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Challenges To Effective Energy Poverty Policy In The Netherlands
Heerts, Manon ; Noferini, Andrea (vedoucí práce) ; Stepanovic, Vera (oponent)
This paper studies policy on energy poverty at multiple levels of government in the Netherlands. Building on the theory of multilevel governance, it argues that energy poverty is a complex policy issue that requires that multiple levels of government coordinate the design and implementation of policy. It contributes to the literature by investigating the Netherlands, where energy poverty has long remained understudied. Using thematic analysis of policy documents and by conducting interviews with representatives of substate governments, the study identifies some of the main obstacles to effective policymaking on energy poverty in the Netherlands. These obstacles include the lack of a clear task division among different levels of government and a lack of long-term financial support from the central government. The study also finds that social actors such as interest groups and research institutes provide an essential platform to overcome some of these issues by fostering knowledge transfers and sharing best practices.
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European(ised) media: journalists reporting on Europe in a European public sphere
Verhoeff, Adriaan Gijsbrecht ; Stepanovic, Vera (vedoucí práce) ; Mejstřík, Martin (oponent)
This thesis focuses on Dutch journalists working for written press on European affairs. The contribution of this thesis will be threefold: Firstly, it looks at the role-perceptions of journalists in a professional context that has altered dramatically due to the transformations of media and changes to European politics outlined above. Secondly, it does so by looking at specifically at journalists from the Netherlands - a core EU-member state that has been mostly overlooked in country analyses of the European public sphere (except for (Statham 2010b). Thirdly, this thesis will apply a wider multi-media approach to the profession of the journalism, by not only focussing on national newspapers, but by mapping the contemporary European media landscape and interviewing Dutch journalists working for a variety of European written press, both online and offline (ranging from EUobserver to Algemeen Dagblad. Considering all the above-mentioned developments with regards to European politics and the media landscape, it is worth shedding light on the linkage between Dutch journalists and a European public sphere. With ten semi-structured, qualitative interviews with exclusively Dutch speaking journalists, this thesis would provide the biggest contribution to thinking about the European public sphere in a Dutch context...
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How can crises generate a paradigm shift in political discourse on abortion?
Boonstra, Maryse ; González, María José (vedoucí práce) ; Stepanovic, Vera (oponent)
Crises and their aftermath effects can have a detrimental impact on gender equality, specifically on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), which concerns well-being in all matters related to the reproductive system (United Nations Population Fund, 2022), among which abortion services. Crises can contribute to a change in political discourse by exposing faults in the system which may motivate political actors to advocate for policy changes. The effects of crises have often been studied in relation to public opinion or financial impact. However, little is known about the effects of crises on SRHR and the political discourse surrounding this topic. This is despite the fact that SRHR have been recognised as a crucial policy field by organisations such as the UN (United Nations Sustainable Development Group, 2017). This thesis explores how crises can generate a paradigm shift in the political discourse on abortion by conducting a content analysis of the reports and debates on SRHR in the European Parliament during the post-crisis periods of the Eurocrisis and the COVID-19 crisis. The research finds an increased commitment of the European Parliament to abortion accessibility after the COVID-19 crisis. It also shows that this commitment was less present after the Eurocrisis. These findings indicate that...
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Role Change after Brexit? A Comparative Case Study of the United Kingdom in the 2014 and 2022 Ukraine Crises
Chen, Yufan ; Stepanovic, Vera (vedoucí práce) ; Karagiannis, Yannis (oponent)
Since British former Prime Minister David Cameron promised to throw a referendum on Britain's EU membership in January 2013, how the United Kingdom (UK) would position itself in the UK-European Union (EU) relations and in world politics has been debated among scholars of International Relations (IR) and commentators. The surprising outcome of Brexit referendum on 23 June 2016 marked an unprecedented event when the country voted to leave the EU by 51.9% to 48.1%. Despite a narrow victory of the Leave side, the result was perceived as the climax of right-wing populist trend (Koller, Kopf, and Miglbauer 2019). After months of negotiations and a couple of changes in leadership, the UK finally concluded a Withdrawal Agreement with the EU on 17 October 2019, followed by a EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed on 30 December 2020. Despite the conclusion of bilateral agreements, the two parties did not put forward any future arrangement concerning the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) or the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Such developments seem to suggest a 'hard-Brexit' on the UK-EU foreign policy and defence cooperation. Following this logic, Lehne (2021) put forward three potential changes in the dynamic of the EU foreign policy-making. Firstly, France and Germany may take a bigger...
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Time and Space of Environmental Destruction: Critical Approaches to Hydro Power Plant Resistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Galić, Anela ; Stepanovic, Vera (vedoucí práce) ; Žíla, Ondřej (oponent)
Time and space, as we know them in our daily lives, are not scientifically proven categories. It seems intuitive to assume that concepts that rule our daily lives (like clocks, calendars, and maps), must be grounded in some kind of solid reality; but they are not. Both time and space are ideologically constructed categories that are a product of capitalist logic. Every single phenomenon is immersed in the time-space matrix. Capitalism's ability to control time and space results in our inability to swiftly change issues that are produced by the economic system itself. One such issue is climate change. Even most modest projections of the changes in weather and sea levels are pointing to a disastrous future, and the effort to mitigate efforts to mitigate the issue is incredibly slow and ineffective. One such effort is the hydropower plant (HPP) projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In an attempt to switch from coal-fueled energy to renewable sources, Bosnia is planning and implementing an astonishing amount of HPPs on its rivers. The consequence of HPPs has been mass destruction of riverbeds and local biosphere: unpredictable water flows, deforestation, and pollution just to name a few. The narrative that HPPs are the solution to climate change is in a direct clash with the reality of natural destruction. This...
