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The central aim in our NWO 'Comprehensible Language' project (2012-2016) was to investigate to what extent Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) intentionally and unintentionally affect political knowledge and political attitudes. In this article, we present an overview of four years of research. First, we investigated reasons for use of VAAs, distinguishing three types of users: checkers (well-informed, enjoying to check the VAA), seekers (looking for political information to base their vote on) and doubters (looking for information but cynical about politics). The proportions of these groups differ for first vs. second order elections. Second, we investigated whether VAAs increase users' political knowledge. We found that users report an increase of internal efficacy due to their VAA use, but we did not find an increase in actual political knowledge. Third, a field experiment showed systematic effects of framing variation on the answers to VAA assertions, which might suggest different underlying knowledge representations. Finally, think aloud research showed that users experience considerable problems with understanding the assertions semantically and pragmatically, as well as with interpreting the results screen. Additionally, we found that users view the result screen as an end point rather than as a starting point for deliberation. We discuss some implications for theory and practice.

The legislation and regulations which seek to guarantee good governance in the Caribbean parts of the Dutch Kingdom are similar to the Netherlands. Nevertheless, the administrative performance in the West is significantly inferior to that of the latter. To explain this difference, this thesis highlights the fact that the legislation in the West codifies norms of conduct that are dominant in modern Western societies. However, due to the small-scale, the poverty and the stratification of the insular societies other norms of conduct are dominant in the Caribbean parts of the Dutch Kingdom. To maintain their position politicians depend on electoral support. Therefore they should act according to the norms of conduct that are generally accepted within society. As a result an incentive for politicians is manifest to act contrary to the appropriate line. In the practice of the Caribbean overseas territories this incentive results especially in political patronage. Yet, the examples of Barbados and Anguilla learn that despite the fact that small-scale, poverty and social stratification are unalterable good governance is still possible. Where, however, the high quality of governance in Barbados should especially be ascribed to the de-politicization of the distribution power of public goods of the executive branch, the high quality of governance in Anguilla is mainly due to the supervision of London. Because it should not to be expected that the administrative elite in the Caribbean parts of the Dutch Kingdom will adjust their state system on their own initiative, good governance will in the first place depend on the willingness of the Netherlands to play an active role in the local administrative affairs of the islands in the West.

Die politische Landschaft der Niederlande wurde viele Jahre lang von drei Strömungen - den Christdemokraten, den Sozialdemokraten und den Liberalen - dominiert. Die Lage veränderte sich ab Mitte der 1960er Jahre: An die Stelle der vorherigen Stabilität trat eine immer grössere Unberechenbarkeit. Auch nahm die politische Zersplitterung zu und seit 2002 verzeichneten populistische Gruppierungen wiederholt Erfolge. Die raschen Veränderungen im Parteienspektrum sorgen bei oberflächlicher Betrachtung für eine Überbewertung der Unterschiede zwischen "damals" und "heute": Der aktuellen Instabilität steht die erstarrte Unbeweglichkeit der Vergangenheit gegenüber. Ein solches Bild ist jedoch eine Vereinfachung, denn auch in früheren Jahren konnten die politischen Spannungen eskalieren, und immer wieder scheiterten Kabinette vorzeitig. Neben allen Veränderungen sind somit auch Kontinuitäten und langfristig wirksame Traditionslinien in der niederländischen Politik zu beobachten. Der Sammelband Eine zersplitterte Landschaft geht auf diese Kontinuitäten und Veränderungen ein, indem er all jene Parteien betrachtet, die im Jahr 2017 in die Zweite Kammer des niederländischen Parlaments gewählt worden sind. Die älteste von ihnen existiert bereits seit beinahe 100 Jahren (SGP), die jüngsten Parteien (DENK und FvD) sind erst kurz vor der Wahl gegründet worden. Fast alle Beiträge sind von Vertretern der wissenschaftlichen Büros der Parteien verfasst worden, wodurch ein einzigartiger Blickwinkel entstanden ist: wissenschaftliche Distanz kombiniert mit einer Betrachtung von "innen heraus".

