As the state retracts further in the Netherlands, the role of civil society increases. Only now the impact becomes visible due to changing arrangements in the social domain. Since enormous cuts in the welfare budgets have been implemented; creative innovations by civil initiatives are much needed to …

The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the reasons for a low political participation in Czechoslovakia in the wake of the Velvet Revolution, which started on 17 November 1989, by a literature review. The Czechoslovak citizens reacted on several developments in their surrounding countries, …

Urban farming projects often involve the (temporarily) redevelopment of urban space by local co-productions of citizens and/or entrepreneurs. To realize their ambitions these coalitions often need support of public (government) resources such as time, money, space and regulation (Green Deal Stadslandbouw, …

An increasing number of Turkish Dutch, the Netherlands’ largest ethnic minority group, are beginning to return to their country of origin, taking with them the education and skills they have acquired abroad, as the Netherlands faces challenges from economic difficulties and socio-political tensions. At …

Europe in general and Romania specifically has been increasingly a target of foreign and domestic investors. Due to its cheap land prices and agricultural policies supporting largescale agricultural investments Romania has become a country with high risks concerning land grabbing. However, the academic …

Since the Arab Spring in the beginning of 2011, Egypt has experienced many social and political changes. Islamist parties have gained a firm foothold in the political arena after years of secular rule by the Mubarak regime and the interim SCAF government. A new constitution, in which men and women are …

The main purpose of this report is to give an account of the most appropriate roles and arrangements that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can assume in the newly created, UN-administered, Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). In order to do that, extensive literature …

In this article, the author will question the seemingly obvious boundary between civil disobedience, as conceptualised by Rawls and Arendt, and several examples of criminal, or simply annoying, activities which don't meet their criteria, such as the case of the ‘Top 50'. The ‘Top 50' are multi-problem …

Roma are a transnational nomadic population. For centuries, they have traveled around the world due to persecutions or in search of economic prosperity. Roma are a heterogeneous minority. They are not one group. There are many different groups of Roma. Nowadays, an estimated 12 million Roma live in Europe …