Though numerous studies have explored the plausible relationship between welfare regimes’ socioeconomic characteristics and citizens’ attitudes toward the welfare state (Svallfors, 1997; Arts &...Show moreThough numerous studies have explored the plausible relationship between welfare regimes’ socioeconomic characteristics and citizens’ attitudes toward the welfare state (Svallfors, 1997; Arts & Gelissen, 2001; Ervasti et al., 2012), there is limited research on attitudes toward the impact of the welfare state on the economy (Kumlin et al., 2021). This thesis, therefore, aims to contribute to this growing literature by exploring the conditioning (through a socialization mechanism) of welfare regimes’ socioeconomic characteristics into citizens’ normative attitudes. Moreover, the thesis aims to answer an interesting paradox depicted in preliminary observations of the data from the European Social Surveys (ESS): Citizens from European countries under a more generous welfare state perceived the welfare state as imposing less strain on the economy than citizens from European countries under a less generous welfare state. Facilitated by multilevel regressions, the results highlight that the welfare regime’s socioeconomic characteristics, measured as total social expenditure and mediated by citizens’ level of welfare support, condition citizens’ attitudes towards welfare economic costs. As such, the paradox is explained by identifying significantly higher citizen support of the welfare state in more generous countries, which allows for the normalization (through a socialization mechanism) of higher welfare costs into (relatively) lower perceived levels over time and into an accepted and supported status quo in society. Furthermore, significant differences in citizens’ perceptions of welfare economic costs among welfare regimes are identified, in line with welfare regime typology (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Ferrera, 1996). Lastly, further research is recommended to investigate plausible explanators for intergenerational differences concerning citizens’ perceptions of welfare economic costs.Show less
Literature on the effect of campaign spending by political parties mainly focuses on the US context. This thesis attempts to examine the effect of campaign spending by political parties on...Show moreLiterature on the effect of campaign spending by political parties mainly focuses on the US context. This thesis attempts to examine the effect of campaign spending by political parties on proportional systems in Western Europe, with a case study of the Netherlands. The Netherlands was chosen because of its proportional system and high electoral volatility and effective number of electoral parties compared to other Western European countries. This allows the effects of campaign spending to be more apparent relative to other Western European countries (Bekkouche et al., 2022; McAllister, 2002). This thesis focuses on campaign spending by Dutch political parties during national elections from 1998 to 2021. The results section indicates that higher campaign spending by political parties results in greater electoral gain compared to the polls two months before election day. Additionally, this thesis provides indications that campaign spending has a differentiated effect depending on the size of the party. However, it is important to interpret these findings with caution due to data collection limitations.Show less
In deze thesis staat de vraag centraal wat het relatieve belang is van de factoren geslacht, leeftijd, ervaring, partijervaring, het lokale karakter van de partij en de noodzakelijkheid van de...Show moreIn deze thesis staat de vraag centraal wat het relatieve belang is van de factoren geslacht, leeftijd, ervaring, partijervaring, het lokale karakter van de partij en de noodzakelijkheid van de partij voor een coalitiemeerderheid op de kans op voortijdig aftreden van wethouders om politieke redenen. Door middel van een logistische regressieanalyse is per variabele berekend wat de kans is dat wethouders wegens politieke redenen voortijdig besluiten af te treden. Uit de resultaten van deze analyse is gebleken dat de factor leeftijd als enige een significant effect had, waarbij een hogere leeftijd een hoger risico geeft op het voortijdig stoppen van wethouders. De overig geanalyseerde factoren hadden geen significant effect. Uit deze thesis kan geconcludeerd worden dat leeftijd een relevante factor is voor het voortijdig stoppen van wethouders. Ten tweede blijkt uit deze thesis dat er meer onderzoek moet worden gedaan naar verklaringen voor het voortijdig stoppen van wethouders wegens politieke redenen. Een voorstel is om deze verklaringen te zoeken in de ideologische verschillen tussen coalitiepartners.Show less
