After the Liberation of the Southern Nederlands in late 1944, the head of the Philips company contacted the American religious and anticommunist organization the Moral Rearmament. Throughout the...Show moreAfter the Liberation of the Southern Nederlands in late 1944, the head of the Philips company contacted the American religious and anticommunist organization the Moral Rearmament. Throughout the 50s, the Philips family played a major role in facilitating the American organization in the Netherlands, propagating Cold War rhetoric in politics, culture and industry. What in historiography has been called a 'postwar consensus', a period of a supposed 'ideological vacuum' and labour harmony, is problematized by the activity in the Netherlands of this highly ideological network of international industrialists. This thesis tries to research how the Moral Rearmament politicized the fundaments of the 'postwar consensus' by various tactics, and simultaneously traces the dissemination of its political ideas in Dutch society and key industries.Show less
Research master thesis | Latin American Studies (research) (MA)
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This master thesis will be devoted to the switch in Dutch foreign policy towards Latin America. Hereby we are reffering to the switch from a more development oriented policy towards a policy that...Show moreThis master thesis will be devoted to the switch in Dutch foreign policy towards Latin America. Hereby we are reffering to the switch from a more development oriented policy towards a policy that lays attention on the economic relations. We are aware of the comprehensiveness of the Latin American region, but due to the various developments that have taken place over the years we consider it important to look at Latin America in general. Subsequently, we will take a closer look at specific countries. The first chapter is the theoretical framework, the second chapter will be aimed at the relations between the Netherlands and Latin America in the period of the 1970s to the early 2000s and the third chapter will be aimed at the current relations between the Netherlands and Latin America and includes special attention to the following countries: Cuba, Colombia, Panama, Mexico and Chile.Show less
The French Senate is nowadays often presented by its critics as an institution that is conflicting with the principles of democracy. This raises questions about how this area of tension between...Show moreThe French Senate is nowadays often presented by its critics as an institution that is conflicting with the principles of democracy. This raises questions about how this area of tension between democracy and the second chamber has emerged and evolved throughout the history of the French political system. Bicameralism seems contradictory to the French political culture because the republican doctrine strongly believed in a single assembly. This research focuses on the first half of the French Third Republic (1870-1914) and investigates to what extend the Senate was considered to be compatible with democracy. How was it possible that a Senate -an institution that seemed to have lost its place in the French political landscape and was associated with aristocracy and conservative liberalism- obtained a place in the institutional framework of this republic which was so democratic for its time? In general, historians have shown little interest in upper houses. However, this thesis argues that in order to get a complete picture of the reasons behind the evolution of democratic institutions it is not enough to merely study political theory or constitutional law; one should also look at the reality of political practice. In order to understand how important historical events and national context in France were in shaping the debate about the relation between the Senate and democracy, the French case is put in an international comparative perspective with the discussions that took place around the same period in Belgium and The Netherlands. This research demonstrates that the French Senate of the Third Republic was not constructed against democracy, or simply as the representation of conservative forces. It rather was a very inventive chamber that served the interest of the Republican Party, promoted democracy and played an important role in the political education of the French countryside and its integration into the French nation. Secondly, it is argued that discussions about the legitimacy of the French upper house were to a very large extend determined by historical circumstances -such as the Boulanger crisis and the Dreyfus affair-, political opportunism, pragmatism, and specificities in the national political culture.Show less
Research master thesis | History: Societies and Institutions (research) (MA)
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This thesis is about two scientific expeditions to Dutch New Guinea.The first to the Wisselmeren (1939)just before the Second World War, the second to the Sterrengebergte (1959) a few years before...Show moreThis thesis is about two scientific expeditions to Dutch New Guinea.The first to the Wisselmeren (1939)just before the Second World War, the second to the Sterrengebergte (1959) a few years before the transfer of Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia. These expeditions were organized by the Dutch Royal Geographic Society (Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap or KNAG). Many disciplines were involved: zoology, botany, geology, anthropology and many more specialisations. This research looks specifically at the interaction between the colonial state and the scientific expedition and the knowledge resulting from this relationship. Therefore it focuses on colonial anthropology and the changing notions of race and the 'other'.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
