Executive master thesis | International Relations and Diplomacy (MSc)
open access
This study employs descriptive statistics and Difference-in-Differences (DID) analysis from 1990 to 2022 to investigate the impact of minimum wage policies on women's labor force participation...Show moreThis study employs descriptive statistics and Difference-in-Differences (DID) analysis from 1990 to 2022 to investigate the impact of minimum wage policies on women's labor force participation rates in the European Union (EU). The findings suggest that increases in the minimum wage have a modest but statistically significant positive effect on women's economic activity. Additionally, the analysis indicates that this impact varies depending on national socioeconomic conditions and existing labor market structures. While minimum wage policy alone cannot fully address gender inequality in the labor market, it can be a valuable tool for promoting women's workforce participation, particularly among low-income earners. This research fills a critical gap in the literature and informs policy discussions aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 5.Show less
Executive master thesis | International Relations and Diplomacy (MSc)
open access
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Europe (and beyond) has adopted its foreign policy which meant for many countries providing military support to Ukraine and/ or agreeing to...Show moreFollowing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Europe (and beyond) has adopted its foreign policy which meant for many countries providing military support to Ukraine and/ or agreeing to harsh economic sanctions against Russia. However, the German case is special: Due to historical reasons and – at the latest since 1990 – the expansion of political and economic networks, Germany has been heavily involved in EU-Russia relations and became Russia’s most important partner in Brussels. Against this background, this thesis attempts to answer the following question: Why did a major foreign policy change in Germany only happen in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and not already in 2014 after the Russian annexation of Crimea? This is done by performing a comparative case study and applying process tracing for the years 2014 and 2022 – enrichened by extensive interview research in Berlin with senior MFA officials, MPs specialised in foreign policy as well as with journalists. This thesis finds that in both years an exogenous political shock triggered the change process – but with a different scope. That is best explained by the reprioritisation and (partly) neglection of core pillars of German foreign policy – Ostpolitik, Wandel durch Handel, Westbindung, non-military foreign policy and historical responsibility – that occurred from 2014 to 2022.Show less
Met de toenemende verantwoordelijkheden van gemeenten en het tegelijkertijd dalende vertrouwen in de lokale bestuursvorm, wordt roep om een oplossing steeds groter. Burgerparticipatie heeft zich al...Show moreMet de toenemende verantwoordelijkheden van gemeenten en het tegelijkertijd dalende vertrouwen in de lokale bestuursvorm, wordt roep om een oplossing steeds groter. Burgerparticipatie heeft zich al bewezen als een middel om vertrouwen in de overheid en elkaar te versterken. Maar in een poging participatieve ongelijkheid aan te pakken en de opkomst van meer digitale communicatiemiddelen gebruiken steeds meer gemeenten online participatiemethoden. Corona heeft dit in een stroomversnelling gebracht. Het blijft echter onduidelijk op online participatie ook kan helpen in het terugwinnen van vertrouwen. Daarom richt dit onderzoek zich op de vraag hoe online participatie het vertrouwen in het lokaal bestuur beïnvloedt. Hiervoor is gekeken naar gebruik van de tool CitizenLab in de gemeente Utrecht. Op basis van literatuur werd verwacht dat de toegankelijkheid, responsiviteit en transparantie van online participatie een positief effect op vertrouwen in het lokaal bestuur zouden hebben. Na analyse van beleidsdocumenten en gehouden interviews kan worden geconcludeerd dat het responsieve aspect van online participatie in Utrecht een positief effect heeft op het vertrouwen in het lokaal bestuur, omdat men daardoor vindt dat de gemeente zorgen of opmerkingen serieus neemt, goed luistert en hierom het lokaal bestuur als geheel ook als ontvankelijk wordt gezien. Online participatie wordt ook als toegankelijk en transparant ervaren, maar een positief verband tussen de toegankelijkheid of transparantie van online participatie en vertrouwen in lokaal bestuur kon niet worden aangetoond in dit onderzoek. Transparantie lijkt wel een belangrijke rol te spelen in online participatie en dient daarom verder onderzocht te worden.Show less
In 2020, more than one hundred documents were classified in Italy throughout the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic. The scope of the following thesis is to contribute to the live debate...Show moreIn 2020, more than one hundred documents were classified in Italy throughout the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic. The scope of the following thesis is to contribute to the live debate in intelligence studies, on transparency and secrecy, by proposing a case study on the Italian experience during the first six months of 2020. It will delve specifically into the accountability channel present between the committee for the security of the republic and the prime minister Conte as head of the intelligence services. Results shows the partial capacity of the committee to ensure transparency and legitimacy over the prime minister who, by utilizing national security as a constant justification, severely manipulated the use of state secrecy for his own purposes. Thus, suggestions propose the need to implement a stronger oversight mechanism to ensure a reasonable use of secrecy in times of crisis.Show less
