The Nation-building Operation in Libya: A Two-sided Critique on Incapable Nation-builders and on the Claims of Postmodern Imperialism that Surround the Intervention
The research dealing with public attitudes has been around for many years. Citizens and their opinions have become very important in modern democracies as it is they who are the cornerstone of...Show moreThe research dealing with public attitudes has been around for many years. Citizens and their opinions have become very important in modern democracies as it is they who are the cornerstone of democratic systems. More attention has been paid to opinions at the EU level. Support for the EU among all Europeans has decreased and an era of Euroscepticism started. Scholars blamed many different reasons and events for increasing discontent with the EU, the lack of knowledge about the EU is just one of many. Slovakia has always been one of the most enthusiastic member states. In fact, this has not changed much despite the continental increase in Eurosceptic thinking. Moreover, Slovaks belong to more knowledgeable half of Europeans according to Eurobarometer and also this thesis. Despite a small drop in the positive views towards the EU among Slovak people in recent years, they stay on a positive side of thinking about the EU. This demonstrate no significant presence of Euroscepticism in Slovakia. However, the EP election turnout of Slovakia remains the lowest of all the member states and people are not interested in the EU affairs to a great extent at all. Hence, Slovaks in general cannot be classified as Eurosceptic as they express more positive views than negative, yet they definitely classify as indifferent.Show less
This thesis started with the question if parents in Roman times would be able to love their child, even if it turned out the child was disabled. The Roman law recorded in the Twelve Tables from the...Show moreThis thesis started with the question if parents in Roman times would be able to love their child, even if it turned out the child was disabled. The Roman law recorded in the Twelve Tables from the fifth century B.C.E. stated that parents had to kill their disabled children for the good of the Roman citizens. Some historians however, wrote that disabled individuals were displayed for popular entertainment in ancient Rome as part of an established tradition in the Roman culture of displaying the anomalous bodies of humans and animals. How can children be killed at birth and yet be displayed for popular entertainment? In this thesis I have placed myself within a debate about disability history. The debate is about what the social position was of the disabled within an ancient society, in this thesis the Roman era. The main question for this thesis therefore became: What was the position of the disabled within the Roman Empire?Show less
With a fast changing climate, it is important that the biggest economies are involved in altering climate change. China is the second largest economy and the biggest emitter of green house gasses,...Show moreWith a fast changing climate, it is important that the biggest economies are involved in altering climate change. China is the second largest economy and the biggest emitter of green house gasses, and therefor of utter importance in the fight against climate change. But the question is, is China indeed taking its responsibility?Show less
Dit onderzoek analyseert in welke mate de totstandkoming van Estlands onafhankelijkheid in 1991 van buitenaf is beïnvloed. Aangetoond wordt dat zowel vanuit de Verenigde Staten als vanuit West...Show moreDit onderzoek analyseert in welke mate de totstandkoming van Estlands onafhankelijkheid in 1991 van buitenaf is beïnvloed. Aangetoond wordt dat zowel vanuit de Verenigde Staten als vanuit West-Europa invloeden werden uitgeoefend die de onafhankelijkheid bespoedigden. Dit werpt een nieuw perspectief op de doorgaans nationalistische historiografie over Estlands onafhankelijkheidsbeweging.Show less
De Nederlandse zendeling H.A.C. Hildering (1898-1986) was een van de weinige zendelingen die tijdens de oorlog in Indonesië zijn zendingswerk op Oost-Java hervatte. Hij had nauwe contacten met de...Show moreDe Nederlandse zendeling H.A.C. Hildering (1898-1986) was een van de weinige zendelingen die tijdens de oorlog in Indonesië zijn zendingswerk op Oost-Java hervatte. Hij had nauwe contacten met de Indonesische en Chinese bevolking, hoorde via hen over oorlogsmisdaden en publiceerde deze. Tegelijkertijd had hij ook veel contact met het Nederlandse koloniale bestuur en het Nederlandse leger. Hoe positioneerde hij zichzelf tijdens deze oorlog en welke spanningen brachten zijn nauwe contacten met Indonesiërs en het Nederlandse koloniale bestuur?Show less
