Deploying a novel conception framework offering new understandings of familialism and the policy logic of PRR party family, this study will argue that the Republican Party’s family welfare policy...Show moreDeploying a novel conception framework offering new understandings of familialism and the policy logic of PRR party family, this study will argue that the Republican Party’s family welfare policy overlaps with that of European PRRPs to a currently limited and inconsistent, but significantly growing extent. Evidence from South Carolina and Wyoming—two of the four states selected for investigation to provide a cross-section of the party—indicates concerted familialisation, while data from Florida and Indiana implies GOP support fortification of the care role of the traditional family is conditional on exclusion of the Other, socially, ethnically, and nationally defined. Both policy offerings are understood as features of PRRP welfare logics concerning the family, but the substantial cross-state variation and continuance of long-standing neoliberal policy choices are too significant to decisively assert a Republican Party re-alignment with a radical right logic on the family. Nonetheless, intensified support for the ‘natural’ family since the early-mid 2010s can be discerned across all cases, leaving open the prospect of a truer policy overlap in the future. From this, the contributions of this study are two-fold: a clearer picture of an oft-posited but ill-understood transatlantic transmission of radical right logics, and an original, conceptually rigorous means to investigate it.Show less
This thesis will analyze the effect of the 2015 reform, which restructured the Dutch student financial aid structure, on students’ reported effort, motivation, and satisfaction. From September 2015...Show moreThis thesis will analyze the effect of the 2015 reform, which restructured the Dutch student financial aid structure, on students’ reported effort, motivation, and satisfaction. From September 2015 onwards, new Dutch students were not automatically eligible for a so-called basic grant. Instead, these students were now only able to loan this money. Prior research has shown how this has increased parental contributions to students and lowered student expenditure (Broeders, Been & Knoef, 2020). But since criticism in Dutch society rose due to unfulfilled promises of extra investments into the higher education system and reports stating that students are experiencing more stress due to stricter finances (NOS, 2019; ISO, 2019), it also seems appropriate to research if this reform affected students’ effort and motivation and satisfaction. The findings of this study are mainly in line with our expectations. This study finds that the 2015 reform positively affects reported effort and motivation. We also find a decrease in reported satisfaction, but this result is not statistically significant. The coefficients of the effects are small, and therefore there are no major effects visible on reported effort and motivation.Show less
This research examines the link between transparency and accountability, by adopting a Single Case-Study design. It studies how the Rijks ICT-dashboard, a transparency-platform listing all Dutch...Show moreThis research examines the link between transparency and accountability, by adopting a Single Case-Study design. It studies how the Rijks ICT-dashboard, a transparency-platform listing all Dutch governmental IT-projects that cost over 5 million Euros, affects and is affected by, the relationships that together make political accountability. Political, civil service and oversight interviews as a main source have been supplemented by examining parliamentary records. We conclude that the Rijks ICT-dashboard generally does not succeed in leading to more accountability. Members of Parliament lack the time and knowledge to structurally and actively monitor IT-based policy execution through using the Dashboard, rather depending on external ‘fire-alarms’ for their information, and as such tend to focus on failing IT-projects. When using the Dashboard’s data, MPs tend to question its validity and trustworthiness instead of using it to ask substantive questions. Civil servants fear failure-related consequences instigated by this incident-driven political debate, and tend to use a wide array of strategies to ‘dodge’ reporting on the Dashboard. This leads to a further distrust amongst both parties, and to MPs demanding more transparency out of principle, with little understanding of its practical and structural use. It can be expected that this leads to further dodging. As such, the Dashboard is a product of negative characteristics of the relationship of political accountability, and in turn further reinforces these characteristics. To mitigate this negative cycle, we advise a higher update-frequency, and a major shift in emphasis from quantitative to qualitative transparency on the Dashboard, focusing on linking IT-projects to the political debates, actively showing projects’ successes and societal value, and aiming to keep the barriers to use the information as low as possible.Show less