In dit paper wordt onderzoek gedaan naar het effect van langer doorwerken op de mentale gezondheid bij ouderen. De pensioenleeftijd is sinds 2013 omhoog gegaan, om kosten te besparen op de...Show moreIn dit paper wordt onderzoek gedaan naar het effect van langer doorwerken op de mentale gezondheid bij ouderen. De pensioenleeftijd is sinds 2013 omhoog gegaan, om kosten te besparen op de rijksbegroting. De stijging van de deze pensioenleeftijd heeft mogelijk effect op de mentale gezondheid van ouderen, doordat dit een drastische verandering is voor deze groep aangezien men langer moet blijven werken. Het is hierbij interessant om het effect van de verhoging van de pensioenleeftijd op de mentale gezondheid te onderzoeken. Aan de hand van 3 regressies wordt gezocht naar empirisch bewijs dat statistisch significant is. Er zijn geen statistisch significante resultaten uit de regressies gekomen. Er kan hierdoor geen effect van langer doorwerken op de mentale gezondheid van ouderen worden aangetoond. Vervolg onderzoek moet beter uitkomst bieden om de consistentie in literatuur wat betreft werk en mentale gezondheid te verbeteren.Show less
The main research question of this thesis is “to what extent has the position of women within Afghan society regressed since the 2021 Taliban takeover?” This paper will analyse how the recent shift...Show moreThe main research question of this thesis is “to what extent has the position of women within Afghan society regressed since the 2021 Taliban takeover?” This paper will analyse how the recent shift in Afghan governance has impacted the social status of women in Afghanistan. The social status indicators will be “labour force participation,” political participation,” “education,” and “healthcare”. In contrast to many other studies in the field, this thesis also highlights the importance of the cultural and historical context of Afghanistan since its independence in 1919. Using a variety of literature, research, and reports, this thesis’ findings show that most of the progress made post-2001 has almost completely disappeared since the 2021 government shift in Afghanistan.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to conduct research on challenges to the effectiveness of the WhatsApp neighbourhood watch team (WNWT) ‘Buurtpreventie Uithofslaan’ in The Hague, as a security network....Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to conduct research on challenges to the effectiveness of the WhatsApp neighbourhood watch team (WNWT) ‘Buurtpreventie Uithofslaan’ in The Hague, as a security network. WhatsApp neighbourhood watch teams are continuing to increase in number and use, especially with the shift into a ‘smartphone society’. Relevance lies in the necessity to understand whether this growth of WNWT’s and their use is justified, or if they primarily make the lives of participating member-residents harder. The research question ‘What are the challenges to the effectiveness of a WhatsApp neighbourhood watch team?’ has been answered. The method used for research conducting consists of a mixed method approach, involving five semi-structured interviews with members of ‘Buurtpreventie Uithofslaan’, and a document analysis regarding the groups’ messages. The analysis had displayed multiple challenges findings to the effectiveness of a WNWT. Firstly, ‘non-safety’ related messages, and messages deemed as panicking and/or false alarm. Furthermore, information overload inside of the group, the size of the group, and emerging confrontations inside the group. Lastly, distrust amongst the WNWT’s members and lack of actual action taking by the groups’ residents form the final revealed challenges. While the thought of a neighbourhood watch team seems terrific, there are multiple challenges to its effectiveness that cause problems. These existing challenges take away (some) value of ‘Buurtpreventie Uithofslaan’. Recommendations to tackle some challenges hear: creating an alternate (WNWT) group inside of the neighbourhood, and the assessing of some members as actual action takers so the lack of action-taking will dissolve. Limitations lie in the fact that this study cannot quantify its effect in large scales study hence the relatively short period and therefore small data samples.Show less
Dear reader, This thesis uses levels and indicators of effectiveness and legitimacy intending to identify challenges to the effectiveness and legitimacy of the National Coordinator of...Show moreDear reader, This thesis uses levels and indicators of effectiveness and legitimacy intending to identify challenges to the effectiveness and legitimacy of the National Coordinator of Counterterrorism in the Netherlands (NCTV). A literature review is conducted to assess different scholars’ work on measuring the effectiveness and legitimacy of security networks. This literature review develops the indicators that are utilized in the thesis. The indicators for effectiveness are a controlling state actor, goal consensus, and network structure. Whereas the indicators for legitimacy are democratic (parliamentary authority), legal (a clear legal framework), and social legitimacy (transparency). Afterward, to identify the challenges, this thesis implements document analysis. By the latter, this thesis identifies and explains challenges to the effectiveness and legitimacy of the NCTV by using news articles, and parliamentary documents, e.g., a debate concerning the NCTV. Using the indicators, the challenges are identified. Ultimately, these challenges are discussed using quotes and pieces from hearings, debates, and news articles. It is significant to identify the challenges to effectiveness and legitimacy as this lays the groundwork for further research on NCTV’s activities.Show less
