Using the Schwartz’ value module of the European Social Survey, the development of value priority within the Netherlands was explored between 2002 and 2010, also the relation between value priority...Show moreUsing the Schwartz’ value module of the European Social Survey, the development of value priority within the Netherlands was explored between 2002 and 2010, also the relation between value priority and the attitude towards immigration was tested. The value priority within Dutch society proved to be fairly stable over time and underlined the assumptions of the current theory on human values. Unexpected was a decline in priority for values promoting Conservation and am increase in priority for values promoted by Openness to Change from 2002 on. This is attributed to events in 2001 and 2002, both in the Netherlands and abroad, which probably temporarily increased the importance of Conservation values. Also the development for the value priority of specific antecedents of individual value priority was assessed. In nearly all cases the development of the value priority followed the pattern of the general sample. The relation between the attitude on immigration and value priority proved to be constant in all rounds of the ESS, but appears to be different from earlier studies. The conflict line between values that support or oppose immigration is situated in the middle of the circular value model, dividing the Conservation higher order value type plus power and benevolence and the Openness to Change higher order value type plus achievement and universalism.Show less
Research master thesis | Political Science and Public Administration (research) (MSc)
open access
2012-09-03T00:00:00Z
Over the past few decades a considerable literature, based on the populist notion of democracy, attempted to explicate the more or less successful translation of citizen demands into policy by the...Show moreOver the past few decades a considerable literature, based on the populist notion of democracy, attempted to explicate the more or less successful translation of citizen demands into policy by the political system. Yet maximizing political responsiveness need not be the highest good a democracy can aspire too. Following a liberal theory of democracy this paper moves political responsiveness to the position of the independent variable and shows that there is a connection high political responsiveness (and the risks for a tyranny of the majority this entails) and the freedom of the people living within the state. Drawing on data from the OECD and the Eurobarometer a measure of political responsiveness is developed based on behaviour, rather than attitudinal congruence. This allows the author to show the negative association between responsiveness and freedom (as captured through the CIRI Human Rights Project) in a sample of Western and Eastern European countries between 2006 and 2010.Show less
