Master thesis | Crisis and Security Management (MSc)
open access
In 2013, President Xi Jinping of China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This initiative of unprecedented scale aims to connect China with its western hinterland, eventually reaching...Show moreIn 2013, President Xi Jinping of China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This initiative of unprecedented scale aims to connect China with its western hinterland, eventually reaching Europe and the African east coast, through massive infrastructural investments. Although, the potential consequences of this initiative can be enormous, the EU has hitherto shown limited (re)action towards the BRI. This led Misiągiewicz & Misiągiewicz (2016, p. 39) to state that “the European Union has to date been slow and reluctant in responding to the ‘One Belt, One Road’ idea”. This reveals what some would call a low degree of EU-‘actorness’, with ‘actorness’ being understood as the extent to which an actor can deliberately operate among and with other actors within the international system (Sjösted, 1977). This leads to the research question of this thesis, namely: “What factors can explain the low degree of actorness of the European Union regarding the Belt and Road Initiative?”. Following on a literature review towards actorness, three factors that influence actorness are identified. These three factors are context, capability and coherence. The first factor, context, is about external elements that influence actorness (Brattberg & Rhinard, 2012; Bretherton & Vogler, 2013; Da Conceição-Heldt & Meunier, 2014; Jupille & Caporaso, 1998). The factor of capability is about the different ‘tools’ an actor has and whether it is able to use those tools (Brattberg & Rhinard, 2012; Bretherton & Vogler, 2006; 2013). The third and last factor this thesis will study is coherence. This factor is about how coherent an actor and its institutions are among themselves (Bretherton & Vogler, 2013; Da Conceição-Heldt & Meunier, 2014; Nilsson et al., 2012). These factors are elaborated upon and analyzed in this thesis to determine whether they can explain the low degree of EU actorness regarding the BRI. To analyze the factors of context and capability, qualitative content analyses are conducted towards primary sources, consisting of EU documents and two EU webpages. To study the factor of coherence, a quantitative content analysis will be conducted towards primary sources, consisting of EU documents that represent the external message of the EU. Following from these analyses, it can be concluded that the factors context and coherence resulted in the low degree of EU actorness regarding the BRI. The factor of context constrains EU actorness regarding the BRI, because the EU is not completely recognized as a relevant party by other international actors with regard to themes that are relevant in the context of the EU and the BRI, for example concerning FDI laws. The factor of coherence constrains EU actorness regarding the BRI, because the external ‘message’ of the EU is not coherent in three ways. First of all, EU documents often contradict themselves. Secondly, EU documents that are published in the same year are not coherent with one another. Last, the EU’s message is also not coherent with itself over time.Show less
An analysis of a seminal work within the Gonzo journalism tradition. It shows the extent to which the experimental style of the author was a vehicle for the expression of socio-political critique.
Previous studies have indicated that native and non-native listeners’ attention to differences in segments and lexical tones is heightened when language context is removed. Do they also display...Show morePrevious studies have indicated that native and non-native listeners’ attention to differences in segments and lexical tones is heightened when language context is removed. Do they also display greater sensitivity to intonational differences in the absence of language context? To examine this question, this thesis tests the ability of Dutch and Mandarin listeners to identify Mandarin questions and statements that differ only in intonation in three different levels of language context: no language context, a neutral language context, and a constraining language context. All listeners were found to identify questions and statements better with each increasing level of language context. This suggests that the presence of a meaningful semantic context facilitates the perception of intonational meaning. Moreover, Mandarin listeners were better at identifying questions and statements than non-native listeners in sentences with language context. But the difference between Mandarin and Dutch listeners’ abilities was minimal in sentences without language context. This result suggests that the effect of language experience on intonation perception is diminished at the lower auditory processing level.Show less
This paper contains a detailed analysis of the use and non-use of biased language amongst students of the BA English Language & Culture at the Leiden University. To be more precise, it...Show moreThis paper contains a detailed analysis of the use and non-use of biased language amongst students of the BA English Language & Culture at the Leiden University. To be more precise, it discusses the reasoning behind the use and non-use of biased language, as well as the contexts and manners in which they occur alongside the targeted groups of such biased language. There was a general tendency to abstain from using biased language in general with the exception of camaraderie forms among the subjects. Still, the participants reacted very differently to the instances of biased language pertaining to different groups of people, with religion being treated the least careful, and race the most careful.Show less
'Code-switching' is een onderwerp waarbij veel vragen worden gesteld. Het bestuderen van asymmetrische en symmetrische 'Code-switching' en de tijdkosten, zijn actuele onderzoeken. Veel definities...Show more'Code-switching' is een onderwerp waarbij veel vragen worden gesteld. Het bestuderen van asymmetrische en symmetrische 'Code-switching' en de tijdkosten, zijn actuele onderzoeken. Veel definities brengen 'Code-switching' in verband met Transfer ? Hoe onderscheidt men Transfer en leerstrategieen ? Is 'Code-switching een oorzaak van cross-linguitic activation of wordt 'Code-switching' tevens gebruikt als een leerstrategie. Onderzoekers bestuderen neurocognitieve mechanismen om meer te leren over 'Code-switching' en of het alleen een kenmerk bij tweetalige sprekers is.Show less
