Throughout the 2000s, the World Bank seems to have undergone a paradigm shift from a neoliberal, market-oriented agenda to a more state-centric approach with increased attention to national...Show moreThroughout the 2000s, the World Bank seems to have undergone a paradigm shift from a neoliberal, market-oriented agenda to a more state-centric approach with increased attention to national particularities in policy design. However, in contrast to the recent enthusiasm by a variety of authors does this thesis argue that the increased attention to the role of institutions and politics in socio-economic development has merely been discursive. The here presented historical analysis of Malawi’s political economy since 1979 shows that there have been little actual changes to the Bank’s policies over the years, to the detriment of equitable socio-economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A continued focus on neoclassical economic theory and a lack of attention to national political economy are largely to blame. This thesis holds that to improve socio-economic development, development in practice needs to be transformed by moving beyond overtly theoretical and technocratic approaches and recognizing the inherent political nature of economies, instead of viewing the socio-political order underlying market relationships as an isolated given.Show less
Saudi Arabia’s actions in Yemen have been largely neglected in the growing body of International Relations literature concerning regionalisation and power classification. Using an adaptation of...Show moreSaudi Arabia’s actions in Yemen have been largely neglected in the growing body of International Relations literature concerning regionalisation and power classification. Using an adaptation of Daniel Flemes’ conceptualisation of regional power, this thesis analyses Saudi leadership in the first four and a half years of the Yemen Civil War (March 2015 – August 2019). The case study was performed using an overarching causal-process tracing approach. Three variables that are fundamental for Saudi regional leadership in Yemen have been distinguished; claim to leadership, material methods of self-assertion and acceptance of leadership. As these variables are different in nature, they have been analysed using different methodologies. The findings of these analyses suggest that it is easy to ascribe a regional leading role to Saudi Arabia, as its claim to leadership and growing regional assertiveness are evident, but that real leadership over countries in the region is missing. Ultimately, this thesis illustrates that case study research is essential in the process of classifying a country as ‘regional power’.Show less
This thesis attempts to explore why the Native American community, Standing Rock Sioux community, has been denied its right to partake in the decision-making process surrounding the construction of...Show moreThis thesis attempts to explore why the Native American community, Standing Rock Sioux community, has been denied its right to partake in the decision-making process surrounding the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This specific project resulted in various confrontations between the tribe, the extractive industry and public and private investors. One of the main reasons behind these protests was that the tribe wanted to protect Lake Oahe and the Mississippi River from any potential oil spills. As such, this thesis analyses the resistance movements and the social media activism that ensued through Facebook and internet-memes that were used to protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. This thesis argues that social media activism empowered the protestors to raise awareness about the negative impact that the pipeline’s construction would have on the environment. It additionally critically analyses the concepts of civic environmentalism, Free, Prior to Informed Consent (FPIC) and social media activism.Show less
This thesis aims to answer the question of why the Indonesian state has increasingly securitized LGBT people in Indonesia from 2000 to 2016, by focusing on two factors: public homophobia and state...Show moreThis thesis aims to answer the question of why the Indonesian state has increasingly securitized LGBT people in Indonesia from 2000 to 2016, by focusing on two factors: public homophobia and state homophobia. Data on public attitudes toward the LGBT community in Indonesia will be drawn from various surveys conducted after 2000s. These surveys measure attitudes on existing heteronormative ideals in Indonesian society and capture the conservative turn starting from 1998 during the post-democratic transition period. The increasing threat of homosexuality as propagated by the Indonesian state will be historically and systematically analyzed through a number of statements made by political elites. Strong evidence is found on public and state homophobia increasing in Indonesia and this materializing politically and legally.Show less
At the time of writing (June 2019), the European Union officially hosts another “sick man”. The European Commission has in fact recently encouraged Italy to reconsider its economic policy in the...Show moreAt the time of writing (June 2019), the European Union officially hosts another “sick man”. The European Commission has in fact recently encouraged Italy to reconsider its economic policy in the light of a forecasted unsustainable (according to the European Commission) rise in the country’s budgetary deficit. Italy has so far been relatively used to politically challenging the European Commission when it comes to its choices in the field of macroeconomic policy. Nevertheless, the ease and the degree with which Neoliberalism (here meant as a Washington Consensus-based disciplinary ideology aiming at limiting the degree of politicization of the economic realm and the choices of states when it comes to their macroeconomic policies ) remains dominant at the EU level poses a question: Is the European Union inherently neoliberal or demand-led growth models are still possible? The reasons why finding an answer to this question is in our interest is grounded in the proliferation of radical political responses in several European countries (including Italy, Greece and - to a lesser degree - France) partly coming as a consequence of their stagnating (whilst not declining) economies. On one hand the European Union’s economy in the last few years has been keeping up to its self-set standards, on the other hand some countries appear to be far from