De regulering rondom reclames voor kansspelen heeft een turbulente politieke periode achter de rug, waarbij zowel maatschappelijke als commerciële actoren actief de politiek pogen te beïnvloeden...Show moreDe regulering rondom reclames voor kansspelen heeft een turbulente politieke periode achter de rug, waarbij zowel maatschappelijke als commerciële actoren actief de politiek pogen te beïnvloeden door middel van framing. Op basis van een frameperspectief op lobbyboodschappen en de preference attainment method, analyseert dit onderzoek welke stakeholders hun lobbydoelen hebben bereikt en welke frames zij hanteren in hun argumentatie. Het onderzoek wijst uit dat het interpreteren van de beleidskwestie over kansspelreclames vanuit een gevarenframe bijdraagt aan het lobbysucces van actoren met publieke belangen. De gecombineerde inzet van het gevaren- en consumentenframe draagt niet bij aan het behalen van de preferenties van stakeholders met private belangen. De uitkomsten van dit onderzoek dragen bij aan transparantie rond het maatschappelijke debat rondom gokreguleringen, maar dienen vooral het toenemende wetenschappelijke debat binnen de public affairs discipline over de relaties tussen framing, pleitbezorging (door lobbyisten) en politieke verandering.Show less
De subjectieve levensverwachting (SLV) — de leeftijd die mensen verwachten te bereiken — blijkt empirisch een goede voorspeller van de werkelijke levensverwachting van individuen. Op basis van het...Show moreDe subjectieve levensverwachting (SLV) — de leeftijd die mensen verwachten te bereiken — blijkt empirisch een goede voorspeller van de werkelijke levensverwachting van individuen. Op basis van het levenscyclusmodel (ook wel: levensloopmodel) is te voorspellen dat mensen met een lagere SLV eerder met pensioen willen gaan. Voor de houdbaarheid van het pensioenstelsel is het belangrijk om inzicht te hebben in de verwachte uittreeddatum van werkenden. Daarnaast is er nauwelijks onderzoek gedaan naar de invloed van de subjectieve levensverwachting op de vraag wanneer mensen denken te pensioneren. Met Nederlandse longitudinale data uit het DNB Household Survey is onderzocht of de SLV een verklaring kan geven voor de verwachte pensioenleeftijd van individuen. Er blijkt geen effect te zijn van de subjectieve levensverwachting op de verwachte pensioenleeftijd, terwijl leeftijd, surveyjaar en geslacht sterkere effecten laten zien. Gezondheidsperceptie is wel een significante verklaring voor de SLV.Show less
This study uses the Technology Enactment Framework (TEF) to explore how the Customs administrations of Türkiye and the Netherlands design and implement AI technology in their automated detection...Show moreThis study uses the Technology Enactment Framework (TEF) to explore how the Customs administrations of Türkiye and the Netherlands design and implement AI technology in their automated detection pilot projects to facilitate legal trade and detect illicit trade at border crossing points. It also displays what organizational elements can be learnt from the two cases to add to the limited literature in AI applications in the public sector. At the end of the research, AI Technology Enactment Flowcharts for the two administrations, a Comparison Table and a Proposed Extended AI TEF for Customs were developed. Validating the TEF, the research also identified AI-technology specific organizational forms, institutional arrangements and project processes facilitating or impeding the pilot projects in the two customs administrations.Show less
This research examines the impact of COVID-19 on gender differences in employee perceptions of job satisfaction in the Netherlands. Using a fixed effects regression approach with longitudinal data...Show moreThis research examines the impact of COVID-19 on gender differences in employee perceptions of job satisfaction in the Netherlands. Using a fixed effects regression approach with longitudinal data from the LISS data archive from the years 2018 to 2022, this study examines the effects of COVID-19 on job satisfaction and investigates gender-specific differences. Contrary to initial expectations, the analysis finds no significant difference in job satisfaction between men and women when considering year-specific gender differences. Furthermore, the impact of COVID-19 on job satisfaction appears to be limited, with relatively stable levels observed across the examined years (2020, 2021, and 2022) compared to the base year of 2019. Thereby this research contributes to the understanding of job satisfaction dynamics in the Dutch labour market.Show less
Since the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its increased use in the public sector, there has been a two-fold debate in practice and academia about the relationship between transparency and...Show moreSince the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its increased use in the public sector, there has been a two-fold debate in practice and academia about the relationship between transparency and trust. On the one hand, transparency can create an open government culture and improve trust; on the other hand, transparency confuses citizens and leads to delegitimization of government. This research contributes to the debate by examining the effect of algorithmic decision-making transparency on institutional trust and procedural fairness's role in this relationship through a quantitative vignette study focusing on enforcing parking fines. The study distinguishes itself from others by measuring institutional trust by three dimensions (competence, benevolence, and honesty) and transparency by two dimensions (accessibility and explainability). The results reveal that: (1) accessibility increases institutional trust and trust in the competence and benevolence of the institution; (2) explainability increases institutional trust and trust in the competence of the institution; (3) procedural fairness negatively affects the relationship between accessibility and institutional trust and between accessibility and trust in the competence of the institution; (3) procedural fairness positively affects the relationship between explainability and trust in the benevolence of the institution. These results imply that institutional trust is multidimensional and can be influenced differently but that access and explainability of decision-making increase trust. Furthermore, local governments can make greater use of the Dutch algorithm registry to provide citizens with access and explanations of decision-making to enhance trust in the institution.Show less
