This thesis examines how the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has contributed to the free speech crisis in American academia. More specifically, building upon Wilson and...Show moreThis thesis examines how the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has contributed to the free speech crisis in American academia. More specifically, building upon Wilson and Kamola’s insights about the libertarian “Koch donor network,” it considers the role that populism plays in the way this organization operates. In doing so, this thesis argues that FIRE exhibits, to some degree or another, all the core elements of what Benjamin Moffitt has termed “populist political style”—but also, crucially, that it does this in largely subtle and indirect ways. Rather than interpreting his analytical lens as inadequate, however, or considering FIRE to be a “bad” example for studying populism, the author argues that it is precisely the aforementioned subtlety and indirectness that illustrate the utility of Moffitt’s “populist style” framework. (It should be noted that—although it did end up receiving a sufficient grade and was even complimented on by its evaluators for its level of insight and originality—this thesis was not handed in as a finished product. It contains elements of a draft, and substantial portions of it are written in note-form.)Show less
Subnational climate diplomacy is a concept that has been gaining attention in the field of International Relations in recent years. It refers to the way in which state and local governments are...Show moreSubnational climate diplomacy is a concept that has been gaining attention in the field of International Relations in recent years. It refers to the way in which state and local governments are increasingly taking part in international negotiations and cooperation to advance global climate objectives. This signifies a sizable shift in the traditional approach to state-to-state diplomacy. However, the value of subnational climate diplomacy to the global fight against climate change is currently almost exclusively measured in terms of clearly quantifiable outputs, which largely overlooks its less directly quantifiable contributions and broader social, economic and political impacts. Therefore, this thesis analyzes how subnational climate diplomacy can contribute to transformative change through more indirect impacts. The indirect impacts that are measured are ‘rescaling’ and ‘entrenchment,’ based on the frameworks developed by authors van der Ven, Bernstein and Hoffmann (2017) and Setzer (2017). These two concepts serve to guide the analysis undertaken in this thesis, which aims to answer the following research question: How can subnational climate diplomacy contribute to transformative change through rescaling and entrenchment? To answer this question, the thesis includes a detailed case study of the international climate agenda of the U.S. state of California. The analysis of California's international climate agenda shows how the state’s subnational climate diplomacy is contributing to a rescaling of climate governance. By establishing international linkages along both the vertical and the horizontal axis, California is triggering a rescaling of climate governance on the subnational, national and international/supranational level. Additionally, California’s subnational climate diplomacy is fostering entrenchment by generating effects in climate governance that are durable and difficult to reverse. Overall, this study emphasizes that subnational climate diplomacy can contribute to transformative change in global climate governance, not only through producing directly quantifiable emission reductions, but also through rescaling climate governance and entrenching durable change.Show less
Master thesis | European Politics and Society: Vaclav Havel Joint Master Programme
open access
Despite a long history of scholarship about economic sanctions, research about European Union sanctions, specifically EU sanction threats, is more nascent. The institutional changes in the EU...Show moreDespite a long history of scholarship about economic sanctions, research about European Union sanctions, specifically EU sanction threats, is more nascent. The institutional changes in the EU changes since the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, which gave the European Parliament some increased powers whilst maintaining an intergovernmental Common Foreign and Security Policy, add to this research gap. This thesis thus attempts to answer the question, “What are the effects of the Treaty of Lisbon on the European Parliament’s role in sanctions decision-making?” Due to the EP’s significant role in the Magnitsky case and its high salience and implications for EU relations with third countries, this study uses the Magnitsky case in the EU to answer this question. It uses an explaining-outcome process-tracing method and finds that some legal changes did not make the EP more assertive in sanctions policy in the Magnitsky case. It does find that the EP ‘tested the waters’ by forging a greater connection between human rights and external relations. It also finds that the augmentation of the HRVP role led to a more difficult relationship between the EP and the Council in the Magnitsky case.Show less