In deze scriptie staat de implementatie van het Klimaatverdrag van de Verenigde Naties, bestaande uit het Kyotoprotocol en het Akkoord van Parijs, centraal. Welke maatregelen treft een enorm land...Show moreIn deze scriptie staat de implementatie van het Klimaatverdrag van de Verenigde Naties, bestaande uit het Kyotoprotocol en het Akkoord van Parijs, centraal. Welke maatregelen treft een enorm land als Brazilië om het broeikaseffect tegen te gaan en te voldoen aan de gemaakte internationale klimaatafspraken? En zijn deze maatregelen ook daadwerkelijk effectief? Op de achtergrond zal ook een ander vraagstuk worden meegenomen, namelijk of de al gerealiseerde maatregelen de Braziliaanse sociaaleconomische ontwikkeling negatief beinvloeden of niet. Deze kwesties zullen door middel van kwalitatief verkennend onderzoek worden onderzocht, na een theoretisch en contextueel kader te hebben geschept in de eerste twee hoofdstukken.Show less
The EU may be facing a perfect storm as a result of recent crises, mounting Euroscepticism and rising nationalist sentiments, with the latter also playing a role in recent events in Catalonia and...Show moreThe EU may be facing a perfect storm as a result of recent crises, mounting Euroscepticism and rising nationalist sentiments, with the latter also playing a role in recent events in Catalonia and Scotland as well as in the Brexit referendum. This new political context provides an excellent opportunity to reassess the stance of the EU with regard to secessionist conflicts. This thesis uses this opportunity to build on the work of Bourne (2014) by analysing whether the political discourses of regionalist parties and EU representatives, on secession within the EU framework, changed between 2014 and 2017 – in the case of Catalonia, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The analysis shows that the only discourses that changed significantly over time were those of Sinn Féin in the Northern Irish case and of EU representatives with regard to Scotland. Besides change over time, it found change between cases; the discourse of EU representatives in the Northern Irish case represents a departure from the Prodi/Barroso Doctrine that was prominent in the Catalan and Scottish case. The findings also suggest that the EU’s unwillingness to be involved in secessionist conflicts as well as the dismissal of post-secession EU membership has not necessarily discouraged regionalist parties from using the EU to underline the civic nature of minority nationalism; the parties under analysis continued to seek legitimacy for their cause at the European level through strong normative language, while professing adherence to the EU (values) and the democratic will of the people. Finally, the thesis shows that the EU may have started to adopt a more active stance in secessionist debates – undeniably so in the case of Northern Ireland.Show less
In 2013 Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced their readiness to renew the dialogue on the Kuril Islands – the disputed territory that kept the Japan...Show moreIn 2013 Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced their readiness to renew the dialogue on the Kuril Islands – the disputed territory that kept the Japan-Russia bilateral relationship frozen for almost 70 years. Due to the territorial dispute, the Japan-Russia economic and diplomatic cooperation remained relatively underdeveloped, which provided a great opportunity for both to benefit from the improved bilateral cooperation. However, the breakthrough has never happened, since the Japan-Russia relationship deteriorated after Japan joined US sanctions against Russia due to Russian involvement in the Ukrainian Crisis. Conventional explanations cite that the United States pressured Japan into imposing sanctions against its national interest. In this paper I provide an analysis of Japanese sanctions against Russia to answer the question of whether US pressure on Japan resulted in reactive Japan’s foreign policy sanctions against Russia. Therefore this paper will put forward a case to answer the question of whether Japan’s foreign policy was influenced by it being a reactive state. For the purpose of this research, I analysed the three rounds of sanctions from March 2014 to July 2016 by using a process tracing method combined with attributed influence and preference attainment to identify and measure US pressure on Japan. Drawing the concept of a reactive state model I will demonstrate how the United States pressured Japan against Japanese national interest. By focusing on the extent of Japanese sanctions, I put forward the case that Japan was able to implement low-key yet independent policy in case of sanctions.Show less
