Research master thesis | Political Science and Public Administration (research) (MSc)
open access
Party competition lies at the heart of every democracy. It is related to party organization and electoral behavior. There is no consensus on what the political space of competition looks like. The...Show moreParty competition lies at the heart of every democracy. It is related to party organization and electoral behavior. There is no consensus on what the political space of competition looks like. The left-right dimension is the most well-known model of party competition. However, especially in multiparty systems, with multiple salient issues each election, locating parties in a predefined onedimensional space is very unlikely to capture all differences between parties. This study addresses the question what the spatial representation of party competition in multiparty systems looks like. Is it indeed structured along a left-right dimension, or are multiple dimensions necessary to understand competition? It has been argued before that competition in multiparty systems is best understood using multiple dimensions. However, this is the first study that investigates whether the left-right dimension gives accurate information about party competition both deterministically and probabilistically. First, the formal logic behind the empirical use of the left-right dimension is tested. In other words, it is investigated whether the necessary conditions for one-dimensional competition hold in a multiparty system. Additionally, it is investigated how much information is gained when the space of competition is modeled probabilistically, without the a priori assumption that competition is one-dimensional. Focusing on party competition in the Netherlands, it is found that in all election years from 1982 to 2010 left-right party positions did not give an accurate representation of Dutch competition. Rather, two-dimensional spaces are necessary. Especially ethical issues and the issue of European integration cannot be squeezed into an overarching left-right dimension.Show less
Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
open access
In 2001, the killing of a young Kabyle student in Algeria sparked Berber anti-Arab protests in Algeria and France, marking decades of intermittent conflict positing Berber identity against the Arab...Show moreIn 2001, the killing of a young Kabyle student in Algeria sparked Berber anti-Arab protests in Algeria and France, marking decades of intermittent conflict positing Berber identity against the Arab-Islamic policies of the Algerian state. Explanations for a growing Berber movement and the resulting conflict point to historical categorical divisions of “Berber” and “Arab” in colonialism and cultural groups. This thesis challenges the historical consistency of these explanations and examines how identity is constructed; it asks how this categorization of “Berbers” and “Arabs” has mobilized a Berber identity movement. Instead of linking this movement to a legacy of “Berber” against “Arab,” this thesis aims to show that the Berber identity movement as understood today is a relatively recent phenomenon. The following analysis develops two main arguments to support this claim: First, a historical discourse analysis of four periods shows that the category “Berber” has served different functions in different contexts. Second, the analysis develops a genealogy of “Berber” to present an alternative understanding for how categorization has shaped Berber identity, arguing that this movement is better understood as a product of interacting national discourses based on exclusive concepts of membership. These arguments are developed using insights from securitization theory to model identity formation, conceptualizing “Berber” as a term used with a purpose that produces a context dependent effect.Show less
Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
open access
States can choose to cooperate, delay or escalate their territorial disputes, but there is a lack of understanding of strategy behind each choice. In this study, Russian territorial disputes are...Show moreStates can choose to cooperate, delay or escalate their territorial disputes, but there is a lack of understanding of strategy behind each choice. In this study, Russian territorial disputes are looked at using the theory of omnibalancing and the theory of preventive warfare, theories which have already been applied by Taylor Fravel in his analysis of the Chinese territorial disputes. The results of this research show that Fravel’s approach can explain a slight majority of Russia’s cases, but the explanatory power could be increased by changing certain premises of his theory.Show less
Research master thesis | Political Science and Public Administration (research) (MSc)
open access
2017-01-01T00:00:00Z
Why do democracies not go to war with other democracies? The idea that the internalized liberal-democratic norms of peaceful conflict resolution within a democratic society are responsible for the...Show moreWhy do democracies not go to war with other democracies? The idea that the internalized liberal-democratic norms of peaceful conflict resolution within a democratic society are responsible for the democratic peace, also referred to as the normative explanation, remains subject to a particular lack of empirical academic attention. The few studies into the normative explanation have not tested what should be tested: whether liberal democratic norms indeed affect the behavior of democratic citizens in comparison to the behavior of nondemocratic citizens. This research performs an improved empirical test and studies (1) whether liberal norms exist in a democracy in comparison to a non-democracy and (2) whether these norms have an effect on the individuals of these societies concerning the wish to use force in International Relations. An experimental design showed that there was no significant difference between a group of Dutch students and a group of Chinese students when it comes to the use of force in IR. A marginal effect of the regime type for the democratic citizens was found. Remarkably, in a comparison with the autocratic experimental group, these democratic citizens turned out not to be specifically more peaceful towards other democracies, but rather more war-prone towards autocracies. The overall conclusion of this study is that for both experimental groups the perception of threat was the main indicator for a decision to attack. This research argues that, in contrast with earlier research, there is no support to the claim that the normative explanation can explain the empirically found peace between democracies.Show less
A higher turnout is not always beneficial for legitimacy in both it's descriptive and it's normative sense, when deliberative democracy is taken into account.
The purpose of this study was to shed light on the relationship between regimes with a strong personalist dimension and a negative post-tenure fate. This was a relevant exercise, because the...Show moreThe purpose of this study was to shed light on the relationship between regimes with a strong personalist dimension and a negative post-tenure fate. This was a relevant exercise, because the personalist dimension was missing in existing frameworks addressing post-tenure fates of authoritarian leaders and elites. Based on available literature, this personalist dimension was hypothesized to be a strong indicator for a negative post-tenure fate. In this thesis this hypothesis is substantiated and found to be statistically significant through merging of the Archigos data-set on regime leaders and Geddes’ (1999) typology of authoritarian regimes. The relationship is then further explored through analysis of two similar cases, Libya and Tunisia. Based on this analysis it was possible to draw several plausible hypotheses regarding the relationship, which provide an interesting starting point for future research. All in all, it is clearly shown that the conditions that come with a strong personalist dimension can be expected to have a strong negative influence on the post-tenure fate of the regime leadership.Show less
The subject of this thesis consists of the search for an educational answer to the challenges posed to citizenship by globalization, first of all the broader scope of political obligation (i.e. to...Show moreThe subject of this thesis consists of the search for an educational answer to the challenges posed to citizenship by globalization, first of all the broader scope of political obligation (i.e. to citizens of other countries) related to the international impact of national political decisions. To this question no institutional answer is considered possible. This essay presents three possible designs of a programme for citizenship education fit for the 21th century: one based on political-liberalism, one based on nationalism and one based on cosmopolitanism. After this, it is concluded that only a cosmopolitan programma can provide citizens with the right tools to cope with the challenges of globalization, because it can both create a feeling of belonging to a political community and facilitate mutual respect among people that have a different conception of the good life.Show less
