The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the discussion about the grounds for the right to citizenship and to whom this applies. The focus here is on the postcolonial migrant, for this is the...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to contribute to the discussion about the grounds for the right to citizenship and to whom this applies. The focus here is on the postcolonial migrant, for this is the logical first step in acknowledging differences and inequalities within societies. Through analyzing the relationship between the postcolonial migrant and the former ruling nation I claim that the postcolonial migrant has a legitimate moral claim to citizenship in the former colonizing nation, the ‘motherland’. The legitimacy of this claim stems from grievances, an intertwined relationship and gratitude. Which together form the base of a new ground for the right to citizenship, which I propose to call jus paribus. This right to citizenship is a dormant right which should be given to first- and second-generation postcolonial migrants. By granting these generations a path to citizenship former colonizing nations can begin repaying their historical wrongs.Show less
Political corruption is a more or less universal phenomenon, but occurs much more frequently in some places than in others. This variation has been attributed to a range of factors on which...Show morePolitical corruption is a more or less universal phenomenon, but occurs much more frequently in some places than in others. This variation has been attributed to a range of factors on which countries perform either poorly or well. Yet, political corruption also occurs in countries that seem to perform well on most known indicators. As this has been an object of little scholarly attention, it remains largely unclear how we can explain the occurrence of political corruption in ‘unlikely places’; countries where such corruption is theoretically least likely to occur. This study explores the contours of an explanation by investigating a particular case in-depth: the case of Jos van Rey. The results suggest four potential explanations, that range from conceptual issues to the possibility that political corruption in unlikely places is to some extent unique, and driven by a distinct set of factors.Show less
This thesis aims to explain why the de facto authorities of the non-recognised state of Transnistria use multiple strategies in their desire to achieve internal and external legitimacy by engaging...Show moreThis thesis aims to explain why the de facto authorities of the non-recognised state of Transnistria use multiple strategies in their desire to achieve internal and external legitimacy by engaging in nation-building and state-building. These strategies consist of one or more policies with a specific aim, and an argumentation of why the state, and by extension its regime, ought to be recognised. These arguments are remedial secession, historical statehood and earned sovereignty. Using Qualitative Content Analysis to analyse scholarly articles, government statements and local news outlets published between 1989 and 2019, I inductively build up a typology that distinguishes between four distinct strategies: strategies that aim to strengthen external legitimacy by appealing to the wishes of the international community, those that aim to strengthen internal legitimacy by appealing to the needs of the population, and those that aim to do both or neither. The typology also accounts for the prevalence of certain policies in one of the four distinguished periods of the de facto state’s existence. I provide three interconnecting explanations of why certain strategies prevail over others in different time periods. Firstly, strengthening internal and external legitimacy are different goals and therefore require a different strategy. Constrained by limited resources, the nation-builders have to prioritise these strategies. Secondly, ever-changing domestic and international geopolitical and socio-economic developments determine which policies and arguments will be effective. Lastly, strategies do not exist in isolation to each other, but are built upon by more refined arguments and renewed policies.Show less
This thesis explores collective action problems in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the post-Soviet era. Collective action theory does not have plain explanations for the fact that...Show moreThis thesis explores collective action problems in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the post-Soviet era. Collective action theory does not have plain explanations for the fact that NATO is still operating. As long as member states invest in the alliance in terms of financial contributions and by participating in operations, NATO is likely to persist. By focusing on the case of the Netherlands, the study addresses a state’s incentives for contributing to NATO-led out-of-area operations. More specifically, this thesis has selected Kosovo Force, Resolute Support, and NATO Mission Iraq to analyze why the Netherlands has participated in NATO missions. Through a content analysis of letters in which the government justifies its decision for participating in these missions, the study can collect, categorize, and interpret the arguments of the Dutch government. Following the theories of institutionalism and constructivism, this research argues that the Netherlands has contributed to NATO-led out-of-area operations because it strived to sustain the institutional assets of NATO and to promote liberal-democratic values.Show less
The study of the successful negotiation of Global Public Goods (GPGs) can enlighten scholars across political economy, political science, public administration as well as international relations....Show moreThe study of the successful negotiation of Global Public Goods (GPGs) can enlighten scholars across political economy, political science, public administration as well as international relations. The 20 yearlong Mercosur-EU trade negotiations which culminated in an agreement between the South American and European trade blocs in 2019 provides an example of a successful GPG negotiation against the unique backdrop of an agreement between two transnational organisations. Whilst there is no set view on what the factor that makes GPG negotiations successful, a focus on the fairness and justice consideration is increasingly recognised. The thesis takes this fairness and justice consideration as its guiding framework in assessing the success of the Mercosur-EU GPG negotiations. Given the two stages of the negotiation, the first from 2000-2004 which ended unsuccessfully, and the second 2010-2019 which ended successfully, this thesis compares both stages through a process tracing exploring whether fairness and justice play a larger role in the second stage and evaluating its contribution to the successful signing of the agreement. Developing its own framework based around four key concepts: Fair Treatment, Fair Play, Extending the Notion of Reciprocity and Going Beyond Narrow Self-Interest, the two stages are compared and evaluated. Whilst the main focus centres on fairness and justice, other confounding factors such as the leadership shown from certain states in driving forward the negotiations is also acknowledged.Show less
