During the last decades it has become clear that the negative effect of the agricultural sector on the loss of biodiversity and climate change is undeniable. In order to curb this effect, the...Show moreDuring the last decades it has become clear that the negative effect of the agricultural sector on the loss of biodiversity and climate change is undeniable. In order to curb this effect, the European Union has set out different parts of the Common Agricultural Policy to regulate pollution by farmers. However, this set of rules and regulations doesn’t go far enough. To really help the environment and increase biodiversity, more measures can be taken by the agricultural sector. To encourage farmers to take the extra step in helping the environment, the European Union has set up a program called the agri-environment schemes which are set up in direct measures through the agri-environment Measures. These measures provide payments to farmers who are willing to take the extra step and, on a voluntary basis, take precautions to preserve the environment and maintain the countryside. This research will focus on the effect of this program on farmers in the Netherlands. Do these agri-environment measures and the funds available through them, have an effect on the way Dutch farmers occupy themselves with the environment through their businesses?Show less
This paper focuses on whether the general communication strategy of a European national government battling a national crisis can be predicted using the situational crisis communication theory. By...Show moreThis paper focuses on whether the general communication strategy of a European national government battling a national crisis can be predicted using the situational crisis communication theory. By focusing on two European countries, the Netherlands and France, this research aims to find out if and how it is possible to predict the chosen communication strategy of a government organization, by using the four factors and their characteristics of the 1995 Coombs theory. His framework of the situational crisis communication theory is currently only proven to apply to indicating which communication strategy an organization should use in a certain situation. Since a national government battling a national crisis has to address its communication to all public stakeholders in general, it’s strategy has to be broad in nature as well. This indication of a government organization using a very broad strategy aimed at an entire population and based on the attributes of a crisis also indicates that the same Coombs framework could also be used to predict which strategy is actually used by a national government battling a national crisis. Note that this is only the case when it comes to general crises and a national government, not specific organizations. The expectation then is that the factors Crisis type, veracity of evidence, damage and performance history can then be used to predict which strategy is chosen by a national government battling a national crisis. When an interpretation of the same factors is used to research which strategy was actually chosen by the Dutch and French national government, a different strategy appeared. Since the strategy that was concluded by the framework of Coombs does not match the strategy that was actually used by the national governments, the expectation is wrong. Whether the crisis communication strategy of a European national government can be predicted at all using the situational crisis communication theory cannot be stated, since different frameworks of this theory could be used to make such a prediction. This research then concluded that the Coombs’ 1995 framework cannot be used for such a prediction, even though a comparison with other theories showed it was the most promising.Show less
