The contemporary Russian invasion of Ukraine requires a reassessment of the European Union’s foreign policy tools as the threat of war has not been so high in recent history. As the EU’s sanction...Show moreThe contemporary Russian invasion of Ukraine requires a reassessment of the European Union’s foreign policy tools as the threat of war has not been so high in recent history. As the EU’s sanction regime is one of the most important tools for the union outside influence on that is important to be evaluated. For that Kingdon’s stream model is used, together with policy advisory systems theory, to analyse the influence of think tanks in the European Unions sanction regime. In this combined model a most similar system’s design is applied to analyse the influence of think tanks in similar cases. A relation is found between think tank publications and the implementation of sanctions, from which is inferred that the influence of think tanks is primarily in the political stream. Consequently, as the political stream is influenced that is the weakest spot of the EU’s sanction regime. As the EU consists of democratic states this is not a major issue because within the members states the decision-makers are held accountable. Moreover, the members of the European parliament are also held accountable so there are two manners that compensate this weakness.Show less
Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s 2022 Growth Plan sent the markets into meltdown, the ramifications of which are still felt almost a year on. Using process tracing, this paper seeks to explain the...Show moreLiz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s 2022 Growth Plan sent the markets into meltdown, the ramifications of which are still felt almost a year on. Using process tracing, this paper seeks to explain the policy choices of the Growth Plan by adopting a discursive institutionalist approach. First, this paper investigates the influence of ideas held by the two key decision-makers, Truss and Kwarteng, and finds that ideas they held for over a decade significantly influenced many of the Growth Plan’s policies. Secondly, this paper explores the influence of ideas furthered by right- leaning think tanks on the policies of the Growth Plan. The results indicate that, while there are limitations to think tank influence, it is likely that the ideas of right-leaning think tanks played a significant role in shaping the policies of the Growth Plan. Causal mechanisms lie at the heart of this paper, responding to calls for a greater emphasis on the causal mechanisms linking ideas to policy outcomes (Campbell, 2002; Jacobs, 2009). Therefore, the results contribute to the body of literature investigating the explanations for economic policymaking and seeks to provide new findings for the literature which is engaged in a fractious debate about the role of think tanks in policymaking.Show less
There are relatively few case studies on the role of think tanks in the Dutch policy advisory system. In this exploratory case study, I will address the role of The Netherlands Scientific Council...Show moreThere are relatively few case studies on the role of think tanks in the Dutch policy advisory system. In this exploratory case study, I will address the role of The Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) in the Dutch policy advisory system. Specifically, I will lay out which factors have contributed to the impact of the advisory report ‘Security in an Interconnected World. A Strategic Vision for Defence Policy’ (2017) on The Integrated International Security Strategy 2018- 2022 (IISS). Theoretically motivated by Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework, I will elaborate on the problem stream, the policy stream and the political stream as factors that are expected to be partly responsible for the influence of the advisory report on the policy change under investigation. In the problem stream, I will investigate a combination of three focusing events, namely the MH17 airplane crash, the return of foreign fighters to the Netherlands and the failed coup d’etat in Turkey. In the policy stream, I will investigate whether an available policy alternative was formulated that received sufficient recognition among government officials and other advisory actors. In the political stream, I will investigate the swings of national mood and government turnover. Based on these findings, I will conclude to which extent these factors have contributed to the influence of the WRR on the formulation of the IISS (2018-2022).Show less