catching up with the top-performers despite having structurally adjusted their economies to the taste of the neoliberal narrative. More importantly, the implementation of neoliberal policies has mostly been done at the expense of the existing welfare states, organized labor and national economic independence. Although the aforementioned growth of populist parties has yet to translate into those states actually taking real steps towards exiting the EU, the macroeconomic powerlessness of these countries seems doomed to persist, and so does the growth of radical parties and/or ideas. In this thesis I am going to argue that the EU is not an inherently neoliberal project of economic integration but it will be argued that the European political economy under the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) entails a clear neoliberal bias which prevents the EU and its member states from pursuing alternative paths. Furthermore, it will be argued that as it is currently structured, the EMU constitutes an hinderance to growth and employment in the continent as it systematically prevents the formation of adequate levels of aggregate demand.Show less
The Arctic is often perceived to be a vast empty space, the world’s inhospitable and politically unimportant hinterland. Increasingly at the forefront of the global climate change precipice, the...Show moreThe Arctic is often perceived to be a vast empty space, the world’s inhospitable and politically unimportant hinterland. Increasingly at the forefront of the global climate change precipice, the attention the Arctic receives predominantly reflects a passive region that serves as a dire warning of the environmental degradation to come. In reality however, the Arctic is home to over 500,000 indigenous peoples whose heritages reflect thousands of years of subsistence living and adaption to the region’s environment. The political agency of indigenous peoples in the Arctic is integral to the innovative and collaborative space. As a result, indigenous knowledge is an important component for understanding Arctic international relations and developments. However, the narrow framework of mainstream International Relations is unequipped to sufficiently address this reality. This thesis asks: How do Arctic indigenous peoples’ knowledge and perspectives pose a challenge to prevailing International Relations assumptions? With a focus on the challenges and new perspectives that indigenous knowledge offers to the assumptions of state-centrism, agency, cooperation, territoriality, sovereignty and modernity, this thesis endeavours to include indigenous views in a more inclusive and globally representative International Relations. Is it sufficient to analyse the indigenous political role in environmental protection and sustainable development as one of a non-state influence, pressuring states to make environmentally conscious decisions in their policies? Are indigenous political and social arrangements in the Arctic merely an anomaly formation of significant authority within the regular framework of state interactions? This thesis argues that the variety of indigenous beliefs, worldviews, and knowledge provide more discerning and apt frameworks for International Relations theory to understand indigenous peoples’ involvement in Arctic politics.Show less
Orthodox accounts of the British Labour governments in power between 1945 and 1951 are mistaken in presenting the government’s management of the sterling crises as having been apolitical and...Show moreOrthodox accounts of the British Labour governments in power between 1945 and 1951 are mistaken in presenting the government’s management of the sterling crises as having been apolitical and pragmatic. This thesis compares the effects of Britain’s sterling area policies on Britain and the British Empire more widely, in order to evaluate the consequences of their domestic social democratic reforms and the reconstruction of the wider British economy beyond the British experience. Contra orthodox historians of the period, the Attlee governments’ economic policy was deeply political in its design, implementation and consequences, subordinating the needs of colonial peoples to those of Britain in both design and practice. The British government relied on political control over the sterling area to obtain finance from the colonies at non-market rates. Without these loans, the Attlee governments may have had to have cut domestic expenditure or make greater political concessions to the USA in return for more American aid. Policies were implemented to mobilise colonial resources whose export would have a positive effect on the balance of payments crises. Although in some colonies this export drive laid the groundwork for economic development, in colonies where development projects were poorly implemented, particularly in West Africa, the benefits were not mutual. Furthermore, the Attlee governments effectively “outsourced” austerity to the colonies, resulting in shortages of goods and capital drain. This was achieved through their political control over the terms of trade in the sterling area. The negative effects of their policies on colonial living standards were known and contested, and ran counter to the Labour Party’s espoused socialist principles. However, ideological beliefs about race and the role of Britain in the world order may have influenced government decisions to protect British people at the expense of dependent colonies, and the Empire’s undemocratic political structure permitted it. That austerity measures in the colonies bear the hallmarks of measures for economic discipline traditionally employed in the 1920s and 1930s suggests that Attlee’s brand of social democracy did not transform the nature of capitalism to the extent that it may have appeared from a British perspective.Show less
When looking at the African continent, Africa is now a socially and economically vibrant destination for foreign powers to invest in and has generated interest of traditional Western powers and of...Show moreWhen looking at the African continent, Africa is now a socially and economically vibrant destination for foreign powers to invest in and has generated interest of traditional Western powers and of the newly emerged ‘Southern powers’ such as China. China puts great effort in differentiating themselves from other partners of African nations. China portrays itself as an ‘all-weather friend’ of Africa that strives for changing the economic world order justly in which all (developing) countries have a say. This research looks at how the Chinese government constructs its engagement in Africa as different compared to Western involvement on the African continent, and how this difference is constituted through different strategies of differentiation: historical ties, South-South mutual understanding, Soft Power and Non-conditional development cooperation.Show less
