The European Union is often considered a powerful force in democracy promotion in its neighbourhood, widely being credited with the successful democratisation of many Central and Eastern European...Show moreThe European Union is often considered a powerful force in democracy promotion in its neighbourhood, widely being credited with the successful democratisation of many Central and Eastern European countries (Dimitrova & Pridhram, 2004; Pop-Eleches, 2007; Schimmelfennig, 2007). It is all the more puzzling therefore that this successful push for democratisation has not materialised in the Western Balkans, where many countries, despite their status as candidate member states of the union, have experienced prolonged periods of democratic backsliding (Castaldo, 2020, 1633). Why is the EU’s strategy to promote democratic performance failing here? Several researchers have pointed towards the EU’s own policy agenda as an important contributor to the decrease in democratic performance (Huszka, 2018, 361; Castaldo, 2020, 1633). This thesis set out to contribute to these studies by analysing the effects of an EU-sponsored media reform in Serbia that has been accused of decreasing media freedom in the country (Freedom House, 2016; Huszka, 2018, 361; Castaldo, 2020, 1630-1631). Through a mixed quantitative and qualitative content analysis, it aimed to answer the question: how has the EU-sponsored media strategy impacted progovernment bias in the Serbian media? It found that pro-government bias in the media was not significantly affect by the media strategy.Show less
Political participation is typically associated with conventional forms of participation, but in recent years academics have been increasingly interested in unconventional political participation...Show morePolitical participation is typically associated with conventional forms of participation, but in recent years academics have been increasingly interested in unconventional political participation due to declining turnout rates across European democracies. Unconventional forms of participation in politics are quite freely practiced in democratic countries, however, it remains unclear which factors influence unconventional modes of participation in non- democratic countries. The aim of this thesis is to examine the individual and context-level factors that may influence the patterns of unconventional political participation in Turkey. For this purpose, drawing on the civic voluntarism model and the political opportunity structure as the theoretical backbone of the study, regression analyses are conducted using World Values Surveys for the years 1996, 2001, 2007, 2011, and 2018 to see how the impact of various individual-level variables and the rule of law index changes over time. The findings indicate that more educated and politically interested citizens as well as members of civil society organizations have a greater likelihood to engage in unconventional political participation.Show less
Groups working within the same contested issue-area often make different claims although they are working within the same cause. This research explores this phenomenon by comparing two Palestinian...Show moreGroups working within the same contested issue-area often make different claims although they are working within the same cause. This research explores this phenomenon by comparing two Palestinian rights advocacy groups in the Netherlands and explaining their claim-making strategies through the framework of political context which is measured in terms of institutional access, alliance structure, and conflict structure. This case is chosen as it examines a contested issue within a political environment that has historically proven to be hostile towards it. This study argues that the political context of a group plays a key role in determining whether they employ an inside- oriented or outside-oriented claim-making strategy. Through a qualitative comparative analysis, this research has demonstrated that, with consideration to other possible explanations, differing political contexts lead to divergent claim-making strategies for advocacy groups despite their similar characteristics. Additionally, while the political context shapes the claim-making strategy, this does not diminish group agency.Show less
This thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the...Show moreThis thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the four largest grain traders in the world lobby the Food and Agriculture Organization to promote market-based policies for global food security. I find substantial evidence for four strategies: multi-stakeholder fora, corporate-FAO partnerships, lobbying national governments, and revolving door practices. The four strategies help agribusinesses be involved in decision-making, increase their market and structural power, and promote the private sector as a legitimate and essential actor in the regime’s governance. The findings fit within a neo-Gramscian framework and can be interpreted as strategies used by the transnational capitalist class to support the transnationalization of social relations of production and the promotion of the neoliberal world order.Show less
