The downing of Flight MH17 in July 2014 constitutes a major crisis and a critical juncture in Dutch foreign policy towards Russia. This critical juncture created the conditions under which a...Show moreThe downing of Flight MH17 in July 2014 constitutes a major crisis and a critical juncture in Dutch foreign policy towards Russia. This critical juncture created the conditions under which a significant change in Dutch foreign policy towards Russia became possible as institutional constraints were suddenly loosened. By using process tracing this thesis studies the changes in Dutch foreign policy and the causal mechanism behind them following the downing of the airplane. The Dutch government initially took on a cautious position as it was hoping Russia could be convinced to cooperate with the investigation. However as the Kremlin continually spreads disinformation about Flight MH17 and consistently seeks to discredit and undermine the investigations, the Dutch government started to use more confrontational and less accommodating diplomatic tools. This is evidenced by the way in which the Dutch government exposed the foiled OPCW hacking attempt by the GRU as well as how it criticised Russia’s behaviour surrounding the downing of Flight MH17.Show less
Language has the capacity to make politics, create narratives and impact policy making (Hajer, 2006). In the study of foreign policy, discourses define the issues at stake, create a sense of shared...Show moreLanguage has the capacity to make politics, create narratives and impact policy making (Hajer, 2006). In the study of foreign policy, discourses define the issues at stake, create a sense of shared ‘common knowledge’ and legitimize foreign policies as necessary and plausible (Hansen, 2013, 2016). When the Ukrainian crisis breaks out in 2014, Europe is confronted with one of the most complex situations for decades. The sense of urgency increases for one member state in particular when flight MH17 is shot down above Ukraine. Losing almost 200 citizens in the crash, the Netherlands suddenly becomes a central actor in this conflict. The literature, however, pays little attention to the domestic political debates regarding Ukraine. Moreover, the role of parliaments and oppositional political parties in foreign policy is under-accounted for. Therefore, this thesis analyses whether and how discourses are reflected in the Dutch foreign policy debate since the Ukrainian crisis and what role the parliament and political parties play in Dutch foreign policy. A discourse analysis is conducted to see what discourses are reflected in the parliamentary debates. This studies shows that identity-policy constructions – articulated through discourses – are crucial for defining and legitimizing Dutch foreign policies. Furthermore, it finds that the Government’s official foreign policy discourse is influenced and constrained by oppositional discourses that stress the normative and geopolitical aspects of Dutch foreign policy. Hence, this study provides new insight into the role of discourse in the wider political debate in the Netherlands. Though this thesis establishes that the parliament and political parties matter in this specific case, more research is needed on the role of parliaments and political parties to make generalizable conclusions for foreign policy more broadly.Show less
This thesis compares the EU’s discourse on its energy relations with Russia prior to the Ukraine crisis and after it. The discourse analysis is embedded in a Constructivist framework and focuses on...Show moreThis thesis compares the EU’s discourse on its energy relations with Russia prior to the Ukraine crisis and after it. The discourse analysis is embedded in a Constructivist framework and focuses on the question whether continuities and discontinuities in the discourse indicate a successful or deficient construction of EU-Russian energy relations by the EU. This analysis shows that even though there are discontinuities between the two periods, these do not indicate a major failure in developing a suitable energy strategy. This evaluation is based on the result that the discontinuities found only represent shifts in the emphases on different elements of the discourse. The early discourse therefore already included most of the strategic elements that became necessary to deal properly with Russia and to ensure the EU’s energy security once the Crisis broke out.Show less