Contrary to the predictions set out in traditional realist literature, small European states have made sizeable military contributions and demonstrated significant risk-willingness in US- and NATO...Show moreContrary to the predictions set out in traditional realist literature, small European states have made sizeable military contributions and demonstrated significant risk-willingness in US- and NATO-led missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The small state literature has cautiously recognized status as an important explanatory factor of such disproportionate contributions. So far, however, it has hardly been explored how status motivations lead to contribution outcomes. Building on these recent advances, this thesis aims to deepen the understanding of the drivers behind status-seeking. Using the case of the Netherlands’ contribution to ISAF, Task Force Uruzgan (2006-2010), this research demonstrates how small state contributions can be the result of an assessment of potential non-material gains in the form of reputation and status, as well as concerns surrounding the loss of these benefits. This differs from current knowledge, as it suggests that small states are driven by more than just ‘positive’ status incitements.Show less
How women of color in American politics are represented by the media can influence their political career. This study therefore analyzed how Vice President Kamala Harris and Congresswoman...Show moreHow women of color in American politics are represented by the media can influence their political career. This study therefore analyzed how Vice President Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are portrayed by right wing news websites Foxnews.com and Breitbart.com. The study used Critical Discourse Analysis to analyze 20 news articles written by both websites, to see what kind of language is used to portray both female politicians. The results show that gender and racial stereotypes were found in the majority of the news articles, but that gender stereotypes were more prevalent than racial stereotypes. A possible explanation for this could be that racism is less socially acceptable than sexism nowadays, and is therefore less prevalent in news articles written on women of color in American politics.Show less
Immigration is a central topic in the public discourse in the United States, even more during the Trump presidency. Mass media (re)produces this discourse and, as a result, play a crucial part in...Show moreImmigration is a central topic in the public discourse in the United States, even more during the Trump presidency. Mass media (re)produces this discourse and, as a result, play a crucial part in the construction of social realities. Media outlets use framing to shape immigration discourse and public opinion. In immigration discourse there are three frames widely employed: immigration/the immigrant as 1) threat, 2) victim, or as 3) hero. This study analyzed articles by conservative (Republican) leaning news outlet Fox News. Focusing on how self-other communication is presented in each of these frames to shape how Fox News audience perceive immigrants and immigration. Negative-other perception and positive self-perception are highly visible in articles employing the threat frame, whereas in articles employing a hero frame positive- other perception is only clearly visible. There was also a large imbalance in what frames are employed by Fox News, a large majority of articles employ the threat frame.Show less
This thesis asks why Canada became a global leader in peacekeeping in the 1960s and 1970s. The thesis is conducted through an analysis of both domestic and international causes that played a role...Show moreThis thesis asks why Canada became a global leader in peacekeeping in the 1960s and 1970s. The thesis is conducted through an analysis of both domestic and international causes that played a role in Canada's acquisition of a disproportionally large role within global peacekeeping. These causes are extensively researched using two case studies, being the United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Congo in the 1960s as well as the mission in Cyprus in the 1960s and 1970s. Furthermore, the thesis analyses the link between the United Nations and Canada on the peacekeeping front and discusses why it is that the UN came to rely on Canada so heavily for global peacekeeping efforts in the time period of the 1960s and 1970s.Show less
In the past decade, the relationship between the United States and Iran has been through significant changes, particularly playing out in the realm of nuclear proliferation. The establishment of...Show moreIn the past decade, the relationship between the United States and Iran has been through significant changes, particularly playing out in the realm of nuclear proliferation. The establishment of the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under the Obama administration, thought to be the start of a new chapter of US-Iran relations, was uprooted by the Trump administration almost immediately after the change in leadership. In order to understand how this radical policy shift is possible, this thesis analyses and compares the policy discourses on Iran of the Obama and Trump administration in terms of Self-Other identity construction. Taking a poststructuralist approach to policy discourse analysis, the ontological link between discursive identity and policy decision making is the central subject of study. The thesis concludes that the decisions to establish and withdraw from the JCPOA are constituted by discourses which in fact construct a highly similar radical Self-Other relationship between the US and Iran, within which the US is positioned as having to change the behaviour of the Iranian regime as arbiter of the Middle East and ally of the Iranian people. Crucially, they differ when it comes to the use of orientalist binaries, the capacity for change attributed to the Iranian regime (temporal identity) and the position of the US vis-a-vis the international community (ethical-spatial identity), which is congruent with the diverging policy decisions on the JCPOA.Show less
