This master thesis delves into the impact of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis on the Dutch strategic culture using Tamir Libel's fourth-generation of strategic culture framework. The study focuses on the...Show moreThis master thesis delves into the impact of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis on the Dutch strategic culture using Tamir Libel's fourth-generation of strategic culture framework. The study focuses on the role of two subcultures, Atlanticism and Europeanism, in shaping the Dutch strategic culture and how they affected the country's response to the crisis. The research methodology employed in this study is document analysis, which involves analyzing official documents, policy statements, and public discourse related to the crisis to better understand the evolution of Dutch strategic culture and its implications for foreign policy decision-making. The analysis findings suggest that the 2014 Ukrainian crisis significantly impacted the Dutch strategic culture, leading to a shift towards a more Europeanist approach. The crisis has highlighted the need for increased cooperation and solidarity within Europe, strengthening the Europeanist subculture within the Dutch strategic culture. This shift towards a more Europeanist approach has important implications for the country's foreign policy decision-making, emphasising the importance of a collective European response to future crises. In conclusion, this thesis highlights the role of subcultures within the Dutch strategic culture and their impact on foreign policy decision-making during a crisis. It provides valuable insights into the evolution of the Dutch strategic culture and how the 2014 Ukrainian crisis has shaped it. The study's findings suggest that the crisis has led to a more Europeanist approach within the Dutch strategic culture, which has important implications for the country's future foreign policy decisions.Show less
The Syrian civil war caused an enormous refugee flow towards Europe, especially in the years 2015 and 2016. Although the Netherlands and Germany are strongly interconnected, their response to the...Show moreThe Syrian civil war caused an enormous refugee flow towards Europe, especially in the years 2015 and 2016. Although the Netherlands and Germany are strongly interconnected, their response to the refugee crisis differed. Germany accepted a lot more refugees than the Netherlands. To investigate where this difference could come from, this research has endeavoured to answer the question: To which extent can the difference of policy in the 2015 refugee crisis between Germany and The Netherlands be explained by Kingdon's stream model?. Kingdon (1995) recognized three flowing streams that, at the moment they come together, create a policy window in which policy can be implemented. Qualitative content analysis has been performed on newspaper articles containing specific terms, regarding the crisis, in Germany and the Netherlands in the years 2015 and 2016. On the basis of a code tree the articles were analysed to examine Kingdon's multiple stream theory and their role in policy implementation in the Netherlands and Germany. The countries did not differ on many concepts, but on some they did. The influence of international partnerships affected the political stream. The pressure from other countries turned out to be more on Germany than on the Netherlands. This pressure led to the opening of the German borders for refugees via Hungary. Kingdon's theory turned out to be suitable for the case analysis. Yet, the adaption of the theory to the time and location of the case was useful. This research focussed on German and Dutch articles, for which precise translations in the data collection are used. Nevertheless, the possibility of proverbial differences between languages can lead to disproportional data collection. For further research cooperation with German researcher could be a solution to perform further analysis.Show less
