Projects
How politics becomes news and news becomes politics. A comparative study among political journalists and politicians in Switzerland and the Netherlands. University of Antwerp
The politics of afterlives: Martyrs, sovereignty and the making of Kurdish political community Ghent University
How do dead people shape politics? In the Middle East and beyond, the dead recurrently stand at the heart of political contestations over sovereign power, whether they are celebrated or condemned, exalted or disowned, worshipped or mutilated. This research aims to explain this tenacity of the dead by interrogating political power not only as a question of disciplining life or inflicting death, but also as a question of governing afterlives. ...
Scrolling Until the Trust is Gone? Investigating the Impact of Political Harmful Content on TikTok on Trust in Politics Among Adolescents. KU Leuven
As concerns rise over a widespread decrease in political trust among adolescents, social media platforms such as TikTok and its content are scrutinized for their potential role in this decline. As such, political harmful content, such as hate speech, disinformation, and extremist or populist content, is prevalent on TikTok and spreading more extensively than ever, potentially influenced by its recommendation algorithm. This raises worries ...
Peace and discipline. A study in political theory on peace education in international politics: the North-Atlantic region (1945-2007). University of Antwerp
Global IP law and local politics: The political economy of African seed business law KU Leuven
The World Trade Organisation has promoted Western-styled intellectual property (IP) norms around the world. This IP-related endeavours can be seen as part of a global move in the direction of less state and more private entrepreneurship. Whereas some ‘orthodox’ development scholars have welcomed the turn towards market institutions in development policy, other ‘critical’ development scholars have argued that Western IP norms are ill-suited to ...
The Politics of Inequality. Economic Inequality, Political Trust, and Electoral Behaviour. KU Leuven
Does economic inequality influence political trust and voting behaviour of citizens in Western democracies? And how can political trust contribute to more support for income redistribution? This doctoral dissertation aims to provide an answer to these two questions from a comparative and quantitative angle.
The key assumption of this dissertation is that some countries are more, and other countries are less successful in creating an ...
Politics Undercover: Understanding the Role of Social Media in Adolescents’ Political Socialization KU Leuven
The political socialization of today’s youth takes place in a hybrid media environment. Social media platforms are part of this multi-faceted media landscape and play an important role in boosting youth’s political engagement and learning. The current PhD project proposes to tackle the gaps on political socialization in the new and hybrid media environment by unravelling the multi-layered role of social media in adolescents’ political ...
Augustine of Hippo’s Politics of Ordered Love. Order as a Key to the Political Perspectives Developed in De Ciuitate Dei KU Leuven
The sack of Rome by Alaric's Visigoths in 410 had huge symbolic significance. Many Christians, who conflated the fate of the Christianised Roman state with the fate of the Church, feared that the fall of Rome would also have an impact on the future of the Church. Pagan critics suggested that the city had been taken because the pagan rites that had once protected the city and the empire were no longer being observed, and because the spread of ...