Online behavioral advertising (OBA) is a form of advertising that relies on data about users’ behavior (e.g., clicks, likes, voice commands) and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to place ads that... Show moreOnline behavioral advertising (OBA) is a form of advertising that relies on data about users’ behavior (e.g., clicks, likes, voice commands) and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to place ads that users may be interested in. Ads that AI chooses to display often leave users in awe and concern them about the potential of total surveillance. People using these services have (legitimate) expectations that tech companies or democratic institutions protect their interests. Indeed, the European Union (EU) heavily regulates OBA, requiring, for example, that companies have users’ consent before their surveillance. Yet, these ads monetize most “free” online services and turn companies like Alphabet and Meta into the world’s wealthiest. Therefore, the industry is incentivized to acquire consumers’ consent by any means necessary, often through manipulation. As almost everyone has encountered manipulative “cookie banners” online, many have started to doubt if EU law can effectively protect consumers from the growing power of the tech industry. This thesis builds a framework of manipulation, describes consumer manipulation via OBA, constructs a theory of the harms of this phenomenon, and analyses its boundaries in the EU legal framework. The thesis concludes that the EU framework can effectively safeguard consumers, anticipating that the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) will put an end to consumer manipulation (and exploitation) via OBA. Show less
Wrongful moderation deals with internet intermediary service providers allowing users to provide and receive user-provided information. The central question in this dissertation is how these... Show moreWrongful moderation deals with internet intermediary service providers allowing users to provide and receive user-provided information. The central question in this dissertation is how these providers are provided with a legal incentive to overregulate or underregulate user-provided information based on its content. Providers that offer functionalities for user-provided information are criticised for failing to counter illegal content and overregulating content that is not illegal but considered harmful by the provider. In the United States of America and the European Union, legislation is proposed to remedy such overregulation and underregulation. Overregulation and underregulation could be tied to how the liability of service providers is regulated. Overregulation and underregulation may even occur when the provider is exempted from liability for the content of user-provided information – especially when this exemption is conditional. The central question in Wrongful moderation is to what extent the liability regimes in the e-Commerce Directive (EU) (enacted in 2000) and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) (enacted in 1996) (US) provide a legal incentive to overregulate or underregulate user-provided information. The focus lies on providers that offer an online platform to share and receive user-provided information because these providers are best placed to intervene in the content of user-provided information. Because of this intermediary position, these providers are the most popular targets for (state) regulation. Show less
Worldwide, the legalisation of customary land rights has become a strategy for resolving land conflicts between local communities with companies and state agencies. In Indonesia, NGOs have been... Show moreWorldwide, the legalisation of customary land rights has become a strategy for resolving land conflicts between local communities with companies and state agencies. In Indonesia, NGOs have been promoting that strategy through campaigns for changing the legislation and directly assisting adat communities in concrete cases of land conflicts. However, success has been limited.Using a socio-legal research method, this book demonstrates the complexity of the legal recognition process of customary land rights in land dispute settings. It shows how the state legal framework deliberately repressed customary land rights over time, from the colonial period to the present. Detailed case studies also reveal competing interests among community members and their changing strategies in facing land conflicts. Finally, the book explores what happened in practice after communities did obtain legal recognition and whether that indeed solved their land problems.This dissertation invites indigenous rights activists and scholars to rethink the efficacy of the legal recognition strategy in using customary land rights claims as a solution to land conflicts. Show less
This thesis deals with three restrictions on freedom of expression, namely 1) lèse-majesté (the insult to the national head of state; the monarch in a monarchy, or the president in a republic), 2)... Show moreThis thesis deals with three restrictions on freedom of expression, namely 1) lèse-majesté (the insult to the national head of state; the monarch in a monarchy, or the president in a republic), 2) the defamation of foreign heads of state, and 3) blasphemy (insulting religion or religious symbols). This thesis examines the background of these speech crimes, their (international) legal status, as well as their relationship to democratic free speech theory. Show less
