Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
open access
In recent years, rising concerns about the spread of fake-news and misinformation across liberal democracies have gained academic prominence, particularly in light of the January 6th Insurrection...Show moreIn recent years, rising concerns about the spread of fake-news and misinformation across liberal democracies have gained academic prominence, particularly in light of the January 6th Insurrection and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a seldom explored aspect is whether people’s lack of responsiveness to facts, or fact-insensitivity, has disparate effects across electoral systems. To fill this gap, I build on Stephanopoulos’s (2014) alignment approach of democracy to empirically test whether fact-insensitiveness exacerbates misalignment effects across majoritarian, proportional, or mixed electoral systems. Methodologically, I conduct a Large-N analysis to test the strength of the relationship between the degree of fact-insensitiveness and electoral alignment in lower house constituencies in 16 democracies (N=2722). Additionally, I bound the scope of inference by taking into account cultural and psychological proximity in the country selection process (Schulz, Bahrami-Rad, J. P. Beauchamp, et al. 2019; Muthukrishna et al. 2020). To evaluate this, I employ a dataset that combines original vaccination data with existing data on COVID-19 disorder events, and electoral outcomes. The results show that electoral systems have significantly different electoral outcomes in terms of alignment, however, there are no statistically significant differences among them with regards of fact-insensitivity. In turn, this denies any normative gains or losses when selecting an electoral system in contexts of varying degrees of fact-insensitiveness.Show less
Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
open access
In which ways has EU enlargement been framed in national parliamentary debates? And what positions do actors take on enlargement? And finally, do partisan dynamics explain these positions and...Show moreIn which ways has EU enlargement been framed in national parliamentary debates? And what positions do actors take on enlargement? And finally, do partisan dynamics explain these positions and frames? This thesis provides an assessment of the debate on enlargement in the Dutch national parliament between 2004 and 2020. It aims to build upon research on the nationalisation of the enlargement policy. Are the positions of national governments similar to those of parliamentary actors? Empirically, this thesis shows that enlargement in debates has lost salience over time and that mostly positions have become more negative. In terms of framing, the debates in the Netherlands are characterised by a strong focus on pragmatic frames. Both these positions can be explained by strategical considerations; a party in government tends to emphasise pragmatic frames more so. Moreover, the cultural axis of partisan dynamics explains that more conservative parties are generally more critical of enlargement.Show less
Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
open access
In 2006 Puar defined homonationalism as a form of nationalism that utilizes gay rights to exclude (Muslim minorities). This thesis analyzes the development of Dutch homonationalism from 1990-2002....Show moreIn 2006 Puar defined homonationalism as a form of nationalism that utilizes gay rights to exclude (Muslim minorities). This thesis analyzes the development of Dutch homonationalism from 1990-2002. It finds that the origins and development of homonationalism are rarely discussed. Only research by Bram Mellink focused on the origins of Dutch homonationalism between 1980 and 1990. By analyzing the selected period, this research tries to bridge the gap between the origins of Dutch homonationalism and the full fledged Dutch homonationalism that can be found in the 21st century. It applies a framework that is grounded in established theories and understandings of homonationalism, to reflect on the theoretical foundations of homonationalism and their historical applicability. This paper finds that utilizing homonationalism and its manifestations as they were defined by Puar is in fact ahistorical. Consequently, under the chosen theoretical framework homonationalism is rarely found. Therefore, this research identifies a developing form of homonationalism: proto-homonationalism. To support further research, it establishes a new framework to analyze this proto-homonationalism. The findings of this research thus establish the weaknesses of applying homonationalist theory to historical periods and provide an alternative that allows for a deeper theoretical as well as historical understanding of homonationalism throughout time.Show less
Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
open access
The European Union is one of the main actors actively promoting democratic progress in Georgia. It is widely believed that the EU's democracy promotion in Georgia has been inextricably linked to...Show moreThe European Union is one of the main actors actively promoting democratic progress in Georgia. It is widely believed that the EU's democracy promotion in Georgia has been inextricably linked to one of its key foreign policy instruments, namely, the democratic conditionality. In recent years, the EU has been able to induce several transformative democratic reforms in Georgia by tying them to big "carrots", such as the signing of the Association Agreement (AA) encompassing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) and the Visa Liberalisation process. Considering that Georgia had never received an official EU membership perspective when the country achieved this crucial milestone, experts questioned whether the EU could induce transformative democratic changes in this Black Sea region country and how. Specifically, the