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Political Science Master’s thesis prize 2021: the nominees

As a Leiden University’s master’s student in Political Science you conduct independent research and report your findings to fellow academics and, who knows, to a larger audience. Your thesis is a showcase of your academic skills and personal interest, and perhaps even passion. Easier said than done, we know. On the other hand, every year you students manage to produce quality work. And some theses are so good, that we gladly put them in the spotlights and proudly nominate them for our annual Master’s Thesis Prize. In 2021, 11 students made it to the shortlist; on 26 October we will know who climbed to the number one spot.

The jury, this year consisting of Martijn Mos and Michael Sampson, is currently examining the following theses. The winner will be announced during the master’s graduation ceremony on 26 October 2021 in the Academy Building in Leiden.

The shortlist

  • Max Bradley, “Ethnic Politics, Social Identity, and Affective Polarization: What Can Ethnic Conflict Dynamics Tell Us About Comparative Affective Polarization?” (Supervisor: Dr Simon Chauchard)
  • Myrthe Damen, “The Dark Side of Humanitarian Aid: Its Effects on One-Sided Violence Perpetrated by Rebels” (Supervisor: Dr Roos van der Haer)
  • Eleftherios Karchimakis, “A Theory of EU Crisis-Induced Institutional Evolution: The Effect of the Institutional Entrepreneur” (Supervisor: Dr Hilde van Meegdenburg)
  • Arla Mannersuo, “The Power of Bureaucracy: Ministerial Bureaucracies Shaping and Making Decisions about Military and Security Outsourcing” (Supervisor: Dr Hilde van Meegdenburg)
  • Luuk van Roozendaal, “Not As Simple As Going to the Polls: The Relationship Between Race, Ethnicity, Polling Place Closures, and Voter Turnout in the United States” (Supervisor: Dr Tom Louwerse)
  • Femke Salverda, “In Search of the Limits: Defining Capacities and Moral Obligations of Individuals in the Context of Climate Change” (Supervisor: Dr Jelena Belic)
  • Karim El Sayed, “Internet Social Capital and Its Mitigation Effect on Collective Action Problems in Active Political Participation” (Supervisor: Rutger Hagen)
  • Elena Sertore, “When Do Free-Riders Start Cooperating? A Study on the European Arms Control Regime” (Supervisor: Rutger Hagen)
  • Einar Skoglund, “Ten Days of Taglit-Birthright: Argentinian Heritage Tourism and Israeli Nationalism” (Supervisor: Dr Matthew Longo)
  • Daphne Steenbergen, “The Belarusian Boomerang: How the Belarusian Democratic Opposition Influences the Foreign Policy of the European Union” (Supervisor: Dr Hilde van Meegdenburg)
  • Anouk van Vliet, “After the Collapse of a Superpower: A Quantitative Analysis of the Effect of Western Influence on Democratization in Post-Soviet Countries” (Supervisor: Dr Simon Otjes)
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