Few other countries are so interrelated with the world around us in political, economic, and social respects as the Netherlands. This means that the Dutch government needs to be alert in its response to the risks and opportunities presented by a rapidly changing world. Addressing this issue, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (wrr) offers some reflections in this report, guided by the question how the Netherlands can develop a foreign policy strategy that matches the changing power relations in the world and the radically changed character of international relations. The answer to this question is a reorientation. This means making transparent choices, making smarter use of Europe as our dominant arena, and, finally, choosing an approach that makes better use of the growing role of non-state actors. The report's recommendations not only underline the necessity of reorientation but also show how this could be accomplished in practice.

The framing of a message can affect the way people think about an issue, and the framing of attitude questions influences the opinions expressed. Current research investigated political emphasis framing in the context of Voting Advice Applications. In an online survey regarding the European Elections (2019), a conservative vs. progressive frame was manipulated across 15 questions. As the original VAA did not include introductory texts to the questions, a control condition without introduction texts was also added. Participants (N = 106) were randomly assigned to one of these three conditions. Results show that there is an effect for conservative introductions to elicit answers reflecting more progressive attitudes, but only for the group of respondents with conservative voting positions (PTV). This pattern could not be explained by political sophistication: higher political sophistication is related to a main effect of more progressive answering behaviour, but does not explain the framing effect for conservative frames in the conservative group.

Response, Henk te VeldeDuring my research I have greatly benefited from the historiography of political parties and I agree with Bosmans that the relatively new approach of political culture should collaborate with classic political history. However, I am more interested in similarities between different political currents and how they compare with the international scene. Another area of particular interest for me is the public aspect of political leadership and how this relates to the time in which it takes place. The issue is, therefore, not the party political aspects of Colijn's leadership but rather the praise he received at that time from outside his own party. The most prominent political leaders were not modest administrators but 'partisan', controversial members of the best-organised and strongest parties, such as the orthodox Protestant ARP. Among many other things, I analyse the relevance of clichés about 'Calvinist' and 'religious' politics with regard to the public appeal of ex-orthodox Protestant Den Uyl. Unfortunately, however, Van Deursen seems to believe, unjustly, that I am expressing my own personal opinion on Calvinism.

This paper - written for a conference held in Leuven (KUL) in 2001- offers a global analysis of the European Insolvency Regulation. At the time the paper was written, the Regulation was a very recent instrument. The paper reviews the Regulation based on previous experiences at harmonising the law of cross-border insolvencies (such as the European Insolvency Convention and the Istanbul Convention). Particular attention is paid to the issues of jurisdiction (which court has jurisdiction to open insolvency proceedings), jurisdiction conflicts (what happens if two courts decide to exercise jurisdiction simultaneously) and recognition and enforcement of foreign insolvency judgments.

The thesis is a qualitative social scientific study of the Dutch political discourse on multi-ethnic society between 1977 and 1995. The central questions are: 1. Have the Dutch political parties' views on minority policy generally changed between 1977 and 1995, and, if so, in what direction? 2. Was in the first half of the nineties more disagreement on this topic than in the eighties? 3. What exactly are the differences of opinion between the parties on the topic of integration of minorities? The research proceeds upon the theoretical assumption that three concepts - including their counterparts - play a central role in the political discourse on the multi-ethnic society: socio-cultural diversity (or homogeneity), socio-economic equality (or inequality), and political-juridical unity (or fragmentation). It is assumed that the perspectives on multi-ethnic society will be seen to differ in the political parties' interpretation and application of these concepts. The object of the research is approached in two ways. First the attitudes towards multi-ethnic society and minority policy are investigated for each political party separately. Next, the viewpoints of the parties are contextualized by examining the standpoints of the parliamentary groups of the parties in parliamentary debates on important government documents concerning minority policy. In addition the reactions of major minority organisations on these government documents are analyzed. A short answer to the first question is, that in general the viewpoints of the major political parties has shifted from a preference for a multicultural and group-oriented policy of emancipation in the eighties, to a preference for a more obligatory and individual-oriented policy of socio-economic integration in the nineties. An reply to the second question is, that in the political discourse under scrutiny, the consensus between the main political parties about the minority policy has increased rather than decreased. In order to answer the third question, in the conclusion a classification is made of the political parties' perspectives on integration that stresses the socio-economic, the socio-cultural and the political-juridical dimensions.