Deposit Guarentee Scheme, Directive, De Nederlandsche Bank, European Commission, The European Central Bank, Policy Learning, Single-Case Study, Process Tracing
An income rule determines household eligibility for the energy allowance at a maximum of 120% of the minimum wage. This thesis examines the effect of the energy allowance on the mental and physical...Show moreAn income rule determines household eligibility for the energy allowance at a maximum of 120% of the minimum wage. This thesis examines the effect of the energy allowance on the mental and physical health of eligible Dutch cohabiting households below and above the AOW pension age. It does so by utilizing a sharp regression discontinuity design to compare the mental and physical health statuses of eligible and non-eligible households. This thesis does find evidence for significant changes on the mental and physical health of Dutch cohabiting households below the AOW pension age. However, the findings reveal a negative association between the energy allowance on depression levels of Dutch cohabiting households above the AOW pension age. This thesis advises the Dutch government to reconsider the income threshold used for the energy allowance and encourages future research to investigate the health effects of the energy allowance more profoundly.Show less
Governments worldwide have been increasingly making Open Government Data (OGD) available. Arguments for OGD include improvements to transparency, accountability, policymaking, innovation, and...Show moreGovernments worldwide have been increasingly making Open Government Data (OGD) available. Arguments for OGD include improvements to transparency, accountability, policymaking, innovation, and economic growth while reducing corruption and the negative effects of New Public Management’s outsourcing. However, research shows that not all published OGD are open according to the eight Sebastopol principles of open data. This research uses the ordinary citizen test, based on the Sebastopol principles, to determine the extent of openness of OGD published by Dutch provinces. This research uses the metadata of all published datasets on the Dutch national data portal. The findings show that around 30% of the assessed datasets qualify as open. The most common barrier to the openness of OGD published by Dutch provinces is that datasets are only available in proprietary formats. The OGD of Dutch provinces not qualifying as open can have implications for the perceived benefits of publishing OGD in the Netherlands.Show less
With the rise in automation, inequality between low- and high-skilled workers has increased. Robotization allows for the substitution of human labor by capital, while artificial intelligence and...Show moreWith the rise in automation, inequality between low- and high-skilled workers has increased. Robotization allows for the substitution of human labor by capital, while artificial intelligence and machine learning can result in a complementary effect for high-skilled workers. With this risk of replacement due to automation existing for low-skilled manual workers, their job satisfaction may be negatively impacted, ultimately having a negative effect on their general well-being. This research has therefore looked at the effect of risk of automation on job satisfaction. Based on data from the LISS-panel, the routine task intensity-index as generated by Mihaylov and Tijdens (2019) and the risk of automation-index generated by Pouliakos (2018) a quantitative method was applied, consisting of descriptive statistics as well as the use of regressions, to provide an answer. The descriptive statistics have shown that older workers tend to have a higher level of job satisfaction, while especially young low-skilled workers are subject to a low mean of job satisfaction. Furthermore, the research has found that tasks that differ from non-routine analytic tasks and thus are more subject to automation, negatively impact the level of job satisfaction for Dutch workers. When splitting the observations in to level of skill and age-group, the effect of the routine-task intensity index becomes inconsistent. The research has also found that an increasing risk of automation-index negatively influences the level of job satisfaction, as it decreases the level of job satisfaction for Dutch workers by 0.026 for an increase in risk of automation by 1. When accounting for level of skill and age-group, an increasing risk of automation appeared to have a larger negative effect on the young low-skilled Dutch workers, supporting the thought of skill-biased technological change resulting in further inequality between low- and high-skilled workers. The Dutch government should therefore aim at expanding the current training and education programs, offer further job placement services and other policies related to decreasing the negative effects of at risk of automation.Show less
Executive master thesis | International Relations and Diplomacy (MSc)
open access
