This paper is to illuminate the social significance of positional goods and to assess the desirability of equality of these goods. I begin with a characterization of strict and moderate...Show moreThis paper is to illuminate the social significance of positional goods and to assess the desirability of equality of these goods. I begin with a characterization of strict and moderate egalitarianism and their implications about equality; and I discuss the leveling down principle as well as its objection. Further, I turn to the issue of positionality and non-positionality; define positional goods; clarify the distinction between positional goods with non-positional aspect and non-positional goods with positional aspect; and demonstrate what a notable case equality (and leveling down) of positional goods is in the field of political philosophy and economics. I then proceed to an elaborate discussion about the desirability of equality of positional goods. I conclude that equality of these goods is not desirable and defend this claim on three egalitarian grounds: (1) non-positionality; (2) social growth; and (3) fair competition.Show less
This paper looks at several voting power indices based upon the Banzhaf power index that take into account the ideology of voters. It then applies these indices to a voting body that is divided...Show moreThis paper looks at several voting power indices based upon the Banzhaf power index that take into account the ideology of voters. It then applies these indices to a voting body that is divided ideologically, the European Parliament. The modified power indices tend to reduce the voting power of party groups in extreme ideological positions, to the benefit of the median party group.Show less
In this thesis I have defended the claim that a state which is neutral about the different conceptions of the good in society, cannot guarantee the personal autonomy of its citizens.
This research tries to scrutinize the influence of pro-migration interest group arguments towards the immigration policy of the European Union. As a case study the influence of different kinds of...Show moreThis research tries to scrutinize the influence of pro-migration interest group arguments towards the immigration policy of the European Union. As a case study the influence of different kinds of arguments of pro-migration interest groups used as an answer on a public consultation about the Common European Asylum System in 2007 is chosen to investigate. Via a documentary analyses the influence between human rights-based arguments and cost arguments were tried measured. This was not possible, because the pro-migration interest groups almost only made human rights-based arguments. There is though evidence found that suggest that the Commission copied mainly recommendations that were in line with the aims that the Commission stated in the Green Paper. This seems to suggest that the Green Paper is an agenda-setting power tool that diminishes the amount of influence that pro-migration interest groups can have on the European immigration policy.Show less
Regional integration is on the political agenda in all parts of the world. During the time of post-colonial development and liberation struggles, Southern Africa saw its share of attempts at closer...Show moreRegional integration is on the political agenda in all parts of the world. During the time of post-colonial development and liberation struggles, Southern Africa saw its share of attempts at closer economic and political ties between states within the region. Today, the dominant regional organization in Southern Africa is the Southern African Development Community. Many regional organizations in the developing world, including SADC, explicitly state that a large part of the regional integration project is towards a goal of attracting an increase in foreign direct investment. The ability to attract FDI is based on various factors; covering many of these is the combined level of perceived political risk. Economic and political instability, social unrest, ethnic and military conflict, corruption in government, the threat of expropriation and breaches of contract; political risk is a multi-faceted concept. The thesis identifies what types of political risks are prevalent in the Southern African region. The research focus addresses what SADC as a regional actor has contributed towards lowering the levels of political risk in specific countries and parts of the region. The thesis demonstrates that as theoretical assumptions and empirical evidence argue that regional integration is positive for the ability to attract FDI, Southern African countries face many obstacles on the way towards a fully integrated economic community. Meanwhile, the prospects for peace and security in the region are better at present than twenty years ago. The establishment and maintenance of legal, security and financial frameworks that would add to securing the interests of both the foreign investors and the host country and government are often lacking. Furthermore, the implementation of regional institutions have been hampered by various factors, including the member states’ own interests and a general unwillingness towards ceding sovereignty to transnational institutions . The role of South Africa as a regional hegemon and key policy-maker within SADC is discussed in order to further examine the regional dynamics in Southern Africa.Show less