International audience ; The arrangements offered by international community as solutions to Yugoslav dissolution process have significantly affected the development of the Kosovo conflict. These policies failed to produce consensus between the parties in conflict, instead, as the paper demonstrate, they played the role of a catalyst in the initiation of the conflict. This paper, by offering a detailed reconstruction of the process by which the international community tried to settle the Kosovo case, demonstrates how the dynamics of the conflict interacted dynamically with international community attitudes and policies towards the case. The paper discusses the attitudes and policies of international community toward the Kosovo case underlining its attachment to traditional prerequisites of international order instead of inherited causes of conflict. There are three important events that underline the interference of international community in the case of Kosovo before the war: the Conference on Yugoslavia that followed up the creation of the Badinter Committee, the Dayton Agreement and the Rambouillet Talks. These events are explained in details in three separate sections since they have immediate implications for the situation in Kosovo and consequently for the development of the conflict. We first discuss the contribution of existing normative framework to models of international community behavior and their effects in the case of Kosovo conflict following with the reaction of the conflicting parties towards offered arrangements. Both moments are assumed to be of importance in providing a larger picture in the understanding of the outgrowth of Kosovo conflict.

International audience ; The arrangements offered by international community as solutions to Yugoslav dissolution process have significantly affected the development of the Kosovo conflict. These policies failed to produce consensus between the parties in conflict, instead, as the paper demonstrate, they played the role of a catalyst in the initiation of the conflict. This paper, by offering a detailed reconstruction of the process by which the international community tried to settle the Kosovo case, demonstrates how the dynamics of the conflict interacted dynamically with international community attitudes and policies towards the case. The paper discusses the attitudes and policies of international community toward the Kosovo case underlining its attachment to traditional prerequisites of international order instead of inherited causes of conflict. There are three important events that underline the interference of international community in the case of Kosovo before the war: the Conference on Yugoslavia that followed up the creation of the Badinter Committee, the Dayton Agreement and the Rambouillet Talks. These events are explained in details in three separate sections since they have immediate implications for the situation in Kosovo and consequently for the development of the conflict. We first discuss the contribution of existing normative framework to models of international community behavior and their effects in the case of Kosovo conflict following with the reaction of the conflicting parties towards offered arrangements. Both moments are assumed to be of importance in providing a larger picture in the understanding of the outgrowth of Kosovo conflict.

The Anti-Revolutionary People behind the Voters. Fact or fiction? The Electoral Support of the ARP around 1885 and in 1918The rallying cry 'The people behind the voters' symbolised the political discrimination against the anti-revolutionaries. The restricted franchise, based on tax assessments, was supposed to favour the liberals. It is, however, doubtful whether this rallying cry represented any real form of discrimination or whether it should be regarded instead as part of the self-image of the antirevolutionaries. This is hard to determine. The number of seats gained during elections is not a very good benchmark because the absolute majority run-off system (constituency voting system with a second ballot) forced political parties to look for electoral cooperation. The size of the electoral support, on the other hand, can be estimated, when the election results of several carefully selected constituencies from the 1880s are compared with the election results of 1918. At this point, the votes were being cast under the regime of proportional representation and universal male suffrage. The anti-revolutionary electoral gains in 1918 turned out to be so small, that the rallying cry 'The people behind the voters' must be regarded as being out of touch with reality. Already, under the very restricted suffrage of the 1880s, the anti-revolutionaries had almost reached the peak of their electoral support.