Australia has struggled for the past 20 years to maintain a single climate policy. This thesis seeks to identify the ways the Australian Liberal party has been successful in preventing progressive...Show moreAustralia has struggled for the past 20 years to maintain a single climate policy. This thesis seeks to identify the ways the Australian Liberal party has been successful in preventing progressive climate policy. More broadly, this thesis asks how does conservative party ideology play a role in the development of climate policy? Previous literature has provided examples of the Liberal party successfully preventing climate policy; however, there is little literature that conducts a longitudinal case study focusing on party ideology. This thesis attempts to fill that void by comparing the Abbott (September 2013 - September 2015) and Morrison (August 2018 – Current) governments to find evidence that party ideology transcends a single administration and that the Australian Liberal party has been successful though various administrations in preventing strong climate policy. By applying the theory of anti-reflexivity, this thesis will observe the ways conservative governments have created doubt and uncertainty regarding the science of climate change. This will be done by utilizing a discourse analysis to explore primary sources such as party manifestos and legislative documents.Show less
The overall aim of this thesis is to better understand the role of International Financial Institutions in achieving economic development. The problem statement therefore focuses on the appropriate...Show moreThe overall aim of this thesis is to better understand the role of International Financial Institutions in achieving economic development. The problem statement therefore focuses on the appropriate governance approach for international financial support to ultimately achieve sustainable economic development. To assess the problem statement the case of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the Tunisian context will be analysed. The lens that will be used to perform the analysis will mainly compose of literature on Global Public Goods and Commons. The case study will be established through policy papers, academic literature, opinion papers and primary data retrieved from a questionnaire on the Tunisian public opinion concerning the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. On this basis, the hypothesis stating that a bottom-up approach leads to more sustainable economic development will be tested. The analysis shows that the current Global Public Goods approach to International Financial Institutions does not result in sustainable economic development. A Commons approach would probably have better results, but it is difficult to establish such a bottom-up approach in practice. However, theoretically it can be concluded that a bottom-up approach will lead to more sustainable economic development.Show less
Not much is known about MP’s after they leave parliament. This study analyses the development of patterns in post-parliamentary employment in The Netherlands between 1967 and 2017. With 999 MP’s...Show moreNot much is known about MP’s after they leave parliament. This study analyses the development of patterns in post-parliamentary employment in The Netherlands between 1967 and 2017. With 999 MP’s coded, this is the most extensive study into post-parliamentary careers up to date and a first inquiry into a development over time. The study argues – and finds – that the function of parliament is increasingly used as a steppingstone for a further career as MP’s are increasingly making a move towards more attractive careers, either within or outside the political domain. Besides such dynamic changes, this study shows that MP’s from traditionally stronger and governing parties have a distinctive advantage for gaining a more attractive post parliamentary career while MP’s from anti-establishment parties have a distinctive disadvantage. Even when there is controlled for the background career of a MP. Finally, this study has tried to establish a link between the patterns of post-parliamentary employment and parliamentary behaviour for the first time. However, the results indicate that such a connection, if it is even present, is relatively weak.Show less
Despite the obvious disadvantages of coalitions with many partners, apparent already in the formation process, electorates in established democracies have been witnessing coalitions with many...Show moreDespite the obvious disadvantages of coalitions with many partners, apparent already in the formation process, electorates in established democracies have been witnessing coalitions with many partners throughout the years. In many studies on coalition governments however, coalitions are often treated as black boxes. In this quantitative study, I examine whether there is a linear relationship between the number of parties in coalition and the ability of the electorate to identify the party positions of the coalition partners. Through the use of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) and the ParlGov.org dataset, I created a dataset with 70 coalitions in twenty established democracies between 1996 and 2017. I used the standard deviation of the score on the left-right dimension assigned by the electorates to government parties as a proxy for disagreement among voters. Only a rather inconsistent relationship between the predictor variable and the dependent variable was found.Show less
De parlementaire arena wordt door volksvertegenwoordigers gebruikt om zich te electoraal te profileren. Aan de hand van de Ierse Health Act 2018 wordt in deze studie onderzocht in hoeverre...Show moreDe parlementaire arena wordt door volksvertegenwoordigers gebruikt om zich te electoraal te profileren. Aan de hand van de Ierse Health Act 2018 wordt in deze studie onderzocht in hoeverre electorale stabiliteit een voorspeller is van individuele standpuntbepaling bij abortuskwesties. Met behulp van een innovatieve rubriekmethode worden de speeches van 45 Ierse parlementariërs geanalyseerd, op basis waarvan vastgesteld wordt dat er slechts een beperkt verband waarneembaar is tussen electorale kwetsbaarheid en de mate waarin TD’s uitgesproken standpunten verwoorden. Geconstateerd wordt dat kiezersopvattingen niet noodzakelijkerwijs leidend zijn voor de standpuntbepaling van electoraal kwetsbare parlementariërs. Naarmate hun districten minder eenduidig gestemd hebben bij het abortusreferendum in 2018, kiezen zij er vaker voor om überhaupt geen eigen standpunt in te nemen over de abortuskwestie.Show less
