The economic crisis of 2008 is a perfect example of governance failure resulting in a global economic crisis. Crises form windows of opportunity for change, while a crisis is living proof that the...Show moreThe economic crisis of 2008 is a perfect example of governance failure resulting in a global economic crisis. Crises form windows of opportunity for change, while a crisis is living proof that the status quo is unsustainable. Since the economic crisis was caused by inadequate and the lack of financial regulations, countries all over the globe changed their financial policies. These policies, however, were a product of policy-makers. Since these policy-makers, or bureaucrats, bear responsibility for developing these policies, one would expect that changes also occurred at these bureaucrats. Nevertheless, literature on the effect of the economic crisis on the competencies of these bureaucrats is missing. This research, therefore, aimed to fill this gap. This resulted in the following research question: ‘How has the economic crisis of 2008 influenced the competencies of top and mid-level financial bureaucrats working at the financial ministries of the United Kingdom and Germany?’ The expectations were that the crisis resulted in a change of the economic ideas and technical competency of these top- and mid-level bureaucrats. In order to test these expectations, a quantitative statistical large-N analysis (N = 124) is conducted. The research results were that the economic crisis of 2008 did not affect the economic ideas and technical competency of top- and mid-level bureaucrats. The conclusion on the latter, however, may be false negative. The analysis provided indications that the economic crisis actually did affect the technical competency of top- and mid-level bureaucrats. Besides that, the number of observations used for this research was relatively small. Further research with more observations is, therefore, necessary.Show less
Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
open access
Since 2011, Yemen has been torn apart by two subsequent crises: the 2011 uprisings which sought to overthrow the Saleh-government, and the current conflict between the Houthis and the government of...Show moreSince 2011, Yemen has been torn apart by two subsequent crises: the 2011 uprisings which sought to overthrow the Saleh-government, and the current conflict between the Houthis and the government of president Hadi. Although women are often portrayed as primary victims of these crises, such moments of profound change can also offer possible positive changes for women. In this thesis, I analyse the impact of these two crises – the 2011 uprisings and the current conflict – on women’s political empowerment in Yemen. Did women get more opportunities to participate in politics due to these crises? Two important conclusions follow from this research. Firstly, there is a notable difference between women’s participation in informal politics and formal politics during and after crises; although women might be empowered in informal politics, this does not necessarily lead to empowerment in formal politics. And secondly, different crises have different impacts on women’s political participation. The nature of the subsequent formal political process determines the likelihood of women’s formal political empowerment.Show less
