The refugee crisis which engulfed Europe in the period between 2015 and 2017 sparked the proliferation of securitising discourse targeting migrants across the European Union. Whist plenty of...Show moreThe refugee crisis which engulfed Europe in the period between 2015 and 2017 sparked the proliferation of securitising discourse targeting migrants across the European Union. Whist plenty of scholarly ink has been dedicated to the study of the securitising rhetoric emanating from political representatives of individual EU member states, little attention has been paid to that of the heads of key EU institutions. To fill this gap, I have chosen to examine the President of the European Council’s securitisation of migrants by conducting a discourse analysis on 120 of his speeches, press remarks and interviews that occurred in the years between 2015 and 2017. Having coded this large body of data, I have been able to establish that Tusk systematically securitised migrants by presenting them as existential threats in relation to the Schengen Agreement, public order and security, as well as European values and subsequently calling for policies to regulate their entry into the EU. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the manner in which asylum-seekers are securitised differs to that of ‘irregular’ migrants, in ways that have not been extensively covered in securitisation literature thus far.Show less
The UN, as a prime global norm entrepreneur, has launched countless efforts to spread its norm on women’s political participation globally. Whether this norm is accepted and implemented on the...Show moreThe UN, as a prime global norm entrepreneur, has launched countless efforts to spread its norm on women’s political participation globally. Whether this norm is accepted and implemented on the ground, depends on local contexts. Using Acharya’s (2004) framework of norm localization, it becomes clear that the prevailing traditional and patriarchal norms prevent the substantive participation of women in politics in both India and Indonesia. In India, instances of norm localization have taken place due to the potential for framing, grafting and reconstruction of traditional family norms. The norm of women’s political participation has been reconstructed to fit into the pre-existing familial structures. In Indonesia, no such localization has taken place. Strong religious and cultural norms, and the absence of frameworks for reconstruction, prevent norm localization. Instead, evidence points towards norm resistance. Even though instances of norm localization have taken place only in India, this has not led to a substantial change in the level of norm implementation between the countries. In both India and Indonesia, the norm is accepted on paper, but in reality, the traditional social norms prevent the full and equal participation of women in the political realm.Show less
This thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the...Show moreThis thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the four largest grain traders in the world lobby the Food and Agriculture Organization to promote market-based policies for global food security. I find substantial evidence for four strategies: multi-stakeholder fora, corporate-FAO partnerships, lobbying national governments, and revolving door practices. The four strategies help agribusinesses be involved in decision-making, increase their market and structural power, and promote the private sector as a legitimate and essential actor in the regime’s governance. The findings fit within a neo-Gramscian framework and can be interpreted as strategies used by the transnational capitalist class to support the transnationalization of social relations of production and the promotion of the neoliberal world order.Show less
International relations theory has greatly overlooked the importance of the vitality of international organisations and its variations. If organisations are not moving toward completing their...Show moreInternational relations theory has greatly overlooked the importance of the vitality of international organisations and its variations. If organisations are not moving toward completing their mandate, they cannot serve the purposes institutionalist theory ascribes to them. Mercosur, an economic integration process with the end goal of becoming a common market, is perceived by public opinion as a dormant organisation. Nevertheless, its activity in the last two decades seems to indicate that it is venturing into a new, non-economic agenda, although this has not been officially mandated to it. This thesis argues that, although Mercosur’s economic goals are currently stagnated, it has become a platform for its member states to further other socio-political interests, which has injected new vitality into the organisation. The approach of this thesis highlights the importance of institutional design in general for the subsequent performance of IOs and institutional flexibility in the scope of issues in particular, as a valuable theoretical framework to understand renewed vitality in international organisations.Show less