This study aim at providing an answer to the core research question “What is the role of Twitter in the conduct of public diplomacy in The Netherlands?” On the basis of qualitative interviews with...Show moreThis study aim at providing an answer to the core research question “What is the role of Twitter in the conduct of public diplomacy in The Netherlands?” On the basis of qualitative interviews with foreign diplomats and experts on public diplomacy in The Netherlands, it was discovered that they use Twitter as a tool for providing the local communities with information about the advocated countries and their foreign policies. The foreign officials also employ Twitter to address certain members of the Dutch general public, attract their attention to specific topics and engage in discussions with them to enhance their perceptions of the represented states. The conducted content analysis of the Tweets posted by diplomats from the Embassy of Ecuador, the Embassy of Poland, the Embassy of Sweden, and the Embassy of the USA to the Netherlands also demonstrated that they post direct Tweets and personal messages concerning important topics to engage with the foreign publics. However, it is also found that only a small number of them use the language of the local community members, namely Dutch, to disseminate information about their foreign policies. Some of the interviewees explained that they translate only content that is relevant to the Dutch audiences in Dutch. Nevertheless, to engage in more debates with the local communities and enhance their understanding and image of the represented countries, it is recommended that foreign diplomats should provide all messages on Twitter in the language of the host state. Thus, they can use it as an effective tool for accomplishing their public diplomacy goals.Show less
There are a number of entities such as Abkhazia, Taiwan, Somaliland, East Timor, to name a few, that are all secessionist de facto independent states. However, they are treated differently by the...Show moreThere are a number of entities such as Abkhazia, Taiwan, Somaliland, East Timor, to name a few, that are all secessionist de facto independent states. However, they are treated differently by the international community, and external recognition was only granted for East Timor. As long as the pattern behind the selective recognition of new states is unclear and while ongoing secessionist conflicts persist around the world, this thesis aims to answer the following question: what are the main factors behind the external recognition of newly created states? In other words, why are some secessionist states externally recognized while others are not? It is argued here that there is not one specific factor that leads to external recognition; rather, there is a set of factors that together explain selective recognition of secessionist states. In order to answer the research question and to define this set of factors qualitative comparative analysis is used in this work.Show less
Trust in political parties is declining and with it the relevance of parties, or so the de-alignment hypothesis claims. Using data from recent World Values Surveys, this paper provides evidence...Show moreTrust in political parties is declining and with it the relevance of parties, or so the de-alignment hypothesis claims. Using data from recent World Values Surveys, this paper provides evidence that the assumption is rather problematic. Longitudinal data shows that confidence is neither increasing nor declining but languishing at high levels. Additionally, cross-sectional data from the 2005-2008 WVS was analyzed using statistical tests at the individual and country level. The results demonstrate that one important factor increasing distrust is electoral disproportionality. Regime durability, interpersonal trust, and perceived democraticness reduce such sentiments. Corruption perception notably has no effect on individual respondents but decreases distrust on the national level. The results pose the question whether distrust is a reason for concern or just a phenomenon natural to representative democracy.Show less
Do we have a moral right to privacy? If so, what do we mean by it? Notions of privacy and the right thereof are highly contested issues in contemporary liberal philosophy. According to the greatest...Show moreDo we have a moral right to privacy? If so, what do we mean by it? Notions of privacy and the right thereof are highly contested issues in contemporary liberal philosophy. According to the greatest critic of privacy theory, Judith Thomson, there is no such thing as a fundamental right to privacy. Violations of privacy can be dealt with without reference to the right to privacy, she claims. This thesis provides arguments against her short-sided view on privacy, including arguments from William Parent. He advocates a minimalist conception of the right to privacy, centered around the notion of personal information. The modern conception of privacy, formulated in this thesis, continues on the work of Thomson and Parent, thereby refining some elements of Parent’s theory of informational privacy.Show less
The democratic legitimacy of Dutch municipalities has been under stress. Decreasing voter turnouts in municipal elections questions the democratic credentials of municipalities. Even council...Show moreThe democratic legitimacy of Dutch municipalities has been under stress. Decreasing voter turnouts in municipal elections questions the democratic credentials of municipalities. Even council members question the strength of the councils to hold their executives accountable. The perceived need to strengthen local democracies has also come forth by clearly separating the functions of the executive and the municipal council or by decentralising responsibilities to municipalities. This thesis is written to show if the council members are capable of holding the executive accountable. This is done by comparing different circumstances and how these affect the degree in which council members vote along the lines of coalition and opposition. Three cases were used for this, namely The Hague, Strijen and Zoeterwoude. The results show that council members show similar voting patters compared to Dutch members of parliament. While unanimous votes occur often, it can also be seen that local opposition parties are equally capable of holding the executive accountable compared to the national opposition parties.Show less
