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Item The Price of Inequality: The Influence of Rising Inequality on Democratic Decline(2023-07-06) Oorschot van , PatrickEven in many well-established democracies, democratic deterioration has become a prevalent phenomenon over the past two decades. Applying different estimation techniques, the relation between inequality and the decline of democracy is examined. Overall, no definitive relation could be claimed between inequality and democracy. Although it seems clear that, for liberal democracies, the more equal ones tend to have better democracy scores, at a domestic level the correlation between inequality and democracy seems less evident. On a within-country scale, the subjective perception of inequality and of social marginalization might therefore be more influential for democratic decline than actual inequality. However, this conjecture requires further examination in future research. Furthermore, the negative relation between income inequality and democracy is partially mediated by sense of belonging. However, this result should be interpreted with certain caution since other determinants of democracy were not included in the mediation analysis. Both the quality of governance and populism were expected to have a moderating effect on the negative relation between inequality and democracy. It was found that governmental quality does not only affect democratic quality directly; the results also indicate that it may weaken the negative effect of increasing inequality. For populism, however, the results remained inconclusive.Item ‘Refugee hosting: blessing or burden? The effects of a refugee influx on the livelihoods of host communities: a case study of Palabek, Uganda'(2024-05-23) Valk, Bart deAlthough refugee influxes are an all-time issue, the academic literature on the nature of the consequences an influx has on host communities’ livelihoods shows an undetermined debate. Arguments are made for both positive and negative impacts. Do the benefits outweigh the negatives, what exactly are these impacts and what is the extent of them? This research aims to explore this academic debate regarding the impacts experienced by the host communities of refugee camps in Sub-Sahara Africa. A total of 36 in-depth interviews, fieldnotes and literature review comprise the data obtained in Palabek, Uganda. The effects are measured against the conceptual framework consisting of livelihood, social cohesion, and cooperation. The results show that the refugee influx has attracted many third-party organisations: the UN, NGOs, and the government. This attraction has led to major changes in household agricultural production, safety, and access to services. However, host community members share a feeling of resentment over their societal position relating to the refugees. They feel like second-rank citizens neglected by their own government, and feel more affiliation with NGOs than the OPM, representing their government. It shows the academic debate whilst economic benefits may occur, it’s overshadowed by the feeling like second-rank citizens.Item “Amsterdam By Train: An Exploratory Study of Ex-panding International Long Distance Passenger Rail from Amsterdam”(2024) McCarthy, JonInternational, long-distance passenger rail in Europe underperforms in terms of passengers carried. Given the climate crisis, a network of long-distance services would be an important element in reducing transport sector emissions, by giving travellers a viable alternative to flights. Journeys in the 300-850km range are identified as the key market sector to target for introducing new international services in order to generate air-to-rail modal shift in traveller behaviour of an environmentally useful magnitude. However, delivering this increase in services involves overcoming many barriers. This research attempts to understand the barriers and examine solutions for overcoming them. Not having the resources to examine the barriers for all potential routes in Europe, the research focuses on the situation for Amsterdam, a major city in a country with the geographical, infrastructural and economic characteristics to enable an expansive network of long-distance international rail routes, but which currently only sees services on four routes. Interviews with representatives from stakeholder organisations were undertaken to gain deeper insights into the nature of the barriers and how to overcome them. An expanded network of routes from Amsterdam is proposed, and recommendations are presented that address the most important barriers to overcome in order to realise this network.Item Trapped between lines – Terra incognita of alternative border visualizations: in search for a new cartographic language(2024-04-30) Soeteman, CoenThis master's thesis explores alternative cartographic representations of borders beyond traditional line-based depictions. Inspired by previous work on diverse cartographic visualizations, the study focuses specifically on reimagining border representations. It acknowledges the significance of borders as not just imaginary lines but as real and influential constructs in society. Through qualitative research using (visual) grounded theory, alternative maps are analyzed to uncover a more inclusive and diverse visual language for borders. The research reveals the multidimensionality of alternative border visualizations, considering diverse perspectives, border experiences, and cartographic practices. It emphasizes the need to move beyond one-dimensional representations towards a more nuanced and dynamic understanding of borders. The findings propose a new visual language for alternative borders, highlighting humanity, connectivity, and mobility. The study concludes that borders are plural and dynamic, requiring representations that capture their complexity. It suggests further research to explore alternative border visualizations from additional perspectives, contributing to the evolving cartographic language of borders.Item A Penny for our Thoughts; the influence of military identity and military culture on cultural interoperability(2024-05-15) Reinders, StefThis master thesis explores the influence of military identity and military culture on cultural interoperability during multinational deployments. The focus of the research lies on the experiences of Dutch officers during their Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) deployment in Lithuania. The main research question is: “How does military culture and military identity influence the cultural interoperability according to Dutch officers during their Enhanced Forward Presence deployment (2017-2021) in Lithuania?”. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were held with 17 respondents who have been deployed to Lithuania or were deployed at the time of the interview. The grounded theory approach was used for analysing the interviews. The data gathered suggests that military identity and military culture do influence cultural interoperability. Three military identity categories were found: more Dutch oriented, more military oriented, and a mix of both. The Dutch oriented and mixed identity groups seem to be the most affected by military cultural differences on their deployment in Lithuania to the point it actively hinders cooperation. The military oriented identity group seems less affected by these differences in their perception of the other, yet does seem affected by it in terms of their perception of effectivity.