This thesis assesses whether the EU is as a market power shaping third countries' legislation and policies as asserted by "Market Power Europe", a theoretical framework, which has been...Show moreThis thesis assesses whether the EU is as a market power shaping third countries' legislation and policies as asserted by "Market Power Europe", a theoretical framework, which has been insufficiently explored in the literature so far. More concretely it is scrutinised if electricity market liberalisation and emissions trading acquis has been externalised to Switzerland and Ukraine. First, it is shown that there is market power potential in the field of energy, as the European regulatory order was increasingly strengthened since the mid-1990s and gave birth to two significant markets for electricity and carbon emissions trade. Second, it is demonstrated that even though acquis externalization occurred to a certain extent in both cases, four intervening variables filtered the EU's market power. Indeed, market interconnectedness, political culture, the nature of the political system and the level of institutionalization of the EU's relations with a third country need to be taken into account when assessing the EU's market power in a given third country. These findings are not only theoretically relevant, they also suggest that the EU should concentrate on the development of its Single Market and regulatory order as well as on solid institutional framework conditions to cement its power towards third countries and enlarge its global influence.Show less
This thesis asks: what was the intellectual attitude towards nature in late Renaissance Europe? To this end, it finds that De Boodt’s illustrated albums throw fresh light on an old question. It is...Show moreThis thesis asks: what was the intellectual attitude towards nature in late Renaissance Europe? To this end, it finds that De Boodt’s illustrated albums throw fresh light on an old question. It is the intention of this study to explore the relation between developments in empirical and emblematic approaches to natural history, especially in visual representations, through the examination of the work of an individual who was involved in all three. The works of Anselmus de Boodt demonstrate that he drew on a variety of approaches to the study of the world and is therefore representative of the late Renaissance intellectual ideal of the polyhistor. The polyhistor as an ideal derived from the desire to achieve a holistic understanding of the world by taking into account its physical as well as symbolic attributes. The study of these attributes is seen retrospectively as the object of empirical and emblematic methodologies respectively, methodologies that are understood as being in conflict. Nonetheless, they are united in the work of De Boodt, as asserted by this study, on the grounds that vision was the point of convergence and departure for both.Show less
This thesis contains the research for a teaching method of teaching Japanese pitch-accent to Dutch students which language is stress based, between the age of 12-18 years. It compares 3 existing...Show moreThis thesis contains the research for a teaching method of teaching Japanese pitch-accent to Dutch students which language is stress based, between the age of 12-18 years. It compares 3 existing methods for a different motherlanguage but with the same target language of Japanese, to criteria that have been constructed by using literature research and the pedagogical framework of Pawlak (2011). The existing teaching method of Hirano Cook (2011) was best suited for teaching the pitch-accent to the target age group and was used in order to make a theoretical good teaching method for the Dutch students. The main adjustments to the teaching method of Hirano Cook, consists of using phonological features of the stress-accent and creating a positive transfer to the Japanese pitch-accent.Show less
This thesis will assess in three case studies the municipal writings of Richard T. Ely, Albert Shaw, and Frederic C. Howe. The contention here is that their work provides valuable examples of the...Show moreThis thesis will assess in three case studies the municipal writings of Richard T. Ely, Albert Shaw, and Frederic C. Howe. The contention here is that their work provides valuable examples of the pluralism and the transnationalism of the Progressive Era in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. To do so, the approach of this thesis will be to deploy Daniel T. Rodgers’ argument about the role of transnational narratives in the transference of transatlantic reforms. This study will thereby demonstrate the means by which the municipal writings of the three cases studies in question deployed their transnational narratives for the conveyance of foreign reform policies, measures, practices, and concepts.Show less