Dit onderzoek gaat over de rechtstreekse invloed van de ideologische positie van oppositiepartijen op de manier van oppositie voeren in Nederland tussen 2002 en 2012. In de literatuur is er...Show moreDit onderzoek gaat over de rechtstreekse invloed van de ideologische positie van oppositiepartijen op de manier van oppositie voeren in Nederland tussen 2002 en 2012. In de literatuur is er aandacht voor de getrapte invloed van ideologische positie, maar de rechtstreekse invloed van de ideologische positie op oppositiegedrag blijft onderbelicht. Bij een rechtstreekse invloed van de ideologische positie is er sprake van een direct verband tussen de ideologische positie en het oppositiegedrag. Bij getrapte invloed wordt daarentegen gekeken naar andere factoren die een rol spelen binnen de relatie tussen ideologische positie en oppositiegedrag. De ideologische afstand tussen de oppositiepartijen en de regering of de regeringservaring van een partij is hiervan een voorbeeld. Met andere woorden: bij rechtstreekse invloed is er een duidelijke en directe relatie tussen de ideologie van een oppositiepartij en de manier waarop deze oppositie voert, terwijl bij getrapte invloed andere factoren van invloed zijn op de manier van oppositie voeren. Vanwege het gebrek aan onderzoek naar de rechtstreekse invloed van de ideologische positie, is dit een verkennend onderzoek. In dit onderzoek wordt de GAL/TAN schaal gebruikt voor de ideologische positionering van de oppositiepartijen. Deze schaal kan worden gezien als de progressieve/conservatieve of sociaal-culturele dimensie van het politieke spectrum. Verwacht wordt dat oppositiepartijen die rechts (TAN) zijn op de GAL/TAN schaal voor een actievere manier van oppositie voeren kiezen dan partijen die links (GAL) zijn op de GAL/TAN schaal. TAN-partijen zijn immers voor een grotere overheid die een morele autoriteit is op het gebied van sociaal-culturele vraagstukken; een actievere manier van oppositie voeren kan daarom worden gezien als een uiting van de ideologie van TAN-partijen. Ook wordt verwacht dat partijen met een extreme ideologische positie kritischer oppositie voeren dan partijen met een ideologie in of rond het centrum. Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat TAN-oppositiepartijen inderdaad constructiever oppositie voeren dan GAL-partijen. Daarbij is er geen significant verschil gevonden in het oppositiegedrag tussen partijen met een extreme ideologische positie en partijen met een gematigde ideologische positie.Show less
International climate finance (ICF) is part of a broader climate justice movement, which is concerned with the tension that while the developed states in the Global North pollute the most, the...Show moreInternational climate finance (ICF) is part of a broader climate justice movement, which is concerned with the tension that while the developed states in the Global North pollute the most, the developing states in the Global South have to bear the consequences. ICF not only aims at reducing emissions, but mostly focuses on reducing the vulnerability of populations in developing states, through financial transfers from the Global North to the Global South. Climate justice movements insist on bottom-up policymaking, whereby power is handed back to non-state actors (NSAs) from the Global South. While the role of NSAs in international climate policies has been researched, their role in the specific finance programmes has been largely overlooked up until now. This paper therefore tries to contribute to the field through researching what role NSAs play in the design, implementation and evaluation of ICF programmes. This is done on the basis of content analysis of four of the United Nation’s climate financing programmes as part of its Green Climate Fund (GCF). This research concludes that the role of communities is only limited in the design and implementation stage, but much more present in the evaluation stage. The projects still have a very top-down focus and the involvement of the communities is hampered because of cultural and practical reasons. Strict objectives help to formalise the involvement of communities. While models of democratic pluralism and functionalism are already in place, a neocorporatist model could help the GCF to overcome difficulties in involving NSAs and to make their policies more effective and legitimate.Show less
De Kamervoorzitter is een onderbelichte schakel in het onderzoek naar de strijd om aandacht in het parlement. Het is onduidelijk welke drijfveren ten grondslag liggen aan het handelen van de...Show moreDe Kamervoorzitter is een onderbelichte schakel in het onderzoek naar de strijd om aandacht in het parlement. Het is onduidelijk welke drijfveren ten grondslag liggen aan het handelen van de Kamervoorzitter in de praktijk. De onderzoeksvraag is daarom of het gedrag van de Kamervoorzitter het best kan worden verklaard door de logic of appriopiateness of de logic of consequences. Een nieuwe dataset van ingediende mondelinge vragen maakt het mogelijk om een analyse te doen van de keuzes die de Kamervoorzitter maakt voorafgaand aan het wekelijkse Vragenuurtje. Door middel van spreidingsgrafieken en een binomiale regressieanalyse van 1422 mondelinge vragen probeert het model te voorspellen wat de doorslaggevende factoren zijn tijdens deze selectie. De regressieanalyse geeft geen doorslaggevende resultaten losse vragen, maar de spreidingsgrafieken laten zien dat de geselecteerde vragen sterk overeenkomen met de ingediende vragen. Hieruit kan je opmaken dat Voorzitter een neutrale rol inneemt en zich zo boven de partijen plaatst, zoals wordt verwacht vanuit de profielschets. De logic of appriopiateness lijkt daarom de voornaamste drijfveer in de keuzes van de Nederlandse Kamervoorzitter. Wel staat door veranderende omstandigheden in het parlement, zoals versplintering en toenemend gebruik van parlementaire instrumenten, de neutraliteit van de Kamervoorzitter in toenemende mate onder druk.Show less
