Deze paper beschrijft de het proces van vrouwenbesnijdenis bestrijding in Mali, Mauritanië en Somalië. Hierbij is ook gekeken in hoeverre deze regimes gevoelig zijn voor druk van binnenlandse en...Show moreDeze paper beschrijft de het proces van vrouwenbesnijdenis bestrijding in Mali, Mauritanië en Somalië. Hierbij is ook gekeken in hoeverre deze regimes gevoelig zijn voor druk van binnenlandse en transnationale organisaties tijdens de bestrijding van vrouwenbesnijdenis.Show less
The purpose of this thesis is to explore and test whether framing climate change as a security issue impacts the way non-state actors can participate in national and global climate change...Show moreThe purpose of this thesis is to explore and test whether framing climate change as a security issue impacts the way non-state actors can participate in national and global climate change policymaking. While it has been argued, in general terms, that securitizing an issue creates a state-centric security response, it has yet been untested to what extent this impacts environmental NGOs and civil society in climate change policymaking. After an analysis of the discourse on climate change over the past decade, I posit that since 2007 we have seen and will continue to see an increase of environmental NGOs indirectly excluded from climate change decision-making processes by states. This thesis, therefore, contends that climate change should be de-securitized and approached with a multidimensional climate change framework, incorporating a green theoretical standpoint. Drawing from an extensive questionnaire and two case-studies, I evaluate the role of non-state actors in climate change policymaking. The results suggest that the more climate change is framed as a security issue, the more non-state actors are indirectly excluded from climate change policymaking.Show less
Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
open access
In 2001, the killing of a young Kabyle student in Algeria sparked Berber anti-Arab protests in Algeria and France, marking decades of intermittent conflict positing Berber identity against the Arab...Show moreIn 2001, the killing of a young Kabyle student in Algeria sparked Berber anti-Arab protests in Algeria and France, marking decades of intermittent conflict positing Berber identity against the Arab-Islamic policies of the Algerian state. Explanations for a growing Berber movement and the resulting conflict point to historical categorical divisions of “Berber” and “Arab” in colonialism and cultural groups. This thesis challenges the historical consistency of these explanations and examines how identity is constructed; it asks how this categorization of “Berbers” and “Arabs” has mobilized a Berber identity movement. Instead of linking this movement to a legacy of “Berber” against “Arab,” this thesis aims to show that the Berber identity movement as understood today is a relatively recent phenomenon. The following analysis develops two main arguments to support this claim: First, a historical discourse analysis of four periods shows that the category “Berber” has served different functions in different contexts. Second, the analysis develops a genealogy of “Berber” to present an alternative understanding for how categorization has shaped Berber identity, arguing that this movement is better understood as a product of interacting national discourses based on exclusive concepts of membership. These arguments are developed using insights from securitization theory to model identity formation, conceptualizing “Berber” as a term used with a purpose that produces a context dependent effect.Show less
Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
open access
Trans-boundary rivers are shared by multiple sovereign states, creating conflicting demands on the river’s resources and further complicating already difficult political legacies. This combination...Show moreTrans-boundary rivers are shared by multiple sovereign states, creating conflicting demands on the river’s resources and further complicating already difficult political legacies. This combination hinders cooperation over the communal resource and makes trans-boundary river basins areas of conflict. To resolve such conflicts, the involvement of a third party mediator with the capabilities to offer incentives to reluctant riparians, coupled with the creation of a management institution to address conflicts as they arise, offers the best means of addressing both the short term issues of getting states to agree to a cooperative arrangement for the river and the long term commitment problems that would lead states to renege on the agreement. This thesis will explore the utility of the combined short and long-term approach to mediate trans-boundary river conflicts by examining the mediation and resolution of the Indus River conflict between India and Pakistan. The lessons learned are then used to investigate the unresolved conflict between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq over the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and offer ways of managing the conflict.Show less
In een steeds sterker geglobaliseerde wereld worden mensen beïnvloed door de gevolgen van besluiten die staten waarvan zij geen onderdeel uitmaken, nemen. In deze scriptie wordt een poging gedaan...Show moreIn een steeds sterker geglobaliseerde wereld worden mensen beïnvloed door de gevolgen van besluiten die staten waarvan zij geen onderdeel uitmaken, nemen. In deze scriptie wordt een poging gedaan een manier te vinden om ons handelen en de consequenties daarvan te rechtvaardigen tegenover degenen die geen onderdeel van onze staat uitmaken.Show less