Abstract It is essential for democracy that political parties should act within their promulgated policy frameworks, which are formally represented in election programmes. If political parties deviate from this principle, the election would lose its meaning, jeopardising democracy. In this respect, planning in Groningen in the 1970s, which realised progressive plans like the traffic circulation plan, was democratic, although it was criticised for lacking public participation. However, planning in the 1980s casts serious doubt on its democratic nature. Various large-scale projects were promoted, and they caused harsh criticism even within the government party, Labour Party. This paper focuses on four projects, that is, the PTT (office development), Brink (residential towers), Casino and Museum, all of which were planned in or next to the inner city of Groningen in the 1980s. This paper will examine these projects in terms of the policy frameworks of the Labour Party, which were created in the 1970s. These projects brought about drastic change of historical landscape, and were clearly contrary to the party frameworks or those measures that were introduced to guarantee the frameworks, such as the local land use plan. As a result, they gave rise to not only strong opposition among citizens, but also criticism of party members who still cherished those party frameworks.

This dissertation reports on the research into Surinamese constitutional law during the military administration between 1980 and 1987. During this period of martial law there was neither an elected parliament nor any other form of authority with parliamentary legitimacy in Suriname. The research into the military administration is predominantly normative research into the formal constitutional arrangement of the Surinamese state during the 1980-1987 era. During the military period, historically developed principles and requirements of the rule of law and democracy were discarded either completely or in part, with some being completely absent and others remaining intact. This turnaround also brought about a fundamental change in the administrative structure and laws of Suriname. In addition, new legal institutions were added to the judicial system.During this period, the then ruling political powers argued that Suriname remained a constitutional democracy and that martial law was only a necessity under the circumstances. To assess to what extent there was democratic rule as well as the justification of the use of martial law, a study was conducted into the theoretics of constitutional democracy and martial law. States often are described as constitutional democracies; however, around the world there are differences as regards to what extent. To measure the degree of democracy, it is tested against internationally recognized frameworks enshrined in international conventions, treaties and doctrines. Theories on the subject of the constitutional democracy and martial law have been developed and fine-tuned over the years. In this research, such theories were applied in order to answer the main question as well as the key questions:How was the setup of the Trias Politica during the 1980 – 1987 military administration?Based on the main question key questions were formulated, namely: 1.How were the three powers arranged?2.What authorities were bestowed upon them?3.How did the three powers relate to each other?4.To what ...

Y. Kleistra, Hollen of stilstaan. Beleidsverandering bij het Nederlandse ministerie van buitenlandse zaken P.R. Baehr, M.C. Castermans-Holleman, F. Grünfeld, Human rights in the foreign policy of the Netherlands E.M. van den Berg, The influence of domestic NGOs on Dutch human rights policy. Case studies on South Africa, Namibia, Indonesia and East Timor. The role of human rights in post-1945 Dutch foreign policy: Politicological and historical literature, Maarten KuitenbrouwerThe second Dutch government under Prime Minister Kok fell in 2002 following the publication of a critical report by the Dutch Institute for Wartime Documentation (NIOD) on the Srebenica issue. This event forms the starting point for a review of the recent literature on the role of human rights in Dutch foreign policy during the last few decades in both political science and history. Both disciplines share the 'decisionmaking analysis' in international relations theory as a common background. In addition, political scientists and historians have often found themselves researching the same human rights issues that affect Dutch relations with a series of non-Western countries. An explanation of Dutch policy is usually sought based on a combination of internaland external factors. In general, comparative analyses and research into its effectiveness are still conspicuous by their absence. All in all, there are more similarities than differences between recent political and historical studies on the role of human rights in Dutch foreign policy.

Project title: Gender Quotas and the Democratic Quality of Local Decision-Making Processes in Clientelistic Regimes Project Acronym: GenderQuotas Country: Albania The text file titled "Council Transcripts 2016" refers to the transcripts of council meetings held during August - December 2016. The text file "Council Transcripts 2018" refers to the transcripts of council meetings held during August - December 2018. The study was conducted in the councils of Durrës, Fier, Korçë, Kukës, Librazhd, Malësi e Madhe, Mat, Pukë, Sarandë, Tiranë, Ura Vajgurore. Language: Albanian Organization supporting fieldwork: Women's Network Equality in Decision-Making (http://www.platformagjinore.al/) The first wave of data collection (August - December 2016) was funded by United Nations Development Programme – Albania, contract number ALB-092-2016. The second round of data collection (August - December 2018) was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 792969.