While it has been well established that political dissatisfaction is related to voting for populist parties, we know less about what specifically this dissatisfaction has to do with the functioning...Show moreWhile it has been well established that political dissatisfaction is related to voting for populist parties, we know less about what specifically this dissatisfaction has to do with the functioning of democracy. This question of the relationship between how democracy is perceived to function and party preferences has attracted certain attention in established democracies, but almost none in post-communist East-Central European countries. To fill this gap, I ask (1) what aspects of dissatisfaction with democracy are related to voting for populist parties in this region and (2) to what extent dissatisfaction drives support for populist parties. The study employs European Social Survey 2012 and includes 6 East-Central European countries. I run a comparative quantitative study on the demand side and compare populist parties’ voters to non-populist voters and abstainers. Results suggest that support for democratic protest voting model is very country-specific, and that overall patterns with regards to the suggested model are hardly identified in post-communist democracies.Show less
Over recent decades, independent (non-party) candidates have become the largest political grouping in Irish politics. Within this grouping, one subsection that seems to dominate are the...Show moreOver recent decades, independent (non-party) candidates have become the largest political grouping in Irish politics. Within this grouping, one subsection that seems to dominate are the independents who have previously been party candidates, a.k.a. ex-party independents. The electoral system in Ireland has a big role to play in this. While in most electoral systems, leaving a political party (and not joining another) usually signals the end of one’s career, this is not necessarily the case in PR-STV systems, where ex-party independents can survive and sometimes even thrive outside of the party system. In the elections following their departure, these candidates can win large amounts of votes and transfers, with a significant number of those coming from their ex-party. This paper examines the relationships between ex-party independents and their former parties, focusing on the transfers that these candidate receives from that party. Furthermore, it aims to add to the study of ex-party independent candidates in Ireland, focusing on issues like electability, career longevity, origin parties, etc. and compares the performance of ex-party independents with those of other independent candidates.Show less
While many voters hold economically left-wing and culturally conservative views, there are few parties in Western Europe which represent this combination of views. This paper addresses recent...Show moreWhile many voters hold economically left-wing and culturally conservative views, there are few parties in Western Europe which represent this combination of views. This paper addresses recent developments in this situation. Comparing data from 2006 with that from 2017 in nine Western European countries, this paper finds that while social democratic parties have, if anything, become more progressive, a number of radical left parties have adopted more conservative positions on the sociocultural dimension. Furthermore, radical right parties have moved substantially left on the economic dimension, making them more "left-conservative" now than they were in 2006, although few are positioned inside the left-conservative quadrant. These findings are relevant in addressing the theoretical puzzle and challenge to representative democracy.Show less
Populism is by many considered as anti-pluralist and therefore as directly opposed to liberal democratic principles. The populist defence of the people, allegedly unified in their will, seems to be...Show morePopulism is by many considered as anti-pluralist and therefore as directly opposed to liberal democratic principles. The populist defence of the people, allegedly unified in their will, seems to be inherently at odds with the liberal democratic core value of pluralism aimed at politically embedding various interests. In this thesis, I question whether populism is necessarily opposed to liberal democratic pluralism. I build on the assumption that the populist logic is highly adaptive and can appear in combination with an extensive range of ideologies. Therefore, in contrast to the ‘populism is anti-pluralism’ view, populism can be ideologically in favour of pluralism and the populist defence of a collective will can rest on the demands of a heterogeneously constructed people. Even though such a form of left populism is still considered anti-pluralist by some, I argue it is not logically opposed to liberal democratic pluralism.Show less
More than twenty years ago, Fearon (1994; 1997) has argued that democracies are more likely to successfully compel a target state than nondemocracies. However, empirical evidence suggests that this...Show moreMore than twenty years ago, Fearon (1994; 1997) has argued that democracies are more likely to successfully compel a target state than nondemocracies. However, empirical evidence suggests that this is not the case (Snyder & Borghard, 2011; Trachtenberg, 2012; Downes & Sechser, 2012; Sechser, 2018, 335). Consequently, a new understanding of the relationship between regime type and compellence outcomes is needed (Gartzke & Lupu, 2012). I argue that democratic leaders have more incentives to keep the costs of conflict low. Consequently, they will want to prevent disputes from escalating. Hence, they are more likely to not mobilise their troops or to mobilise air troops during a conflict. These options have a lower risk of escalating the conflict than the mobilisation of land or naval troops (Pfundstein Chamberlain, 2016; Post, 2019a). By choosing the careful option, democratic leaders will not be perceived as resolved by the target state (Fearon, 1994; Fearon, 1997; Pfundstein Chamberlain, 2016; Post, 2019a). As a result, compellent threats issued by democracies will have a lower chance to be successful in comparison to threats issued by nondemocracies. I have tested this hypothesis by the Militarised Compellent Threat (MCT) database (Sechser, 2011b).Show less
