This thesis aims to understand the impact of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis on the parliamentary discourse in the Netherlands and Greece. It does so by drawing on Triandafyllidou’s (2018) work on...Show moreThis thesis aims to understand the impact of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis on the parliamentary discourse in the Netherlands and Greece. It does so by drawing on Triandafyllidou’s (2018) work on media and political discourse, which proposed an important distinction between three discursive frames developed in response to the refugee crisis: 1) a moralizing frame; 2) a security frame; and 3) a rationalizing frame. The goal is to trace these frames in Dutch and Greek parliamentary debates, as parliaments have not received much attention in the academic debate. The analysis covers transcripts of plenary sessions in parliamentary debates between August 2015 and April 2016. Following the work of Triandafyllidou (2018), the key hypothesis is that the longer a refugee crisis lasts, the more parliamentary debates become dominated by a rationalizing frame, regardless of how affected countries are by refugee inflows. The findings identify that no particular frame dominated the parliamentary debates, indicating that political parties remained stable on the left-right dimension. Thus, against the expectations from the literature on the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, the thesis demonstrates that the refugee crisis did not impact the political discourse in EU member states.Show less
This thesis examines the communications of the four largest Dutch opposition parties SP, PvdA, GroenLinks and PVV throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to emergency legislation and an increase in...Show moreThis thesis examines the communications of the four largest Dutch opposition parties SP, PvdA, GroenLinks and PVV throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to emergency legislation and an increase in public support for the executive government, opposition parties were sidelined during the pandemic. The aim of this thesis is to examine how these four opposition parties, together forming the biggest opposing force to the cabinet, responded to their marginalised position. This is done through analysing their communication towards the public, as communicative means are an essential tool for political parties to connect with the public. The case study on the four largest opposition parties is conducted through a Critical discourse analysis. Based upon Norman Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach, text, discourse, and social context of the opposition parties’ communications is analysed. The finding of this research is that during the crisis, the opposition parties communicatively defended their democratic function. This started when they learned that their initial response has not been effective, as they were sidelined and the cabinet’s Covid-19 response failed. They brought their own democratic functioning to the forefront in an attempt to convince the public that they can provide valid alternatives to the cabinet’s failing Covid-19 response.Show less
Party systems in contemporary democracies have underwent profound changes in the last decades. The emergence of far-right parties is only one of the many factors determining our modern political...Show moreParty systems in contemporary democracies have underwent profound changes in the last decades. The emergence of far-right parties is only one of the many factors determining our modern political systems. However, we can also see a further radicalisation of these parties combined with a simultaneous attempt to uphold a ‘civil’ image. This thesis aims to explain this development by looking at the role of the ideological movement of the New Right and its influence on far-right parties. For this, a case study in Germany shall be conducted. The presence of New Right ideology in far-right parties will be identified via frame analysis and the connections between the two explored through process tracing. Through this analysis the presence of New Right frames in far-right party ideologies was found and the importance of personal connections between the New Right and the aforementioned parties stated. The analysis contributes to the understanding of developments in our party system and aims to explain part of the reason why far-right parties radicalise themselves.Show less
