Master thesis | Crisis and Security Management (MSc)
open access
Although strategic communication is a tool that can help in countering adversarial influencing campaigns whilst simultaneously increasing resilience against them, it also has the potential to work...Show moreAlthough strategic communication is a tool that can help in countering adversarial influencing campaigns whilst simultaneously increasing resilience against them, it also has the potential to work against the sender’s own goals. This research focuses on how the design of a message contributes to this phenomenon, referred to as ‘information fratricide’. Because the term ‘information fratricide’ is derived from the military and this research focuses on non-military strategic communications in the modern contested information environment, information fratricide is theoretically and conceptually (re)developed to be better suitable for the use in this research. This is done by breaking down Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding theory (1973) and Shannon and Weaver’s concept of ‘noise’ (Shannon & Weaver, 1949). In order to identify the role of message design in information fratricide, an analysis of information fratricide incidents was made. The analysis focused on the communication of U.S. officials about the Russian military build-up at Ukraine’s borders in 2022 and the information fratricidal effects on three receivers of this communication, and found that message design contributes to information fratricide through the ideas that codes add to a message. Furthermore, it was found that the effects of past information fratricide incidents work over time to potentially affect future friendly operations.Show less
Master thesis | Crisis and Security Management (MSc)
open access
Every year people are reported missing in the Netherlands. In the situation that a missing person is not found quickly, it creates unbearable situations for their close ones. Therefore, it is...Show moreEvery year people are reported missing in the Netherlands. In the situation that a missing person is not found quickly, it creates unbearable situations for their close ones. Therefore, it is important to continue to improve the effectiveness of the search for missing persons. With the recognition that citizens need and want to contribute to a safe society, it is important to learn more about the ways in which citizens can be effectively involved. This is especially relevant for the police. One of the ways to involve citizens is the form of coproduction. This research focuses on coproduction between the police and citizens during the time of missing persons cases. A comparative case study is applied. The cases that are compared are those of Ruben and Julian and Anne Faber. Qualitative content analysis is applied to analyse a triangulation of sources with the use of operationalization tables established on coproduction and effectiveness in missing persons cases. The findings of this study shed light on the impact of coproduction during the search for missing persons as it reveals similarities and differences between the two cases.Show less
Master thesis | Crisis and Security Management (MSc)
open access
This research revolves around the decision-making process surrounding the New Year’s Eve bonfires in The Hague. After incidents during the New Year’s Eve 2018/2019 bonfires, the municipality of The...Show moreThis research revolves around the decision-making process surrounding the New Year’s Eve bonfires in The Hague. After incidents during the New Year’s Eve 2018/2019 bonfires, the municipality of The Hague changed its policy. Even though earlier editions revealed the safety risks of the bonfires, the municipality waited until after the 2018/2019 edition to intervene. In order to explain the timing of the policy change, this research uses the Multiple Stream Model by Kingdon (2011). The analysis of the municipal decision-making process gives an insight into the causes that have led to the change in policy. The conditions surrounding the bonfires in 2013/2014 and 2018/2019 are compared in order to establish which factors play an important role in the occurrence of policy change. By applying Kingdon’s model to the two cases, conclusions are drawn on whether the model is able to explain the difference in outcome, namely no policy change and a policy change. This research argues that changes in the problem and political stream have led to the policy change regarding the New Year’s Eve bonfires in 2019. The events of New Year’s Eve 2018/2019 have helped to identify the bonfires as a problem in need of government intervention. The political context was just right. In the 2013/2014 case necessary conditions were absent, which explains why a policy change did not occur then. This study has shown that Kingdon’s Multiple Stream Model is able to explain the policy change regarding the 2018/2019 New Year’s Eve bonfires.Show less
