability, focusing on composite indicators. The main part of the paper presents an analysis of two composite indicators (Adjusted Net Savings and Ecological Footprint) as applied...

This paper addresses the allocation of foreign aid from the Czech Republic to the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the Czech Republic is seen as an emerging donor, the history of Czech development assistance dates back to the period of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia prior to 1989. This article attempts to shed light on the role of...