In the past two decades, as the public debate about sustainable development has increasingly gained attention, sustainability goals have also reached the tourism sector, especially in lowand middle...Show moreIn the past two decades, as the public debate about sustainable development has increasingly gained attention, sustainability goals have also reached the tourism sector, especially in lowand middle-income countries. Subsequently, sustainable tourism alternatives like pro-poor, community-based, eco-, or Indigenous tourism emerged, aiming to provide inclusive economic and socio-cultural benefits to the host communities and thus contribute to broader goals like poverty alleviation and regional sustainable development. This thesis focuses on Indigenous tourism, as a particular form of alternative tourism, and assesses its potential in serving as a tool for sustainable development of the tourism sector and the host communities, taking Peru as case study. Whereas singular aspects of Indigenous tourism have already been discussed in prior research, this thesis aims to provide a full overview of the impacts of Indigenous tourism by combining insights from an economic and socio-cultural perspective. The analysis utilizes a mixed-method approach that combines qualitative literature-based research with primary data analyses and is based on neoliberal and Marxist economic theory as well as sustainable tourism studies, critical development, and post-colonial theory. Discussing the various prospects and challenges (both economic and socio-cultural) of Indigenous tourism in Peru, this research identifies clear requirements for successful development and subsequently advocates for the promotion of Indigenous tourism as a mean toward more inclusive and sustainable development of Peru´s tourism sector and the host communities.Show less
In this thesis about the connection between political identity and protest movements, I use Hong Kong as the main case study, due to the interesting political nature and history of Hong Kong. The...Show moreIn this thesis about the connection between political identity and protest movements, I use Hong Kong as the main case study, due to the interesting political nature and history of Hong Kong. The fact that protest movements have continued to take place over an extended period and only grown in size and number, makes Hong Kong and the way the political identity of its people has been shaped, an opportunity to understand the connection between political identity and protest movement in a case as complex as Hong Kong.Show less
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused both academic and financial hardship for students pursuing higher education in the Netherlands, including study delays and layoffs. Given that these types of...Show moreThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused both academic and financial hardship for students pursuing higher education in the Netherlands, including study delays and layoffs. Given that these types of incidents have a bearing on students' overall financial behaviour and that student loans are a common tool among students to finance their postsecondary education, one would expect these effects of the pandemic to have a direct impact on student borrowing behaviour. However, there is another variable to take into account, namely students' financial preferences, particularly with regard to having or taking on debt. Accordingly, this study reports on the degree of debt aversion and how it affects the borrowing behaviour of students in Dutch higher education during this crisis. This relationship is examined by means of three hypotheses and corresponding multiple regression analyses with moderation effects, using data obtained through the use of a survey and an additive index measuring the degree of debt aversion. This research has shown that the financial preference of debt aversion has a negative impact on the borrowing behaviour of students. In other words, the higher a student’s degree of debt aversion is, the lower their monthly amount of student loans will be. This relationship does not differ depending on whether or not a student has been directly affected by the pandemic and the effects thereof.Show less
This thesis provides an alternative view on the Quality of Government (QoG) framework. The current norm within this framework is that impartiality in bureaucrats’ decision-making leads to better...Show moreThis thesis provides an alternative view on the Quality of Government (QoG) framework. The current norm within this framework is that impartiality in bureaucrats’ decision-making leads to better governmental outcomes because citizens perceive the government institutions to be more effective. Based on criticisms of this framework, this thesis provides an alternative metric of decision-making for street-level bureaucrats; equity: decision-making by government officials that temporarily favors members of marginalized groups in society over people that come from a privileged group in society with the purpose of creating more equality amongst societal groups. It is hypothesized that equity affects citizens’ perceptions of governmental institutions in four ways: (1) it increases the suitability of decisions made by street-level bureaucrats to the individual cases, (2) it increases the accessibility of public institutions to citizens, (3) it decreases the predictability of a requests’ outcome and (4) it decreases the timeliness with which is responded to citizens’ requests. Based on these four hypotheses, the general expectation is that equity creates a better citizen perception of governmental institutions. To test this, an exploratory small-N comparative case study is made in which the Dutch SVB and Allowance of the Dutch Tax Department are compared. The aim is to provide scholars with a more nuanced understanding of the QoG framework and for practitioners to have a wider tool-set available which they can use to provide services to citizens.Show less
This thesis studies the influence of the nationality of the President of the European Commission on the share of the total EU budget that the President’s country of origin receives. I focus on the...Show moreThis thesis studies the influence of the nationality of the President of the European Commission on the share of the total EU budget that the President’s country of origin receives. I focus on the President of the European Commission because he or she arguably has more power and influence on the allocation of the EU budget than any other Commissioner. I analyse the period 1977-2018. The results from the entire sample show no significant effect. However, when looking at the EU era (1992-2018), there is a significant positive effect. For this period, supplying the EC President causes a 0.814 percentage point increase in the overall EU budget share that a country receives. This translates to an increase of 850 million euros per year. The results were obtained from a regression which includes certain control variables as well as year and country fixed effects.Show less
In the Netherlands, top civil servants have an important role, as they influence the policies that affect the daily life of the Dutch population. Among top civil servants, there is an elite group...Show moreIn the Netherlands, top civil servants have an important role, as they influence the policies that affect the daily life of the Dutch population. Among top civil servants, there is an elite group called the Top Management Group (TMG) which were established in 2000 and now consist of the 94 highest civil servants in the Netherlands. The TMG members are selected based on certain competences: political craft, managerial competencies, and subject-matter expertise. Each of these competences are influenced by the TMG member’s education. Post-educational institutes have also become more common for top civil servants to attend. Which could change the education background of the top civil servants. The aim of this research is therefore to evaluate the TMG members’ educational backgrounds and determine whether there is a difference between the educational background for the TMG members between 2000 and 2022. The following question is central to this research: ‘How and why has the educational background of the civil servants in the Dutch Top Management Group (TMG) changed between 2000 and 2022?’.Show less