In the last few decades, Public Administration research has seen an increase of studies on relations at the centre of the executive in various systems. An important part of this is the question if,...Show moreIn the last few decades, Public Administration research has seen an increase of studies on relations at the centre of the executive in various systems. An important part of this is the question if, and in what way, Prime Ministers have seen an increase in their influence in government. This question also holds particular relevance in the context of European Union member states, as the European Council – the body consisting solely of heads of state and government – has seen an increase in relevance in European cooperation. Building on these ideas, this thesis discusses the influence of the Dutch Prime Minister on the Netherlands’s EU policy. Considering the Netherlands has a tradition of strongly decentralised government and strong departmental ministers, the question of increasing Prime Ministerial influence in EU affairs is of particular interest in this context. The thesis builds on the existing literature by examining how two individual Dutch Prime Ministers have shaped their roles in EU policy. To do so, it draws a comparison of the two most recent Prime Ministers – Jan Peter Balkenende and Mark Rutte. These Prime Ministers are compared using two sets of two case studies, in which they faced similar policy problems in EU policy. On one hand, both Balkenende and Rutte faced the rejection of proposed EU legislation in a national referendum (the European Constitution in 2005 and the Association Agreement with Ukraine in 2016, respectively), and on the other, both faced a significant financial crisis with a European component (the 2008 Banking Crisis and the Euro Crisis which started in 2010, respectively). This thesis finds that the two Prime Ministers took a very different approach regarding the Prime Minister’s role in EU policy. First of all, Balkenende was more reluctant to encroach on the policy areas of other ministers, while Rutte was involved in EU policy to a larger extent. Secondly, in terms of communication on EU policy, Balkenende often communicated broader visions on the EU, while Rutte clearly presented himself as a pragmatic problem-solver in EU policy. What this shows is that the role of the Dutch Prime Minister in EU is by no means developing in a linear way, but rather depends strongly on the actions and beliefs of the individual Prime Minister.Show less
This thesis looks at the relation between the number of embassies a country has abroad and the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment within the respective country. The analysis is based on a Fixed...Show moreThis thesis looks at the relation between the number of embassies a country has abroad and the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment within the respective country. The analysis is based on a Fixed Effects model with panel data from 169 countries collected from 2000 until 2020. There was no public dataset available for the number of embassies. As such, the data for this variable was manually calculated for every single country for every single year. In the analysis it becomes clear that the number of embassies is relevant and significant to determine the FDI inflow. However, the population and the proportion of internet users in a country prove to be more significant and contribute more to the model than the number of embassies. This thesis confirms results from previous research, namely that a broader diplomatic network has a positive effect on trade relations. Its rationale can be found in the new statistical aspects, since it uses a Fixed Effects model, rather than a gravitational model. Moreover, this incorporates both longitudinal and cross-sectional data, whereas previous research solely deployed longitudinal data of one country or cross-sectional data of one year.Show less
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a series of projects spearheaded by China, aiming to establish a global infrastructural network connecting China and Europe, among others. The EU faces the...Show moreThe Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a series of projects spearheaded by China, aiming to establish a global infrastructural network connecting China and Europe, among others. The EU faces the reality of an externally initiated attempt to integrate the Chinese and European economies, without being asked for permission. China’s strategy has been a bottom up approach, reaching out to individual EU-member states and their publics with ambitions for bilateral agreements and mutual cooperation. Meanwhile, frictions caused by perceived incompatible political differences have been a source of turbulence for Sino-EU relations for decades. The impact of the BRI on these relations remains obscure, warranting research efforts. This thesis asks specifically how the BRI affects EU foreign policy towards China, using the pathways of connection framework to make inferences. The framework, founded in realism, liberalism and constructivism, takes a relational and practitioner-centred approach. To gather data, explaining-outcome process tracing is employed as a method, trying to provide minimally sufficient evidence to explain the occurrence of the phenomenon under study. The study finds that the BRI affects the EU and EU foreign policy in a broad range of categories, as China rigorously pursues its foreign policy interests. It concludes that Chinese efforts are met negatively by the EU, who in return tries to fortify its defences to prevent the BRI from growing roots on the European continent.Show less