This thesis compares the use of frames in newspaper articles and parliamentary documents with regard to privacy related events. The objectives are to clarify framing dynamics between Dutch media...Show moreThis thesis compares the use of frames in newspaper articles and parliamentary documents with regard to privacy related events. The objectives are to clarify framing dynamics between Dutch media and parliament, as well as to answer privacy-issue specific questions with regard to framing. Based on two major events demarcating the research period – i.e., the 2001 World Trade Center attacks and Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations mid 2013 – it is hypothesized that the way state authorities are framed changes over time from ensuring security towards violating privacy. Furthermore it is hypothesized that changes in privacy frames correspond between similar events and differ between distinct clusters of events. Finally, the ‘who-follows-who question’ is treated by means of a ‘lead/lag’ model that compares framing overlap between newspaper articles and parliamentary documents. The data used to achieve both objectives are acquired by coding two Dutch national newspapers (Telegraaf and Volkskrant) and written questions from Dutch parliament for the period between January 1999 and March 2014. Researching this particular period enables to assess the expected dynamics between both arenas between above mentioned landslide events. The data suggest that the expected changes in the way state authorities are frames is absent. The ‘lead/lag model suggests that on average media are leading parliament with regard to framing privacy related events. The data furthermore suggests no over-time shift in influence from one arena to the other. Unfortunately, the lead/lag model, as well as the long-term frame dynamics, provides only rough indicators for answering the research questions and assessing the set hypotheses. Therefore, the provided insights are only tentative and ask for further research, so as to deepen understanding about privacy frames and framing dynamics between media and parliament even further.Show less
This study examines the organization and funding of the election campaigns of independent local parties in the Netherlands. Due to their representation in the national parliament, Dutch national...Show moreThis study examines the organization and funding of the election campaigns of independent local parties in the Netherlands. Due to their representation in the national parliament, Dutch national parties receive public subsidy. As such, they are able to transfer funds to their local divisions in the municipalities across the country, in order to finance their party activities including election campaigns. Independent local parties, however, do not qualify for these funds, since they are not represented in the Dutch legislature. How, then, do independent local parties fund and organize their election campaigns? Based on a survey amongst more than 300 respondents, the most important campaign activities, most common expenditures and the most common sources of income could be identified. The most common methods of campaigning include placing campaign boards and posters throughout the municipality, participating in election debates, flyer actions, publishing the election program on the party’s website, performing local radio or television shows, advertising in local or regional newspapers and enhancing familiarity by using Facebook. The most parties have spent their money on campaign boards and posters, advertisements and flyer actions, while the most money per party is spent on advertisement, canvassing and other expenditures. On the revenue side, the most parties received their money for the campaign budget from council member contributions, membership fees and private member donations, while the highest amounts of money per party were received from council member contributions, aldermen contributions and other income sources. It is also found that the number of party members, the municipality size, the number of council members and the number of aldermen on the one hand, and the size of the campaign budget on the other hand are positively correlated. Their explanatory value on the organization of the election campaigns, however, is low, just as the influence of the party type. While about 45 percent of the respondents thinks public funding of their election campaigns is necessary, a larger proportion of them thinks public funding would be a desirable development. The key argument is that almost all respondent want a level playing field when it comes to regulations on private donations and public party funding. The results of this study show that proponents and opponents of public party funding both think that independent local parties and national parties should be treated the same in this regard.Show less
This thesis reviews some of the main arguments of the right or not to pornography in order to defend that censoring pornography would bring many negative consequences for women and minorities. The...Show moreThis thesis reviews some of the main arguments of the right or not to pornography in order to defend that censoring pornography would bring many negative consequences for women and minorities. The thesis will argue that a ban on pornography would make women and minorities more exposed to exploitation, would ignore other forms of hatred towards women in media, would threaten women's autonomy over their bodies, and would neglect the possibility of educating towards consensual values through pornography. Moreover, this thesis also advances that promoting female participation in the production of pornography and ensuring minimal working conditions for sex works could avoid many of the exploitation there is in mainstream pornography.Show less
