Right-wing extremism in much of the Western world looks far different than it did even a decade ago. Extremists are getting younger, and radicalization is an increasingly online process. According...Show moreRight-wing extremism in much of the Western world looks far different than it did even a decade ago. Extremists are getting younger, and radicalization is an increasingly online process. According to most contemporary theories of radicalization, personal and political grievances are critical foundations for this process. Despite this, research into the forms these grievances take, especially in this new cohort of younger, more online extremists is rare. This study seeks to address this research gap by asking the question: What kinds of personal and political grievances are most likely to push young people to get involved with right-wing extremist groups online? It answers by performing a process of content analysis on messages sent between users of six large right-wing extremist group chats on the popular instant messaging platform Discord between early 2017 and early 2020 with the goal of identifying individual grievances and larger common themes in this cohort of extremists. Out of an initial dataset of 308,207 messages, over three hundred discrete examples were identified and further classified into 35 different thematic subcategories. Two clusters of especially prevalent interrelated grievances were also identified which tended to appear together, signaling the possibility that more similar clusters exist and reaffirming existing theories about the role of grievances in right-wing extremist radicalization pathways.Show less
The thesis deals with the political discourse surrounding the 2016 EU-Turkey Agreement on Migration in the European Parliament (EP). By analysing parliamentary debates, it examines how different...Show moreThe thesis deals with the political discourse surrounding the 2016 EU-Turkey Agreement on Migration in the European Parliament (EP). By analysing parliamentary debates, it examines how different political groups in the EP discuss this topic. Through directed content analysis, the analysis looks into five different factors encompassing security, normative, economic, cultural and diplomatic aspects. The thesis highlights that parties’ discourses on the EU-Turkey deal are shaped along different cleavages, including left-and right, GAL and TAN, pro and against European integration, as well as the geographical dimension.Show less
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the sustainable mobility transition in The Hague, The Netherlands is fair by analyzing the transition from a mobility justice perspective....Show moreThe purpose of this study was to determine whether the sustainable mobility transition in The Hague, The Netherlands is fair by analyzing the transition from a mobility justice perspective. Sustainable mobility systems are being implemented in cities all over the world, and it is essential to ensure that these transitions are just, amending existing injustices and preventing future ones. Utilizing deductive content analysis, five key policy documents from The Hague’s municipality were examined on mobility justice considerations. The theoretical framework combined five nested approaches constituting mobility justice (distributive justice, justice as recognition, procedural justice, restorative justice, and epistemic justice). The analysis revealed a high prevalence of distributive justice in the documents, alongside the generalization of residents by the municipality hindering the realization of justice as recognition and a knowledge production focused on technological advancements limiting epistemic justice considerations. Furthermore, the results allowed for further insights into the interlinkage between the five-justice dimensions, highlighting their inherent reliance on one another to realize mobility justice, with justice as recognition playing a central role and epistemic justice constituting the scope of the mobility transition discourse.Show less
This study looks into how the Islamic State (IS) recruits both men and women by using genderspecific narratives in its online magazine Dabiq. The study focuses on the themes of the narratives and...Show moreThis study looks into how the Islamic State (IS) recruits both men and women by using genderspecific narratives in its online magazine Dabiq. The study focuses on the themes of the narratives and frequency of specific words used by IS to appeal to various gender identities by performing a content and discourse analysis of 15 Dabiq magazines. The research shows that IS targets men and women using several gender-specific narratives. The most common topics among men are violent ones, emphasising martyrdom and violence in particular. Women, on the other hand, tend to focus more on social and personal issues, with a particular focus on motherhood. The data also shows that IS uses several gender narratives to appeal to both men and women. The prevailing narrative for men reinforces traditional masculine norms by focusing on ideas of bravery, protection and heroism. Contrarily the dominant narrative for women centres on stereotypes of motherhood and caregiving, which are consistent with traditional conceptions of the roles and obligations of women. According to these findings, IS customises its recruitment techniques to consider men's and women's distinct motivations and objectives, relying on gender-specific narratives to engage people in their particular gender identities. The study clarifies the part played by gender in online radicalisation and emphasises the significance of taking gender dynamics into account in counterterrorism efforts.Show less