strategies, instruments or tools that the EU might employ to push essential democratic reforms adoption and implementation became a point of contention. This thesis attempts to address this debate by answering the following research question: How does the EU attempt to induce democratic reforms in Georgia without conditionality in place? The thesis is based on two case studies within a single case study on Georgia. The first case is related to the EU-promoted anti-discrimination law's adoption and implementation, and the second case study covers the EU-brokered March 8 Agreement encompassing a comprehensive electoral system reform in Georgia. In both cases, the EU appears to play a critical role, albeit through different mechanisms and tools at its disposal. The thesis attempts to provide a reader with a nuanced analysis of the EU's perceived role in the above-mentioned transformative democratic reforms' adoption and implementation in Georgia. The author employs the following qualitative methods for the offered case studies: a qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews with experts and elites. The thesis aims to contribute to the scholarly literature on EU-Georgian relations.Show less
Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
open access
Female political representation differs significantly between countries. Patriarchal structures and gender biases that hinder women's representation are pervasive and can be identified in seemingly...Show moreFemale political representation differs significantly between countries. Patriarchal structures and gender biases that hinder women's representation are pervasive and can be identified in seemingly progressive governments, challenging claims of increased gender equality in the global North. This thesis explores the differences in female political representation in parliament between two popularly deemed progressive European countries: the Netherlands and Finland. It does so by adopting a novel approach and engaging with the top-down personal perspective of politicians within parliament. Using semi-structured elite interviews, this thesis focuses on the causes for the gap in female political representation between these countries while also discussing what the interviewees envision as possible improvements. The parliamentarians provided unique insights into how gender stereotypes, gatekeeping, and unpaid care work determine the level of women's political representation. The results indicate that female parliamentarians, next to having more role models, centred childcare and parental leave at the core of the policies to address the disparity in female representation between the Netherlands and Finland and increase female political representation overall. This thesis thus contributes to gender and political studies.Show less
Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
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This master thesis answers the research question “what is the French perception of Poland's strategic potential?”, and it is analysed within the period 2015-2021. This master thesis consists of six...Show moreThis master thesis answers the research question “what is the French perception of Poland's strategic potential?”, and it is analysed within the period 2015-2021. This master thesis consists of six chapters. The first one is introduction, when the next one is literature review. The third chapter is research methodology. Two next chapters are analytical and based on conducted qualitative content analysis. The first of them (chapter four) is about contemporary Polish-French international relations, and the next one (chapter five) about French perception of the strategic potential of Poland. The last chapter includes conclusions. This thesis is part of a broad academic debate about how Western Europe perceives Eastern, based on the example of Polish-French relations. One of the supporting research questions concerns whether this division is still valid in contemporary European relations. The qualitative content analysis carried out indicates that it is not a decisive factor, similar to ideological differences between the governments of Poland and France. In addition, this master thesis emphasizes the importance of perception in international relations, but also indicates its variability, depending on both external and internal conditions.Show less
Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
open access
This thesis aims to understand the reasons behind the increase in the duration of government formation negotiations in Western Europe. It argues that there is a gap in the existing scholarship on...Show moreThis thesis aims to understand the reasons behind the increase in the duration of government formation negotiations in Western Europe. It argues that there is a gap in the existing scholarship on this issue. On the one hand, scholars have noted that party systems in the region have undergone profound changes over the last decades, and particularly since the 2008 financial crisis. On the other, the effect this has had on the duration of government formation has not been as thoroughly researched. In order to explain this phenomenon, this thesis expands upon the survival analysis literature, by means of applying recent innovations to the Cox proportional hazards model, such as the Cox with Expected Durations package (Kropko & Harden, 2017, 2020). All in all, the results show that longer government formation processes can be attributed to two main phenomena: the rise in parliamentary fragmentation, and the rise in less stable legislative types as per the typology outlined by Laver and Benoit (2015). The findings of this thesis thus contribute to a better understanding of this crucial development in the Western European political landscape, which has wider implications for the stability of Western European democracies as a whole.Show less
