There is a strong upward trend in the amounts spent on development aid. In 2022, the total amount of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) was five times higher than in 1960. The European Union is...Show moreThere is a strong upward trend in the amounts spent on development aid. In 2022, the total amount of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) was five times higher than in 1960. The European Union is responsible for about two-thirds of humanitarian aid worldwide. However, it is questionable whether development aid is actually effective. A ‘least-likely case’ is Nigeria, it received 9 billion euros from the EU in the period of 2007-2024. Yet it has one of the worst development factors in Sub-Saharan Africa. This Thesis aims to find an answer to the question of whether European development aid was really effective in Nigeria, and whether the targets the European Union set itself were actually achieved. This is done by using the National Indicative Programme (NIP) that ran from 2014-2020. The analysis shows that despite achieving some of the objectives examined in the health care sector, the NIP has mostly failed to achieve the desired impact. Primarily, the high level of corruption ensured that few development objectives have been realized. Therefore, it can be concluded that European Development aid has not really been effective. For further research, it would be valuable to look at the Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (MIP) that runs from 2021-2027. Here, slightly different targets have been set that may give different results. In addition, it may be of added value to conduct a study of how Nigerian agencies report, since there are sometimes substantial differences between the observations of NGOs and these agencies, which can lead to different interpretations. This could possibly engender a different observation of aid effectiveness as well.Show less
Transitional justice aims to address the aftermath of gross human rights violations and facilitate societal healing and recovery. Traditionally, transitional justice mechanisms have been state...Show moreTransitional justice aims to address the aftermath of gross human rights violations and facilitate societal healing and recovery. Traditionally, transitional justice mechanisms have been state-centric, relying on the capacity and will of states for their implementation. In fragile states—characterised by weak authority, capacity, and legitimacy—this approach often leads to an "implementation gap," where policies are designed but not enacted. This study explores the extent to which civil society can fill this gap. Focusing on Actoras de Cambio, a civil society organisation in post-war Guatemala, this research examines how civil society operates within this state-centric framework, evaluating its ability to fulfil the five pillars of transitional justice: truth-seeking, justice, reparation, memorialisation, and guarantees of non-recurrence. The findings suggest that civil society can effectively address truth-seeking, memorialisation, and psycho-social reparation, but faces limitations in delivering justice and guarantees of non-recurrence, areas requiring broader legal and structural reforms. These results underscore the importance of a synergistic approach between the state and civil society in transitional justice processes, particularly in fragile states. This research advocates for a more inclusive and holistic transitional justice framework, recognising the critical role of civil society in fragile states and informing more tailored international responses to mass atrocities.Show less
This thesis seeks to broaden the liberal understanding of tolerance by taking an Arendtian notion of freedom. It will find that liberalism's notion of freedom, resting on the notion of an...Show moreThis thesis seeks to broaden the liberal understanding of tolerance by taking an Arendtian notion of freedom. It will find that liberalism's notion of freedom, resting on the notion of an egalitarian plateau, offers too little room to put a threshold on tolerance, and that Arendt's notion of freedom, based on her understanding of action, offers an alternative basis on which justify a threshold on tolerance.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
This thesis explores the relationship between humans and non-humans within a sea turtle conservation organization in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. Through eleven weeks of in-depth visual ethnographic...Show moreThis thesis explores the relationship between humans and non-humans within a sea turtle conservation organization in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. Through eleven weeks of in-depth visual ethnographic fieldwork, I investigate the influence these human/non-human relationships have on scientific knowledge production. The output of this research consists of an ethnographic film ‘The Turtle Team’ and this article. This research underscores the necessity of adopting transdisciplinary methodologies in which non-humans are integrated, which is crucial in the era of the Anthropocene. It provides a nuanced understanding of how human/non-human relationships shape the production of scientific knowledge in this team of conservationists and emphasizes the interwovenness of humans and non-humans. This research contributes to the existing literature on the Anthropocene and the nature-culture debate and I argue that the interwovenness of humans and non-humans should be discussed more within scientific research, especially in conservation biology.Show less