The shaping of voter preferences on migration policies are contingent on a wide variety of factors, most notably economic concerns. This thesis aims to develop a comprehensive analysis which builds...Show moreThe shaping of voter preferences on migration policies are contingent on a wide variety of factors, most notably economic concerns. This thesis aims to develop a comprehensive analysis which builds on the general assessments of the performance of government, thereby replacing the need to include complex behavioral models and economic perspective theory with a comprehensive singular government actor. In addition, through the utilization of experimental methods, this study focuses on testing whether government performance has the claimed causal effect on voter disposition towards immigration policies. Using survey data gathered with the use of non-random convenience sampling and a custom survey, this thesis finds through quantitative analysis that individual voters prioritize their stance on migration policies over economic considerations when evaluating governments and their proposed migration (de-) liberalization. Meaning that despite perceiving a decline in economic performance, respondents maintained positive dispositions towards governments which undertook efforts to promote migration liberalization. Moreover, voters seem to demonstrate greater support for governments that exhibit commitments to liberalized migration policies in conjunction with an increased performance on economic matters. The study's findings challenge conventional wisdom that economic concerns are the primary driver of voter attitudes towards migration policies.Show less
Dit deductieve kwantitatieve onderzoek toont aan dat belangengroepen in Nederland bestaan uit voornamelijk oudere, hogere opgeleide en autochtone personen. Diversiteit in termen van leeftijd,...Show moreDit deductieve kwantitatieve onderzoek toont aan dat belangengroepen in Nederland bestaan uit voornamelijk oudere, hogere opgeleide en autochtone personen. Diversiteit in termen van leeftijd, geslacht, opleidingsniveau, politieke voorkeur en migratieachtergrond (zowel los als samengebundeld) heeft geen invloed op de politieke toegang van belangengroepen. Het budget van een belangengroep speelt echter wel een rol in hun politieke toegang. Deze bevindingen hebben normatieve implicaties, aangezien ze wijzen op een gebrek aan inspanningen van politiek en bestuurlijke actoren om gelijke representatie en participatie van diverse groepen te bevorderen. Het onderzoek benadrukt de noodzaak van een democratisch systeem dat inclusief, representatief en responsief is. Er is in dit onderzoek gebruik gemaakt van de Comparative Interest Group-survey (Beyers, Fink-Hafner, Maloney, Novak, & Heylen, 2020) Er zijn echter beperkingen in de data en metingen gebruikt in dit onderzoek, waardoor verder onderzoek nodig is om bias in het drukgroepsysteem in Nederland te onderzoeken, bijvoorbeeld met een focus op intersectionaliteit.Show less
The post-Cold War transnational nature of security threats asks for intelligence and security cooperation. In addition, within the global order of interdependence, a regional approach to security...Show moreThe post-Cold War transnational nature of security threats asks for intelligence and security cooperation. In addition, within the global order of interdependence, a regional approach to security have become increasingly important. As a result of the US-led War on Drugs, Colombia has become apparent for its role as a security exporter in the ‘South-South’ context. However, what has been neglected in academia, is the wider convergence in Latin America concerning the altered regional security environment and the drivers that allowed the shift from traditional ‘North-South’ towards ‘South-South’ intelligence cooperation. This paper presents the application of Regional Security Complex Theory towards Colombia’s geopolitical position and liaison relationships in 21st-century Latin America. By examining English as well as Spanish news sources and academic research, it shows that a variety of interrelated push-and-pull factors and have caused Colombia’s emerging disintegration from the South American Regional Security Complex. More importantly, it reveals that the War on Drugs resulted in Colombia becoming a benchmark in anti-narcotics security and intelligence cooperation and the ‘Colombianization of Mexico’. Ultimately, it caused wide-ranging bilateral intelligence initiatives between Colombia and Mexico as well as triangular agreements in which Colombia acts as a proxy for United States interests. These patterns of amity culminated in Mexico becoming the largest recipient of security and intelligence cooperation from Colombia worldwide.Show less