This book explores the effects of war and displacement on the South Sudanese Zande, a people frozen in time by the classical anthropology of Edgar Evans-Pritchard. The research started in Western... Show moreThis book explores the effects of war and displacement on the South Sudanese Zande, a people frozen in time by the classical anthropology of Edgar Evans-Pritchard. The research started in Western Equatoria State, South Sudan, at a time of hopeful reconstruction (2014-2015). Yet after war resumed in 2015, nearly a million South Sudanese refugees fled to neighbouring Uganda – and so the study continues with South Sudanese Zande refugees there (2015-2019). Based on hundreds of inter views with refugees and stayees, chiefs and elder s, government officials and former combatants, and ordinary people, this book places conflict, confusion, and the search for continuity at the heart of the historical ethnography of the South Sudanese Zande. The book focuses on the ties between people, between people and land, and the competing efforts to control those ties. These three foci relate to proto-legal questions that underpin human society: Who are we? To whom and where do we belong? And whose authority do we accept? This study shows that these foundational questions gain new salience in times of crisis, as people turn to nostalgia and utopia to escape present despair. Show less
In Senegal, questions of gender, notably the regulation of marital relations, are hotly debated, and pit Islamic authorities against the government. While the Family Code of 1972 promotes women’s... Show moreIn Senegal, questions of gender, notably the regulation of marital relations, are hotly debated, and pit Islamic authorities against the government. While the Family Code of 1972 promotes women’s rights to get a divorce in court, local social realities are different. This study explores the public debate about family law and provides an ethnography of family law practice. It shows how women navigate thecontested spaces of family law as they try to change the terms their marriages or obtain divorce. The role of family is key. Women must work their kin to mobilize support. They may also interact with local authorities – the imam, the chef de quartier, the House of Justice, and the judge. This study shows that women draw on multiple and overlapping sets of norms and tend to invoke the state only as last resort. Behind the polarized debate hides a practice that is fluid. This is reflected in the relations between local authorities, who recognize and respect each other’s roles, even if they work from competing claims to authority. Show less
By the second century AD the Roman empire had grown into a vast multilingual and pluriform empire. Unlike in the Roman West, where the lingua franca was Latin, the inhabitants of the Roman East... Show moreBy the second century AD the Roman empire had grown into a vast multilingual and pluriform empire. Unlike in the Roman West, where the lingua franca was Latin, the inhabitants of the Roman East predominantly spoke Greek. From a legal perspective, these inhabitants of the Roman East lived in a legal culture not dominated by Roman law, but by norms from an Hellenistic legal culture. To resolve their legal controversies, these inhabitants of the Roman East, sometimes, asked advice from renowned jurists from the Roman West. Twenty-six cases of questions based on Greek documents from an Hellenistic legal culture can be seen in the Justinianic Digest. These cases were taken from three Roman jurists, namely Scaevola, Paul and Modestin.In this book, the legal strategies, which these three jurists used to come to an advice on cases from the Roman East, are examined. Did the jurists only apply Roman law or did they take the Hellenistic legal culture from which these cases originated into account? Furthermore, in this book the question is answered whether from these cases influences from Hellenistic legal cultures on Roman law can be demonstrated. Show less
The Weimar Republic, founded in November 1918, was the first real democracy on German territory. It didn’t last long. On the 23th of March 1933, Hitler took power and abolished democracy to start... Show moreThe Weimar Republic, founded in November 1918, was the first real democracy on German territory. It didn’t last long. On the 23th of March 1933, Hitler took power and abolished democracy to start building his totalitarian Third Reich. Since then, the Weimar Republic became famous – or rather infamous – for being a ‘failed democracy’. In this research, the downfall of Weimar’s democracy is of central interest. After broadly stating the historical reality of the first Germany democracy, this thesis focusses on the juridical and philosophical concepts underlying the Weimar democracy to answer the question to what extent they offered real possibilities to defend the democratic state. It answers this question for the dominant philosophical school in Germany when the Weimar Constitution was drafted: legal positivism, for the Weimar Constitution itself as well as for Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt, Hermann Heller and Rudolf Smend. Show less