Is code-switching een leerstrategie of niet, of is code-switching alleen maar een kenmerk van tweetaligheid, Een aantal onderzoekers hebben bevestigt dat het een resultaat was van parallele cross...Show moreIs code-switching een leerstrategie of niet, of is code-switching alleen maar een kenmerk van tweetaligheid, Een aantal onderzoekers hebben bevestigt dat het een resultaat was van parallele cross-language activationShow less
In this thesis the biographies of The Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts Collection and The Barbier-Mueller Pre-Columbian Collection have been described and researched. Through this research it was...Show moreIn this thesis the biographies of The Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts Collection and The Barbier-Mueller Pre-Columbian Collection have been described and researched. Through this research it was possible to discover the different contexts the objects were in and how they ended up in these contexts. This has been done by the use of the Reinwardt-Model. This model is a way to look at objects in the physical way, the function and the context. As in this research the context of the collections was the most important, the way of writing down the contexts as the Reinwardt-Model describes has been used to find where significant changes in the lives of the collections could be found. The aim of this research was to show that changing circumstances within collections have effects on the collections, the objects and the way people look at them. It was meant to give an easy way to write down the biography of a collection and in this way be able to figure out where the most specific changes in the life of an object can be found. The Paul and Dora Janssen Arts collection consists of more than 400 Pre-Columbian objects that were acquired by Dora Janssen. After the death of her husband the collection was used as inheritance tax and ended up in the Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp. This is considered to be the most important change in the life of this collection as it went from private to public, but it also triggered more museum who would have liked to have the collection and countries where the provenience of the objects can be found, who would have liked to have their objects back. The Barbier-Mueller Pre-Columbian Collection was established by Josef Mueller and augmented by his son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier. After it was exhibited in its own museum in Barcelona the collection was auctioned by Sotheby’s. This change in the life of the collection caused a commotion with countries where the provenience of objects could be found, who claimed that the objects were illegally removed from the country and should be given back. During the auction many objects failed to sell or were sold for less than anticipated. Specific effects of the significant changes in the lives of these collections are the way people started to look at them, if they belonged in the country of origin or not. It even could have caused the lack of sales with The Barbier-Mueller Collection. Show less
Goede ondersteuning van de cliënt is van belang voor een goede kwaliteit van leven/bestaan. Maar hoe weet je welke variabelen in de ondersteuningscontext ervoor zorgen dat de kwaliteit van leven...Show moreGoede ondersteuning van de cliënt is van belang voor een goede kwaliteit van leven/bestaan. Maar hoe weet je welke variabelen in de ondersteuningscontext ervoor zorgen dat de kwaliteit van leven van de cliënt verbeterd? In deze scriptie wordt getracht te komen tot variabelen die van belang zijn in de ondersteuningscontext van cliënten met een VG ZZP 6 of VG ZZP 7 die verblijven binnen Ipse de Bruggen. De Delphi methode is gebruikt om tot belangrijke contextvariabelen te komen met behulp van de meningen van twee panels. Een panel met experts voornamelijk op basis van kennis van de ondersteuning van cliënten met een VG ZZP 6 of 7 zoals managers, gedragskundigen, arts en paramedici. En een panel met experts voornamelijk op basis van praktijkervaring met het ondersteunen van cliënten met een VG ZZP 6 of 7, bestaande uit persoonlijk begeleiders, wettelijk vertegenwoordigers/familieleden en cliënten zelf. De Delhi bestond uit twee ronden gevolgd door een clustering van de items in de projectgroep van het overkoepelende onderzoek. De in ronde 1 door de 19 participanten genoemde belangrijke variabelen zijn samengevoegd per panel tot een 89 en 66 items tellende vragenlijst voor ronde 2. Geen van de items in de vragenlijst werd als gemiddeld onbelangrijk voor de ondersteuning gescoord. De 155 items zijn geclusterd onder negen onderwerpen. Relatie cliënt-begeleider, veiligheid team, visie, volwaardig burgerschap, medisch, faciliteiten, huisvesting, management en organisatie zorgproces en kennis en vaardigheden/competenties begeleiders. Bij deze clustering zijn de dubbele items samengevoegd, zodat er uiteindelijk 103 items onder de 9 factoren over zijn gebleven. Deze negen onderwerpen dienen volgens de panelleden aanwezig te zijn om goede ondersteuning te kunnen bieden. Met deze Delphi is de eerste stap gemaakt om te komen tot variabelen waarmee de kwaliteit van ondersteuning in kaart gebracht kan worden. De volgende stap is het operationaliseren van de variabelen om te komen tot concrete indicatoren voor het meten van de kwaliteit van de ondersteuningscontext.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
closed access
This paper examines the use of the medium of sculpture in the public sphere in Roman East Midlands including sculpture in the round, reliefs, architectural decoration, tombstones and inscriptions....Show moreThis paper examines the use of the medium of sculpture in the public sphere in Roman East Midlands including sculpture in the round, reliefs, architectural decoration, tombstones and inscriptions. The aim of the research is to analyse the social aspects of the public display of the sculptural medium in order to understand what role sculpture had within the society and the reasons behind choices such as subject matter, form and style. All of the sculptures and inscriptions from the chosen study area between and including Lincoln, Leicester and Water Newton are examined in detail and discussed within the context of their find location. The visual effect of sculpture is examined in terms of location in the landscape, the composition of the image and the visual impact of style. The question of identity is also discussed in terms of the commissioning and use of sculpture and the choice of style. In order to gain a better understanding on the fragmented nature and poor survival of sculptures in the area, their fate in terms of re-use and the scale of possible loss is also examined. Although the poor survival of Romano-British sculpture in the East Midlands makes them a difficult area of study, the aim of this paper is to examine different ways of viewing the material in order to gain more insight into the society who acquired and used such sculptural displays.Show less