Language has the capacity to make politics, create narratives and impact policy making (Hajer, 2006). In the study of foreign policy, discourses define the issues at stake, create a sense of shared...Show moreLanguage has the capacity to make politics, create narratives and impact policy making (Hajer, 2006). In the study of foreign policy, discourses define the issues at stake, create a sense of shared ‘common knowledge’ and legitimize foreign policies as necessary and plausible (Hansen, 2013, 2016). When the Ukrainian crisis breaks out in 2014, Europe is confronted with one of the most complex situations for decades. The sense of urgency increases for one member state in particular when flight MH17 is shot down above Ukraine. Losing almost 200 citizens in the crash, the Netherlands suddenly becomes a central actor in this conflict. The literature, however, pays little attention to the domestic political debates regarding Ukraine. Moreover, the role of parliaments and oppositional political parties in foreign policy is under-accounted for. Therefore, this thesis analyses whether and how discourses are reflected in the Dutch foreign policy debate since the Ukrainian crisis and what role the parliament and political parties play in Dutch foreign policy. A discourse analysis is conducted to see what discourses are reflected in the parliamentary debates. This studies shows that identity-policy constructions – articulated through discourses – are crucial for defining and legitimizing Dutch foreign policies. Furthermore, it finds that the Government’s official foreign policy discourse is influenced and constrained by oppositional discourses that stress the normative and geopolitical aspects of Dutch foreign policy. Hence, this study provides new insight into the role of discourse in the wider political debate in the Netherlands. Though this thesis establishes that the parliament and political parties matter in this specific case, more research is needed on the role of parliaments and political parties to make generalizable conclusions for foreign policy more broadly.Show less
The 2008 economic crisis and the subsequent austerity measures have given a great push for research related to gender issues. These studies indicate a link between austerity measures and gender...Show moreThe 2008 economic crisis and the subsequent austerity measures have given a great push for research related to gender issues. These studies indicate a link between austerity measures and gender effects. In line with these contributions, this research will present a study on Spain as an exemplary case for the interrelatedness of gender and austerity measures in the period 2008-2014. By analysing whether gender perspectives were taken into account in austerity measures on both the labour market and welfare policies, it is shown that gender perspective were rarely included. Additionally, the second part of the analysis focusses on the actual status of gender to see the effect of this lack of a gender perspective in the austerity measures. This gives a dual answer, whereby gender differences are not visible for all used labour market indicators. In general, this research shows the complexity of the austerity measures situation from a feminist GPE perspective, which results in an advise of incorporating gender perspectives on a regular basis as policy-makers, in order to be able to take gender and gender effects better into account in future economic policy-making.Show less
The EU-Turkey Agreement of March 2016 was concluded by the EU Member States and not by the EU itself. This work tests what that fact says about the validity of the theory of Normative Power Europe...Show moreThe EU-Turkey Agreement of March 2016 was concluded by the EU Member States and not by the EU itself. This work tests what that fact says about the validity of the theory of Normative Power Europe by using an interdisciplinary approach of historical, political, sociatal and legal narratives of the EU-Turkey Agreement.Show less
The heightened tensions between Russia and the West, of which the ongoing crisis in and around Ukraine is a good illustration, pose a security threat to the Euro-Atlantic region. This thesis aims...Show moreThe heightened tensions between Russia and the West, of which the ongoing crisis in and around Ukraine is a good illustration, pose a security threat to the Euro-Atlantic region. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of Russian foreign policy within the OSCE as well as Russia’s stance towards Euro-Atlantic security issues. It addresses the question how Russia discursively constructs its national identity within the OSCE in the period 2008-2018 and whether these discourses reveal any changes and/or contradictions. This thesis fills an important research gap, because no previous research has been done on Russia’s national identity within the OSCE. A comprehensive understanding of a state’s national identity in its foreign policy is relevant, as it provides insights into the ideological factors that drive how a state defines and pursues its national interests and subsequently foreign policy. A poststructuralist discourse analysis is conducted of the Russian statements delivered at the yearly OSCE Ministerial Council Meetings in the period 2008-2018. The discourse analysis provided insights into how Russia perceives and would like to promote itself within the OSCE. It demonstrated that Russia presents itself within the OSCE as a redeemer of OSCE unilateral actions and an advocate of multilateralism, as a leading, responsible and moral actor that wants to be perceived and treated as a great power, and lastly as a guardian of traditional values and the Russian Orthodox Church.Show less
This thesis explores the extent to which (de)secritization is present in ten speech acts enunciated by the EuVsDisinfo campaign and the Dutch Parliament. This fills a research gap on simultaneous ...Show moreThis thesis explores the extent to which (de)secritization is present in ten speech acts enunciated by the EuVsDisinfo campaign and the Dutch Parliament. This fills a research gap on simultaneous (de)securitization in this particular case study.Show less