Defaming the Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Historical and Conceptual Analysis of the United Nations analyses the development of and the controversy around the formulation and interpretation of... Show moreDefaming the Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Historical and Conceptual Analysis of the United Nations analyses the development of and the controversy around the formulation and interpretation of the freedom of religion or belief as a universal right within the United Nations. The legal, philosophical, and political dimensions of the subject are discussed.This study demonstrates that the universality, content, and non-discriminatory implementation of the freedom of religion or belief has been questioned since its drafting process, not only on a theoretical level by postmodern views, but also, throughout the years, from a legal and political perspective within the UN. From various angles, these actors seem to ‘defame’ the freedom of religion or belief—hence the title of this study—and have succeeded in changing the provision by interpreting it differently than its original 1948 objectives. These developments have continued and will most likely continue to lead to a diminishment of the normative force of the legal provisions regarding the freedom of religion or belief. Various topics, such as religious tolerance, blasphemy, defamation of religion, and apostasy, are discussed in this context. Show less
This study gives a comprehensive account of the public prosecutor’s role in post-authoritarian Indonesia, both in promoting the rule of law and in maintaining the political status quo. It traces... Show moreThis study gives a comprehensive account of the public prosecutor’s role in post-authoritarian Indonesia, both in promoting the rule of law and in maintaining the political status quo. It traces the development of the Indonesian prosecution service, historically and politically, exploring what and who influences its performance, as well as how public prosecutors work in practice.This research is a socio-legal study of the criminal justice system. It contributes to a number of broader debates about post-authoritarian public prosecutors and their role in promoting the rule of law. By combining criminal law, criminology, political science and anthropological theory, it provides an important framework for the analysis and critique of conditions for, impacts of, and possibilities for prosecution services in post-authoritarian countries.The case of Indonesia constitutes an example of the way in which prosecution services evolve in countries marked by authoritarian tendencies. It shows how various regimes position public prosecutors as ‘justice postmen’, who deliver cases based on the government’s interests, as well as on the interests of other powerful actors, such as political parties, companies, or the police force. Such situations are commonly seen in authoritarian countries, where the executive dominates political power, and public prosecutors have become tools of the government in maintaining political order. Show less
This study on regulatory compliance in the logging sector in Ghana, attempts to understand how and why the key logging actors in the Ghana’s timber industry (i.e., licensed logging firms and... Show moreThis study on regulatory compliance in the logging sector in Ghana, attempts to understand how and why the key logging actors in the Ghana’s timber industry (i.e., licensed logging firms and chainsaw operators) respond to regulations in the sector and the extent to which the Forestry Commission, the main state regulatory institution, enforces these regulations to ensure compliance.For licensed logging firms, the study found that economic gains and societal pressures including demands from the local communities for developmental assistance and illegal activities of chainsaw operators influenced them to violation. Contrary, deterrence from third party non-state actors, particularly the EU market actors and forest certification bodies produced better compliance than the state sanctions. Also, for some firms, it was their religious beliefs including hope in eternal life, rather than deterrence from the state or non-state actors, that motivated them to comply. Regarding chainsaw operators, the violating activity was basically poverty-driven in the sense that it provides them with livelihood support. It also accounts for the bulk of lumber consumed locally and attracts low sanctions when violators are caught. Again, the study found that, the general socio-politico-economic context of the regulated actors and regulators exhibits traits that undermined compliance and enforcement efforts.All these demonstrate that enhancing compliance is a complex phenomenon and not just a straight forward calculation of increasing sanctions to achieve a higher level of compliance, as deterrence theory would like us to believe. More than that, compliance has other dimensions as well including social and normative motivations, and capacity to comply. What is important then for policymakers and practitioners to enhance compliance among various regulated actors is to understand how different actors respond to different compliance motivations under various socio-politico-economic and cultural settings. Show less