Following the controversy surrounding Qatar’s winning bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, this thesis sets out to investigate the extent to which Qatar was able to harness soft power through its...Show moreFollowing the controversy surrounding Qatar’s winning bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, this thesis sets out to investigate the extent to which Qatar was able to harness soft power through its hosting of this global competition. The research gap from which this research stems is that of authoritarians’ struggle in wielding soft power. Sports, being a field that is frequently instrumentalized for political purposes, is argued to be an attractive venue for authoritarians to overcome this struggle. Taking the fields of soft power, sports diplomacy, and Sports Mega-Event hosting as its theoretical foundations and the Sports Diplomacy Model by Abdi et al. (2018) as its design, this research uncovers observable implications of successful soft power wielding by Qatar. These implications are linked to state visits undertaken and received by Qatar, bilateral investment treaties Qatar has signed, and Qatari participation in international fora. The timeline spans from 2012 to 2022 and within the relatively small sample yielded by this research, slight increases in all three variables indicate that some degree of soft power was successfully harnessed by Qatar through its hosting of the World Cup.Show less
Executive master thesis | International Relations and Diplomacy (MSc)
open access
Quasi states and their interaction within the international system remain chronically understudied. To date, Kosovo is the only recent example of a former quasi-state that has managed to proclaim...Show moreQuasi states and their interaction within the international system remain chronically understudied. To date, Kosovo is the only recent example of a former quasi-state that has managed to proclaim independence and be internationally recognized afterwards. While displaying similar characteristics, Nagorno-Karabakh remains unrecognized. United by their nonrecognition, quasi states frequently rely on diplomacy by diasporas for their advocacy and representation. This thesis therefore aims to investigate where this different outcome in terms of diaspora diplomacy originates. Using the concepts of diaspora positionality and diaspora mobilization for an interpretive comparison between Albanian diaspora diplomacy for Kosovo and Armenian diaspora diplomacy for Nagorno-Karabakh in American and European host-state contexts, this research finds that for the Armenian diaspora genocide recognition took precedence over Nagorno-Karabakh, while Kosovo united the Albanian diaspora as a whole which through a combination of historical factors and context awareness subsequently set in motion an irreversible process towards recognized independence. On these grounds, this thesis posits diasporas as determined diplomatic actors in their own right who can play a pivotal role in homeland recognition and therefore warrant further research.Show less
Executive master thesis | International Relations and Diplomacy (MSc)
open access
Biodiversity is a transboundary issue that is subject to conceptualisation at different levels of environmental governance. The implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is...Show moreBiodiversity is a transboundary issue that is subject to conceptualisation at different levels of environmental governance. The implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is dependent on such conceptualisations, especially on national and regional levels. This thesis analyses national and regional dynamics that influence the interpretation and implementation of internationally determined CBD concepts. In order to study this, the research follows a critical discourse analysis methodology in addition to a stakeholder analysis. It included the effect of regional and national power relations on the conceptualisation of CBD concepts. Four court cases taking place in different countries across the globe were selected to include differentiating national and regional contexts. The findings of the analysis show that power relations among the involved stakeholders affect the way CBD concepts are framed and interpreted. The findings reveal that community stakeholders emphasised discourses that were the most oriented towards biodiversity conservation. This thesis stresses the importance of understanding where the discrepancies lie between nationally determined concepts and national and regional interpretations of them. This is of importance to the effective implementation of the CBD.Show less
Executive master thesis | International Relations and Diplomacy (MSc)
open access
Consensus is an increasingly selected decision-making procedure in negotiations and institutions. As a more informal mode of negotiating and decision-making without voting, We propose a method of...Show moreConsensus is an increasingly selected decision-making procedure in negotiations and institutions. As a more informal mode of negotiating and decision-making without voting, We propose a method of coding and tracking consensus in The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the foremost global organisation tasked with managing and improving states relations in space, by using its annual reports. By building a dataset of all COPUOS reports from 1990 to 2022, we model the presence and extent of consensus over time in against other quantitative data coded within the reports. We find an increasing number of views expressed over time, with the attainment of consensus mostly attributable to the substantive topic discussed. We also notice that factors related to less frequent attainment of consensus are often also associated with a higher strength of consensus. Non-state actors and developing countries are in some cases associated with increased attainment and strength of consensus.Show less
