Contesting Territories: The significance of the Plein to the power contests between the Dutch government and the people

The thesis is going to unravel, in a spatial sense, the relationship between public space and the power in the Netherlands through the case of the Plein since the 1980s till now. By the analysis on the previous discussions and disputes over the design and use of the Plein, it aims to indicate the priorities of the government and the public in...

Rake Praat: Designing for the political participation of mbo-students

Political participation of a group representative of society is essential for the legitimacy of a democratic system. But adolescents are not heard sufficiently and receive too little attention in contemporary democracy. Their political participation is very low and not representative for their age group, as politically engaged adolescents often...

An epistemic case for confucian democracy

This paper examines the relationship between democratic participation and the well-being of the people–a fundamental aim of Confucian government. It argues that although the value of democratic participation for people’s moral cultivation may be dubious (as suggested recently by Sungmoon Kim), democratic participation is key to meeting other...

Towards democracy in the digital age: Redesign of an e-participation platform and its commercialisation strategy

The European political landscape is in constant change. With decreasing numbers of political party members, but the growing ability to communicate opinions through the internet, new forms of political participation are becoming increasingly interesting for political actors and citizens alike. The graduation project at hand is a cooperation with...