This thesis focuses on the influence that media salience has on the state response towards foreign fighters. The agenda-setting function of the media is investigated in two case studies, the...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the influence that media salience has on the state response towards foreign fighters. The agenda-setting function of the media is investigated in two case studies, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The findings in this thesis indicate that often media salience and the state response co-vary, but that after peaks in media salience not always a stronger state response occurs and that not all increases in the state response occur after increased media salience.Show less
This thesis examines the relationship between democracy and domestic terrorism, relying on a within-case study of the democratization process of Greece in the 1970s. The central theoretical...Show moreThis thesis examines the relationship between democracy and domestic terrorism, relying on a within-case study of the democratization process of Greece in the 1970s. The central theoretical argument, which is claimed by Chenoweth (2007) is that terrorism occurs so often in democracies because of a competitive logic that drives interest groups to compete with one another using violence. This thesis attempted to strengthen this so-called 'theory of the competitive logic' by further specifying the exact causal mechanism by means of a case study. Overall, the analysis disconfirms and thereby challenges the hypothesized causal mechanisms. A main finding is that Greece's democratization process did result in outburst of domestic terrorist activity, but did not result in an outburst of social mobilization in general. The large corrupt and clientelist overbearing Greek state, combined with the omnipresence of a few strong political parties immediately halted the ‘political energies’ that naturally arose after the fall of the Greek junta. Based on this finding, this thesis claims that, at least in the Greek case, not democracy's commitment to pluralism, but rather a lack of pluralism led to the proliferation of domestic terrorism. Further qualitative research should be done to assess whether Greece is an exceptional case or whether the theory is supported in other cases that experienced democratic transitions in the 1970s, such as Portugal and Spain.Show less
This master thesis looks at the impact of participation in Social Networking Sites (SNSs) by voters on their voting decisions during the Dutch parliamentary elections in 2012. Both the use and...Show moreThis master thesis looks at the impact of participation in Social Networking Sites (SNSs) by voters on their voting decisions during the Dutch parliamentary elections in 2012. Both the use and activity on SNSs are compared with the decision to participate in the elections and the moment a voter had decided for a party and person. The quantative analysis of a survey among train travelers and SNS users showed interesting results, but could not support the hypotheses that increased use relates to increased electoral participation. On the other hand, SNS use showed a strong significant positive correlation with the delayed choice for a party and person. SNS activity showed a strong significant positive correlation with a delayed choice for a person only. But, in the presence of stronger influences with multiple control variables the significance of the correlation disappeared, while the coefficient still remained positive. Other political communication variables like traditional media and face-to-face discussions did not show significant relationships with delayed decisions. Some of these results are interesting because they suggest that the use of SNSs has a certain impact on the decision making process of citizens during elections. A more extensive research may reveil the impact on a wider scale and must focus on specific causes of the impact, like content and specific political communication.Show less
In recent years, there have been a number of journalistic accounts of an increase in the demonization of the working class in Britain, with people who claim state benefit payments apparently...Show moreIn recent years, there have been a number of journalistic accounts of an increase in the demonization of the working class in Britain, with people who claim state benefit payments apparently bearing the brunt of this media assault. This study aims to look into the effects that negative portrayals of those receiving government payments has on attitudes to government welfare policy. The theoretical framework for this piece is based on framing, specifically thematic, equivalency frames. In order to investigate this, an experiment was employed in which a sample of undergraduate students were presented with one of five versions of an article followed by a survey regarding welfare policy. This allowed a comparison between the answers given by participants that received different versions of the article. The results of this study are largely inconclusive, suggesting that framing effects are not present in a manipulation so subtle.Show less
Addressing a shortcoming in theories on the influence of emotion on political decision-making this thesis aims to explore the distinct effects of anger on voting behavior in the Netherlands. The...Show moreAddressing a shortcoming in theories on the influence of emotion on political decision-making this thesis aims to explore the distinct effects of anger on voting behavior in the Netherlands. The biological origin of emotion and its function in individuals and social interactions, specifically the influence on decision-making processes, are justification for including emotion in a model of vote choice. However, this inclusion should correspond with the biology and theoretical predictions of emotional effects. The most complete and authoritative model which includes emotion is the Theory of Affective Intelligence (AI). Because in the operationalization of anxiety fear and anger are combined, the theory is flawed in this respect. This is an important issue to address since it can have a significant impact on predictions from the model. Predictions that can be used to solve the ongoing debate on the personalization of Dutch politics by pointing to the different circumstances under which voters rely on different decision-making strategies. Using a a online survey to collect data, which included items on candidate traits, policy preferences and ideology, party attachments and background items, the hypotheses for the specific effects of anger were tested in a model based on logistic regression. The survey included a manipulation of the emotional state. Results show some distinct influences of anger and fear. Fear increases the relative weight candidate traits in a vote-choice, whereas anger increases the weight of ideological distance and policy preferences. Furthermore, party-attachments are weak and knowledge seems to have no effect.Show less
This study focused on the extent to which British political parties made pledges and policies for youth in their 2010 election manifestos to motivate them to vote and the extent to which these...Show moreThis study focused on the extent to which British political parties made pledges and policies for youth in their 2010 election manifestos to motivate them to vote and the extent to which these policies were subsequently reflected in the news to enable the youth to be informed of the policies that are relevant for them. Previous literature has argued that political parties are to blame for low youth voter turnout but these arguments were based on survey studies among young people and no research had been conducted on the actual policies parties make for youth. Content analysis was carried out on the election manifestos of the three biggest parties in the UK and news articles by three online news sources to determine the attention given to young people. The results showed that very few pledges were made specifically for young people in the manifestos but that news media did report about these pledges fairly often. It was concluded that the political parties offer young people very little motivation to vote, but also that the media does inform youth about the policies that are relevant for them. These results lend support to the claim in the literature that youth are often marginalised in policy discourse and youth voter abstention could, to some extent, be a result of the reluctance of political parties to sufficiently address youth issues.Show less
The purpose of this research is to analyse and test EU border policy instruments designed to ensure refugee protection. While scholars have discussed the securitization of EU border policies and...Show moreThe purpose of this research is to analyse and test EU border policy instruments designed to ensure refugee protection. While scholars have discussed the securitization of EU border policies and the negative consequences of this for the protection of refugees, a systematic examination of the instruments designed to ensure refugee protection is still missing. I posit that the EU’s border policy instruments reflect a near-sighted attitude. Analyzing the instruments aimed at ensuring refugee protection, not only provides an insight into the weaknesses and strengths of each policy instrument, it will also show legislative gaps which allow EU member states to act in accordance with their national interest rather than EU border policy. Using data from policy papers, evaluation reports, and newspapers I outline the objectives and legal foundations of the instruments. I will then apply them to the case of the Arab Spring to test whether these instruments have lived up to their foundational objectives. The results suggest that the instruments of EU border policy were too weak to protect refugees.Show less