“Add oil”. Two Cantonese words of encouragement that, for nearly half a year, inspired millions of Hongkongers to fight for their rights and push for a more democratic Hong Kong. The protests that were ignited in the Summer ...

Analysing intergovernmental decision making on common foreign policy of the European Union. The case of the European Union's Anti-Piracy Mission

In 2015, a new international organization came into existence: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new multilateral development bank (MDB). Founded by a wide array of countries, from Asia and outside the ...

Modern realists are keen on using Russia’s increasingly assertive foreign policy posture to argue for the realist nature of international politics. In an attempt to gauge the cogency of such claims, this research applies ...

Before getting into the UN’s obsession with elections I would like to thank several people who helped and supported me while writing this thesis. First of all, my supervisor Prof. Dr. Anna van der Vleuten, who helped me a ...

This research, written as part of Amnesty International The Netherland’s ‘Strategic Studies Project’, is aimed at explaining why Brazil does not comply with international norms on indigenous peoples’ rights, although this ...

The policy realms of security and defence have long remained largely excluded from the process of European integration. However, after the publication of the EU Global Strategy in 2016, a fundamental change took place in ...

Despite a rapid increase in popular support for Catalonia’s independence, the pro-independence movement has struggled to gain more support since 2014. Even though the issue gathered more attention from the media and ...

This research is aimed at explaining why Brazil decided to expand its economic cooperation with other BRICS countries by forming the New Development Bank (NDB). From a liberal perspective, Brazil’s support is questionable ...