This thesis assesses how Direct Democracy influences Political Tolerance. It focuses on five Western democracies, i.e. Australia, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and New Zealand. While the original...Show moreThis thesis assesses how Direct Democracy influences Political Tolerance. It focuses on five Western democracies, i.e. Australia, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and New Zealand. While the original hypothesis that Political Tolerance is more likely in more direct democracies due to a learning effect could not be confirmed, it reveals that the issues at hand appear to be much more complex. The findings indicate that, given the issues voted on are not too diverse, respondents living in more direct democracies are more likely to allow their least-liked group to hold public office. This might indeed be due to a greater likelihood of being exposed to democratic norms, by having alternative channels to resolve conflict and by having the option to exercise a certain control over what is decided at system-level.Show less
Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
closed access
The crisis in Darfur is one of the world’s most significant conflicts. In the last decades, frequent drought and increasing demographic pressures are part of the forces that have pushed the region...Show moreThe crisis in Darfur is one of the world’s most significant conflicts. In the last decades, frequent drought and increasing demographic pressures are part of the forces that have pushed the region into a spiral of violence leading to a major humanitarian disaster. According to the Environmental Degradation and Conflict in Darfur Report (2009), carried out by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), Darfur illustrates the linkage between poverty, environmental degradation and conflict. However, Darfur cannot be understood merely as a conflict over resources. It is also driven by governmental deficiencies and purposeful mismanagement. The purpose of this paper is therefore to contribute to the study of the role of environmental resources in conflicts and in particular, their contribution toward the perpetuation of violence. Under what conditions does resource scarcity contribute to the perpetuation of violence?Show less
Using the Schwartz’ value module of the European Social Survey, the development of value priority within the Netherlands was explored between 2002 and 2010, also the relation between value priority...Show moreUsing the Schwartz’ value module of the European Social Survey, the development of value priority within the Netherlands was explored between 2002 and 2010, also the relation between value priority and the attitude towards immigration was tested. The value priority within Dutch society proved to be fairly stable over time and underlined the assumptions of the current theory on human values. Unexpected was a decline in priority for values promoting Conservation and am increase in priority for values promoted by Openness to Change from 2002 on. This is attributed to events in 2001 and 2002, both in the Netherlands and abroad, which probably temporarily increased the importance of Conservation values. Also the development for the value priority of specific antecedents of individual value priority was assessed. In nearly all cases the development of the value priority followed the pattern of the general sample. The relation between the attitude on immigration and value priority proved to be constant in all rounds of the ESS, but appears to be different from earlier studies. The conflict line between values that support or oppose immigration is situated in the middle of the circular value model, dividing the Conservation higher order value type plus power and benevolence and the Openness to Change higher order value type plus achievement and universalism.Show less
In dit onderzoek wordt ingegaan op de mate van congruentie van preferenties tussen de kiezer en het parlement ten aanzien van postmaterialisme. In de Nederlandse parlementaire democratie kan...Show moreIn dit onderzoek wordt ingegaan op de mate van congruentie van preferenties tussen de kiezer en het parlement ten aanzien van postmaterialisme. In de Nederlandse parlementaire democratie kan vertegenwoordiging worden bezien vanuit verscheidene dimensies. De mate van congruentie op de postmaterialistische dimensie wordt onderzocht aan de hand van de dimensionaliteit in het politieke spectrum, partijpolitieke waarden, sociologische factoren en institutionele factoren. De daadwerkelijke resultaten komen tot stand door kiezersonderzoek te vergelijken met standpunten in de Algemene Beschouwingen van de jaren '80 tot het begin van het nieuwe millennium. Dergelijk onderzoek naar congruentie is niet eerder uitgevoerd met betrekking tot postmaterialisme.Show less
In dit artikel wordt onderzocht of Rawls zijn rechtvaardigheidsprincipes uit A Theory of Justice toepast op de familie, en zo gender gelijkheid bevordert. Ik beargumenteer dat Rawls zijn principes...Show moreIn dit artikel wordt onderzocht of Rawls zijn rechtvaardigheidsprincipes uit A Theory of Justice toepast op de familie, en zo gender gelijkheid bevordert. Ik beargumenteer dat Rawls zijn principes niet toepast op de familie. De familie creëert een dilemma in de theorie van Political Liberalism. Om het reasonable pluralism van Political Liberalism te handhaven ziet Rawls af om zijn rechtvaardigheidstheorie toe te passen op de familie.Show less