Terrorism has been a highly salient issue in Europe for the past decades and is treated as an immediate threat to the states and citizens. This study focuses on the 2015-2019 terrorism wave and...Show moreTerrorism has been a highly salient issue in Europe for the past decades and is treated as an immediate threat to the states and citizens. This study focuses on the 2015-2019 terrorism wave and seeks to identify why states with similar characteristics respond differently to a common threat; through a comparative analysis of the cases of France and the United Kingdom. A securitization framework is applied to examine what ultimately leads to the variation of the actions in the two cases. The expectation is that intense securitization leads to a militaristic response, while low securitization levels lead to a criminal justice approach. The empirical analysis lends support to this argument; however, this study finds it possible that other explanatory factors might be interrelated to the proposed mechanism, influencing the result. This thesis, uses a framework of analysis that links the aspects of security and terrorism and endeavors to further contribute to the study of these topics.Show less
This study is an effort to extrapolate the patterns that exist in parliamentary voting in the Dutch Parliament. It investigates what party- and vote characteristics influence the divisions between...Show moreThis study is an effort to extrapolate the patterns that exist in parliamentary voting in the Dutch Parliament. It investigates what party- and vote characteristics influence the divisions between coalition and opposition and between left and right that exist in parliamentary voting. Using a triadic model on all recorded votes in the 2017-2021 parliamentary term, this study finds that the proposing actor, proposal type, and proposal subject are relevant predictors of the division that will come about in a parliamentary vote. Specifically, this study provides evidence for three points. Firstly, amendments, bills, and budgets are found to have a stronger left-right division than motions, which have a more dominant coalition-opposition split. Secondly, proposals from opposition parties are found to have a stronger coalition- opposition division than proposals from the government or coalition. Thirdly, contrary to theoretical expectations, this study only finds very limited effect of topical ideological distance on votes pertaining to said topic. The effect is only significant for proposals on economics and environment. This study contributes to the literature by using an extensive dataset and an innovative triadic method. In doing so, this study has attempted to further understanding of parliamentary behaviour based on coalition- and opposition membership and ideology in the Dutch Parliament.Show less
Placed in the broader literature of states’ foreign policy behavior this research addresses a so far understudied question, namely what explains Germany’s acknowledgment of its colonial crimes...Show morePlaced in the broader literature of states’ foreign policy behavior this research addresses a so far understudied question, namely what explains Germany’s acknowledgment of its colonial crimes committed in today’s Namibia during the Ovaherero and Nama rebellion between 1904 and 1908. Observing a general reluctance of European states to reconcile with the colonial past and looking at the therefore somewhat surprising German-Namibian case, I propose two possible causal mechanisms based on liberal theory and rhetorical entrapment to account for this rare policy outcome. According to the liberal theory mechanism, I expect former colonial powers to acknowledge colonial crimes if domestic interests change state preferences towards reconciliation with the colonial past. According to the rhetorical entrapment approach, I expect former colonial powers to acknowledge colonial crimes if political costs increase due to the strategic use of rhetorical entrapment by domestic and international actors. This is an explanatory single case study employing process tracing and using data from party publications, government and interest groups’ public statements, and parliamentary debate. I find support for both hypotheses and show that the mechanisms interacted with each other illustrating important implications for other cases of German colonial violence and reconciliation processes of other European states.Show less
Framing a societal issue as a matter of national security is a powerful motivator that, when used strategically, can elicit unprecedented outcomes. Recently, the EU adopted a novel regulation aimed...Show moreFraming a societal issue as a matter of national security is a powerful motivator that, when used strategically, can elicit unprecedented outcomes. Recently, the EU adopted a novel regulation aimed at establishing rules upon one of the most unrestrained areas: online platforms. The adoption of the Digital Services Act, marked a shift within two of the most regarded values in democratic societies: freedom and security, leaning heavily towards the latter due to the restrictive notions that are now being promoted upon a previously unregulated realm. This situation leads to wonder, how does the EU justify the tradeoff between freedom and security? Through a discourse analysis methodology, that studied the preeminence of a securitizing discourse, versus two other rival frames: Novelty, understood as seeking to hold a first mover advantage at regulating a sector and Equity, as a yearning to promote EU values through regulation, it was found that the negotiation process of the DSA showed strong indications of a securitizing discourse, which frames the adverse effects of online platforms as a matter of national security. This leads to conclude that EU policymakers securitized the discourse around online platforms to succeed where others failed at regulating the internet.Show less
