Dutch Politics and Qualitative Methods - Period 5

Consensus democracy, constitutional monarchy, multicultural society, unified-yet-decentralized state, bicameral parliament, multiparty system, proportional electoral system, loyal member of NATO, founding member of the EU - politically speaking, the Netherlands is a complex and fascinating case. This course will discuss some essential characteristics of the Dutch political system and pay attention to influential current developments, such as the rise of populism, Europeanization, and 'glocalization'. These topics will be studied by means of political scientific studies in which various qualitative methods have been used, such as (comparative) casestudy analysis (including process tracing), document analysis, (expert) interviewing, and ethnography (including participative observations). We will discuss the theoretical background of these methods, but also the practical do's en don'ts and pros and cons. Students will learn to understand and assess existing qualitative research and in the working group sessions they will practice the use of qualitative research methods themselves.

Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.