This research explores the potential impact of EU election observation missions on the quality of elections, through the diffusion of democratic standards. The analysis is based on a single-case...Show moreThis research explores the potential impact of EU election observation missions on the quality of elections, through the diffusion of democratic standards. The analysis is based on a single-case study of the Kenyan elections building on diverse data including reports and interviews, applied in the process tracing method. Building on socialization theory and norm diffusion, I hypothesize that election observation has an impact on election quality, through the diffusion of democratic values. The Kenyan legal framework meets international obligations requiring elections to be “accountable and transparent”. But the tumultuous history of election violence highlighted fundamental issues and systematic problems that must be addressed. The findings show that there is a relevant added value to the presence of EU EOM, within different phases of the election cycle. The implementation of the EU EOM recommendations plays a key role in understanding the contribution of election observation to improve election quality. EU EOMs are found to be effective in deterring fraud and corruption, as election observation contributes to pressuring government officials to respect the electoral law. In the Kenyan case, the implementation of recommendations contributed to the mitigation of election-related violence, and the promotion of the stakeholders' confidence in the electoral process.Show less
Does the intergenerational majority narrative of conflicts affect the exclusion of ethnic and religious minorities in Bangladesh? This thesis argues that while learning from majority group...Show moreDoes the intergenerational majority narrative of conflicts affect the exclusion of ethnic and religious minorities in Bangladesh? This thesis argues that while learning from majority group narratives which centre Bengali and Muslim stories might produce more exclusionary attitudes, critical memory studies is not sufficient in building an inclusive society in a state with weak and corrupt institutions. While the main explanatory variable is sources of transmission of conflict narratives, this research also examines other variables such as minority contact, proximity to conflict, and level of victimisation. Using primary data in the form of both a survey and focus group discussion, this research uses mixed-methods analysis to explore which factors result in more exclusionary attitudes by the Bengali Muslim majority in Bangladesh.Show less
De onderzoeksvraag luidt als volgt: tot welke partijfamilie behoort de BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB)? De verwachting van dit onderzoek is dat de partij tot de rechts-populistische partijfamilie behoort,...Show moreDe onderzoeksvraag luidt als volgt: tot welke partijfamilie behoort de BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB)? De verwachting van dit onderzoek is dat de partij tot de rechts-populistische partijfamilie behoort, of tot de agraristische partijfamilie. Aan de hand van bestaande literatuur zijn er per partijfamilie drie indicatoren ontwikkeld die de ideologische kernkenmerken van de partijfamilie meten. Bij radicaal rechts-populisme zijn dit nativisme, autoritarisme en populisme (Mudde, 2007). Bij agrarisme zijn dit het contrast tussen stad en platteland, decentralisatie en de relatie tussen mens en natuur. Aan de hand van de genoemde aspecten, en in vergelijking met een bestaande rechts-populistische partij (PVV), is de BBB gescoord op zowel radicaal rechts-populisme als agrarisme. Ik maak hiervoor gebruik van content analysis. Het materiaal dat gebruikt is, zijn parlementaire instrumenten, speeches en het verkiezingsprogramma. De onderzochte instrumenten splitsen zich toe op de periode van maart 2021 tot september 2022. Dit onderzoek wijst uit dat BBB op één aspect van recht- populisme een hogere score haalt dan de PVV, zijnde populisme. Bij agrarisme behaalt de BBB op alle drie de aspecten een hogere score dan de rechts-populistische PVV en de hoogste scores bij het aspect contrast stad-platteland. Er wordt daarom geconcludeerd dat de BBB tot de agraristische partijfamilie behoort, ondanks het wel (agrarisch) populistische karakteristieken bevat.Show less
This paper examines online newspaper articles related to the Covid-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, in order to analyse how the political affiliation of said newspapers influence which frames...Show moreThis paper examines online newspaper articles related to the Covid-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, in order to analyse how the political affiliation of said newspapers influence which frames they choose to employ. Drawing on framing theory, this thesis analyses 50 articles that were published by a conservative newspaper and 50 articles that were published by a liberal newspaper. The data consists of 100 articles that were published by The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph between 1 January 2020 and 1 March 2022. Content analysis is used to identify the different frames, such as economic or health-related frames, in order to establish a connection between certain frames and the political affiliation of the paper. Furthermore does this paper aim to assess the media’s role in the policy cycle. The main findings of this paper were that 44% of the analysed articles use the Health Risk Frame while 24% used the Economic Frame and 32% used neither. The Health Risk Frame was used more often by the liberal Guardian (29 times) and The Economic Frame was used more often by the conservative Telegraph (13 times). Additionally, these findings suggest that media framing can play a crucial role in the agenda-setting and evaluation part of the policy cycleShow less