This thesis analyses competing discourses around the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. Taking a quantitative approach, several distinct text-mining techniques are applied to political speech...Show moreThis thesis analyses competing discourses around the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. Taking a quantitative approach, several distinct text-mining techniques are applied to political speech transcripts and newspaper opinion pieces of pro-independence and pro-union elites in order to identify broad lexical patterns in discourse. These results are then interpreted with the guidance of previous literature and within the theoretical framework of discursive institutionalism. The analysis finds that the most salient patterns are a pro-union emphasis on law and the constitution, and a pro-independence focus on the symbolic imagery produced by the referendum, such as polling stations, ballot boxes, and police violence. The results also find differing representations of the relationship between Catalonia and Spain, and to a lesser degree, the role of Europe within the dynamic. Taken together, these findings illuminate broad discursive strategies employed by both sides of the independence debate as they seek to either provoke or prevent institutional change.Show less
Bilateral relations between the United States and China have increasingly soured since President Donald Trump assumed office in 2017. A key reason is that China’s growing power has made it a threat...Show moreBilateral relations between the United States and China have increasingly soured since President Donald Trump assumed office in 2017. A key reason is that China’s growing power has made it a threat to U.S. hegemony and the U.S. is more proactively seeking to contain China than ever before. While China’s threat can be examined from various theoretical angles, such as realism, few studies have looked at it from the perspective of the U.S. media. This is an important avenue for research as perceptions influence international relations and the media plays an important role in shaping such perceptions. Conversely, the media reflects tendencies in politics and society. Using content analysis, the portrayal of the China threat in the news coverage of the Wall Street Journal is examined between 2016 and 2018. The debate on the China threat has mostly consisted of three categories, namely military, economic, and political. The thesis adds a new category to be used in content analysis, namely world order.Show less
Fidel Castro’s leadership and legacy in Cuba has been a fascinating and mystifying topic of matter in the field of International Relations. Much has been written and contended on how Fidel came to...Show moreFidel Castro’s leadership and legacy in Cuba has been a fascinating and mystifying topic of matter in the field of International Relations. Much has been written and contended on how Fidel came to be the charismatic leader of Cuba and how he was able to maintain staying power and achieve legitimacy. The concepts of authority and legitimacy are attributed to the phenomenon of leadership and development of a society. This thesis will look at the roles of society, of Cuba in the twentieth century, and discourse and visual elements in the social construction of charisma in Fidel’s leadership. In addition, there will be an overview of Fidel’s background and how the approaches of gender, age, class, and race facilitated the social construction of Fidel’s charismatic leadership and the social reality of Cuba. The theoretical framework of constructivism and the methodological approach of content analysis will be utilized in order to examine how Fidel go to be the charismatic leader of Cuba.Show less
Feedback has much potential for learning, when it also gives students guidance to bridge the gap between performance and goals. Effective feedback is more than telling students what criteria there...Show moreFeedback has much potential for learning, when it also gives students guidance to bridge the gap between performance and goals. Effective feedback is more than telling students what criteria there are to meet and appraising their performance. Teachers should also give suggestions or proposals for the best course of action to bridge the gap between performance and goal. Whether the student accepts this feedback and is willing to follow recommendations depends on the teacher approach to communicate this feedback and on students’ goal orientation. This study investigated to what extent the approach of the teacher and the goal orientation of the student had influence on student's use of feedback. Distinctions were made between directive and reflective approaches and between performance goal orientation and learning goal orientation. The study also tested if higher feedback use led to higher performance. Several dialogs were registered and their content was analysed on the balance between discussing the criteria to meet, appraising performance, and giving recommendations. This study partially confirmed that the conversation between teacher and student exerts influence on the student acceptance of and compliance with feedback. The teacher approach appeared to make little difference. The performance goal orientation of students, unexpectedly, had a negative impact both on the acceptance of feedback and on the use of recommendations. Students who followed recommendations had, as expected, a higher performance in the second-stage. The content analysis revealed that teachers mainly appraise the performance of student and give little recommendations on how to improve performance.Show less