The European Union promotes quality of life and happiness among all EU-citizens. This aim is partly pursued through EU-funding for different countries. At the same time, there are rising levels of...Show moreThe European Union promotes quality of life and happiness among all EU-citizens. This aim is partly pursued through EU-funding for different countries. At the same time, there are rising levels of discontent among many EU-countries which raises doubts if the EU actually increases happiness. This paper focuses on the aspect of EU-funding and studies the effect of EU-funding on happiness through the research question: ‘What is the effect of EU-funding towards a country on happiness among EU-citizens?’. This paper is using panel data regressions with fixed effects from 2014 to 2020 over 27 different countries to find results. The results of this paper suggest that there is no general effect of EU-funding on happiness among all EU-countries as insufficient proof of an association is found. This paper does find an interesting result when testing EU-countries which joined the European Union before and from 2004 separately. Different parts of EU-funding have different effects on different EU-countries. For example, some parts of EU-funding have a positive association with countries which joined the European Union from 2004 and a negative association with countries which joined the European Union before 2004. This means that the differences between EU-countries change how their happiness is influenced by different drivers.Show less
In 2015, the Dutch government decided to continue the long standing AOW pension system in favor of a defined contributions pension plan. Employees who were dependent on the system to arrange for...Show moreIn 2015, the Dutch government decided to continue the long standing AOW pension system in favor of a defined contributions pension plan. Employees who were dependent on the system to arrange for their retirement found themselves in need to do it on their own. One key requirement to do so successfully is to be financially literate, which the majority of the population is not. With the existence of many mediums to choose from, financial literacy became widespread, but its effects were contested. This paper aims to measure the effect of financial literacy on the saving behavior of Dutch employee. We formulate an equation to compute the saving rate using the difference in yearly wealth and use a standard regression approach. Our study finds that increasing your stock of knowledge in indexation or risk mitigation by 1 unit leads to 40% increase in the saving rate. The results halve and double for males and females, respectively. Moreover, we find significant presence of the Life Cycle Hypothesis in some of our regressions. The only concept from previous formal and home education that remains significant is budgeting training, although its effect is negative.Show less
As a consequence of the energy crisis that followed the rapid post-pandemic recovery and the conflict in the Ukraine, many households faced increased energy bill. This led to an increased number of...Show moreAs a consequence of the energy crisis that followed the rapid post-pandemic recovery and the conflict in the Ukraine, many households faced increased energy bill. This led to an increased number of households to face energy poverty. With renewable energy sources being known for their relatively low cost, the promotion of a renewable energy industry could push down energy prices and reduce the financial pressure on households. This thesis seeks to explore what role the promotion of renewable energy has in de current energy crisis, or more specifically, this thesis seeks to answer the following research question: ““What role does the promotion of renewable energy, by means of green industrial policy, has in the energy crisis, and thus in the alleviation of energy poverty on household level?”. To answer this question, this thesis follows a grounded theory approach and analyses two cases; the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. To understand relation between policies on energy poverty and the promotion of renewable energy, a body of data was collected and analyzed consisting of expert interviews and documents. The results contribute to an understanding of how (green-) industrial policy could be used to actualize more locally oriented policy goals, such as poverty alleviation. This thesis found that the promotion of renewable energy does have the potential to contribute to energy poverty alleviation. However, due to the way in which the price of energy is set on the wholesale and the retail market for energy, this does not lead to any price reductions on the short term. Only major market reforms would allow consumers to benefit from the relatively low prices of renewables when fossil fuels are more expensive. This is why policymakers will be bound to more traditional ways of alleviating energy poverty. For example through financial compensation or through improving energy efficiency of residencies.Show less