Ever since various IPCC reports have shown the impact and consequences of human action on the climate, an increasing number of policymakers start to realize the urgency of altering the way humans...Show moreEver since various IPCC reports have shown the impact and consequences of human action on the climate, an increasing number of policymakers start to realize the urgency of altering the way humans deal with it. Consequently, climate policies have emerged in the European political realm aimed at mitigating climate change. However, Europe has seen a recent rise of farmer protest movements that oppose these climate policies. Often labelled as being ‘anti-climate’, these protest movements seem to have deeper underlying causes. Policy perception impacts the way citizens react, which should be considered during the implementation of policy. This thesis analyses the cases of Germany and the Netherlands with interview data of various protest groups elites and experts. It argues that when citizens feel that climate policies are unfair, exclusive, untrustworthy and their financial costs are perceived as high, protest movements will arise and intensify. In addition, results show that perceived sociocultural costs are most important for protest movement emergence and intensification. Policymakers should deal with these perceptions adequately if they want to implement climate policies effectively.Show less
This research explores the potential impact of EU election observation missions on the quality of elections, through the diffusion of democratic standards. The analysis is based on a single-case...Show moreThis research explores the potential impact of EU election observation missions on the quality of elections, through the diffusion of democratic standards. The analysis is based on a single-case study of the Kenyan elections building on diverse data including reports and interviews, applied in the process tracing method. Building on socialization theory and norm diffusion, I hypothesize that election observation has an impact on election quality, through the diffusion of democratic values. The Kenyan legal framework meets international obligations requiring elections to be “accountable and transparent”. But the tumultuous history of election violence highlighted fundamental issues and systematic problems that must be addressed. The findings show that there is a relevant added value to the presence of EU EOM, within different phases of the election cycle. The implementation of the EU EOM recommendations plays a key role in understanding the contribution of election observation to improve election quality. EU EOMs are found to be effective in deterring fraud and corruption, as election observation contributes to pressuring government officials to respect the electoral law. In the Kenyan case, the implementation of recommendations contributed to the mitigation of election-related violence, and the promotion of the stakeholders' confidence in the electoral process.Show less
How are external factors able to cause conflict in a country? Scholars have examined the spatial component of conflict largely through the lens of conflict diffusion, where conflict spread from one...Show moreHow are external factors able to cause conflict in a country? Scholars have examined the spatial component of conflict largely through the lens of conflict diffusion, where conflict spread from one country to another. They have failed however, to examine the influence of one-sided violence on conflict in other countries. This is a major gap as one-sided violence does not necessarily mean conflict is occurring, meaning studies on the direct spread of conflict between countries fail to cover these cases. I fill this gap by asking: does the use of one-sided violence raise the likelihood of conflict onset in neighbouring countries? I argue that one-sided violence influences conflict onset in three ways, each via incoming refugee flows. First, refugees might have grievances that they are unable to express via traditional ways, increasing the likelihood that they may turn to violence. Second, refugees may change the ethnic composition of the host country, with the new ethnic balance causing or worsening ethnic tensions. Third, refugees may worsen the economic situation in the host country by competing with the local population, increasing local political tensions. I will study this by analyzing UCDP data on armed conflict and one-sided violence in neighboring countries. The results show that one-sided violence in neighbouring countries has a positive, significant effect on conflict onset. Countries that border countries experiencing one-sided violence have a higher likelihood of conflict occurring. The effect of refugees on conflict onset is shown to be positive and significant as well.Show less
This thesis aims to contribute to understanding how a competitive authoritarian leader manages to increase popular support in a situation where an electoral democracy experiences democratic...Show moreThis thesis aims to contribute to understanding how a competitive authoritarian leader manages to increase popular support in a situation where an electoral democracy experiences democratic backsliding. After the failed coup attempt on 15 July 2016 in Turkey, Erdogan put the constitution aside and launched a new model for governing the state with decree laws under the state of emergency. However, Erdogan won the elections held in the following years by increasing his vote share, although he had explicitly turned into a repressive, authoritarian leader. In this study, I investigated how Erdogan strengthened his popular support in the elections held after 2016, despite his authoritarian turn and the deterioration of the socio-economic structure of the state. I focused on the manipulations carried out by the incumbents in the elections held after 2016 and tested whether these manipulations affected the election results in favour of Erdogan. I conducted a content analysis using the qualitative research method to explore this. Ultimately, I argue that the analysis of the data collected for this study provides strong evidence that election manipulations may have significant effects on the election results in favour of Erdogan.Show less