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Lost Children of Europe: European Union and Unaccompanied Migrant Children
Abuselidze, Salome ; Šlosarčík, Ivo (vedoucí práce) ; Stepanovic, Vera (oponent)
Problematika nezletilých migrantů bez doprovodu (NBD) v Evropské unii je jedním z nejuznávanějších a jedním z nejvíce prozkoumaných témat. Jen v roce 2015 přišlo do Evropy téměř 100 000 nezletilých bez rodičů nebo zákonných zástupců. A více než 10 000 krátce poté zmizelo. Tyto děti byly a nadále jsou vystaveny vysokému riziku obchodování s lidmi, dětské práce, sexuálního a fyzického zneužívání a vykořisťování nějakého jiného druhu. Je to 6 let od počáteční krize, ale statistiky se nezlepšují. Tendence zůstává taková, že za poslední 3 roky zmizelo beze stopy téměř 19 000 NBD, což představuje až 17 zmizení denně. Navzdory závazku Evropské unie chránit práva NBD jsou podmínky těchto dětí hrozné. V některých členských státech je situace tak špatná, že jsou porušována základní lidská práva. To vyvolává následující otázky: Otázka 1: Proč EU není schopna přijmout společnou politiku týkající se nezletilých migrantů bez doprovodu? Otázka 2: Jak EU přispívá ke zmizení NBD? Kvalitativní a kvantitativní data i velké množství primárních a sekundárních zdrojů pomáhají porozumět problému NBD. Obsahová analýza evropských médií přispívá k ilustraci vnímání migrace a dětí bez doprovodu. Teorie sociální konstrukce cílových populací a teorie kulturní odvety jsou rámcem pro analýzu studovaného tématu. Bylo zjištěno, že...
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Deliberative democracy: exploring new forms of legitimacy?
Van Luijk, Jeff Izaak Wëllem ; Stepanovic, Vera (vedoucí práce) ; Arregui Moreno, Francisco Javier (oponent)
Deliberative Mini-Publics (DMPs), as political decision-making mechanisms, are often referred to as legitimising devices. Considering that DMPs are in contradiction with deliberative democratic ideals of legitimation through large scale deliberation, they are often labeled as experiments and can be seen as shortcuts towards legitimate decisions. Studies are showing, however, that this shortcuts approach does not necessarily increase the legitimacy of resulting decisions as perceived by the wider public. Why are they continuing to be replicated and institutionalised in western democracies? What are the motivations behind this proliferation of DMPs? The present thesis attempts to answer these questions through the analysis of a combination of long-form and short-form qualitative data collected around DMPs in Brussels. Findings include insights on process design that can lead to increased emotions legitimacy.
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The meritocratic division: a restructuration of cleavages in the West? - Insight from the Yellow Vests movement.
Forel, Alexis ; Galent, Marcin (vedoucí práce) ; Stepanovic, Vera (oponent)
The attempts to understand discontent and populist surges in the West, especially in recent years, led to an abundance of research, comments, and speculations. Some thinkers asserted that such events are the symptoms of a cleavage restructuration in liberal democratic societies that would be centered around the question of merit. Research generally links higher education and general success in life to satisfaction and relative support of the established order. On the contrary, lesser educated and successful individuals tend to question this state of affairs. A cleavage revolving around success and education would consequently replace previous divisions, such as the usual right-left opposition, but also come on top of other schisms, mainly spatial ones. This thesis offers to verify the existence of such a cleavage with a case study of the Yellow Vests movement, in France. Analyzing the discourse of the representants of the meritocracy, Emmanuel Macron and his government, it finds trends that support the existence of such an underlying conflict.
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The Re-making of Normative Power Europe in Southeast Asia: A Reflection on EU Democratization Promotion in Myanmar and Thailand 2003-2019
Lerdrat, Voradon ; Kissack, Robert (vedoucí práce) ; Stepanovic, Vera (oponent)
'Normative Power Europe' is one of the most significant constitutions of the European Union (EU)'s international identity. Although it has long been studied, most literature largely neglect the dynamic of its reconstruction in the course of particular foreign relations. This thesis aims to fulfill this gap in the relational context of EU democratization promotion in Southeast Asia. It examines the research question: how has EU international identity as normative power developed in the context of EU democratization promotion in Southeast Asia during 2003-2019? To address the question, qualitative comparative study is conducted to compare relevant bundles of acts of identification between two time- cases: 2000s and 2010s. In each case, EU promotions in two most-different Southeast Asian states are focused: Myanmar and Thailand. As hypothesized, the thesis argues that in this context, the bundle of acts of EU identification as superior normative power has been losing its privilege.
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National Identity and EU Support: The role of immigration salience after the crisis
Kyritsopoulos, Constantinos ; Torcal, Mariano (vedoucí práce) ; Stepanovic, Vera (oponent)
This work studies the relationship between individual national identity and the EU's image over time. By turning to cross-sectional Eurobarometer data from 2005 to 2019, two hypotheses are tested at the individual-level. First, building on evidence that the link between identity and EU support may be strengthening over time, this work asks whether the post-crisis period has seen an increased linkage between citizens' identity and their image of the EU. Second, theorizing that perceived threats to the nation are the source of identity's tightening link, this work examines how this relationship has evolved in citizens who consider immigration to be an important problem. The results show that: 1) while identity may have been more important in some years, its interaction with the EU's image has not changed appreciably over this period; and 2) citizens with high immigration salience do not rely on national identity more heavily when evaluating the EU. These findings imply that the conflicts of the post-crisis period, and in particular, the migrant crisis, have not driven citizens to increasingly value national identity when making judgments about the image of the EU. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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