Land tenure issues in Timor-Leste are complex and deeply shaped by the nation’s history. Taking an insider’s perspective, this socio-legal research studies the development of the Timorese formal... Show moreLand tenure issues in Timor-Leste are complex and deeply shaped by the nation’s history. Taking an insider’s perspective, this socio-legal research studies the development of the Timorese formal land tenure system from independence in 2002 to 2018. It shows how political, legal, and administrative decisions on land administration are made, what and who influences them, which problems and dilemmas politicians and state officials face, and how the formal land tenure system works in practice. It does so through the investigation of five analytical themes: political environment, lawmaking, legal framework, institutional framework, and social relationships and practices. The result is a portrait of a young nation grappling with the enormous task of creating a land tenure system that can address the needs of its citizens in the wake of centuries of socio-political tumult and huge fluctuations in resources, while seeking to find its place on the world stage as a new nation.By studying the development of the Timorese formal land tenure system, this book engages in the larger academic debate about the role of state systems in addressing – but also causing or aggravating – various social problems, such as insecurity, poverty, inequality, destruction of nature, and cultural and social estrangement. Show less
This research is about the actions taken by lawyers in Indonesia to win land rights for corporations. In order to perform these actions, they not only deploy the weaknesses in the law, but their... Show moreThis research is about the actions taken by lawyers in Indonesia to win land rights for corporations. In order to perform these actions, they not only deploy the weaknesses in the law, but their strategies are supplemented with an acquired structural advantage: social capital in the form of loyalty of others they have vetted, such as judges, policemen and prosecutors.The dissertation gives a comprehensive account of the field that makes the strategies possible from multiple angles, such as courts, business actors, the condition of the rules, and then continues to expose the strategies. It is concluded by highlighting the specifications to the condition of the Rule of Law in Indonesia which need special attention and offer suggestions for substantive and sustainable legal reform. Show less
Since at least the time of the French Revolution there has been an identifiable tradition of conspiracy theorizing that posits the existence of a powerful secret network that has either taken over... Show moreSince at least the time of the French Revolution there has been an identifiable tradition of conspiracy theorizing that posits the existence of a powerful secret network that has either taken over the world or is about to take over the world through deception under the guise of championing enlightenment, freedom, self-government, and liberalism. This thesis charts the development of this idea - called the Grand Conspiracy Theory - and examines some of the impact of this idea and demonstrates that it is a cohesive tradition that has had a decisive impact on world affairs. This is especially evident in its role in inspiring violent subversive groups, including with Nazis and radical Islamists, to engage in “counter-conspiracies” against the evil imaginary enemy. This thesis also establishes the crucial importance of propaganda campaigns in shaping and spreading the idea of the Grand Conspiracy Theory. Show less
The dissertation examines the justification and conditions of global citizenship and the relation between global citizenship education and education in general. An applicable concept of... Show moreThe dissertation examines the justification and conditions of global citizenship and the relation between global citizenship education and education in general. An applicable concept of cosmopolitanism is derived from both a historical and conceptual analysis and by means of a comparative method lessons are drawn from (the history of) Afghanistan and the detrimental effects of foreign intervention on the formation of a democratic nation-state. The case for new forms of a cosmopolitan concept of democracy is made, applicable to an interdependent and globalising world. This philosophical analysis is applied to the present-day educational systems of both the Netherlands and Afghanistan. From this a starting point for a proposal towards world citizenship education is derived. In this research the case of the human rights violation of Farkhunda is used as a benchmark for the validity of the discussed theories. Show less
In the recent international campaigns against child marriage, there is a puzzle of agency: while international human rights institutions celebrate when girls exercise their agency not to marry,... Show moreIn the recent international campaigns against child marriage, there is a puzzle of agency: while international human rights institutions celebrate when girls exercise their agency not to marry, they do not recognize their agency to marry. ‘Child marriage’, defined as “any formal marriage or informal union where one or both of the parties are under 18 years of age”, is considered always forced, assuming that children are not capable of consenting to marriages. In order to re-examine, reflect, and discuss this approach to agency, this dissertation offers empirical evidence of child marriage, based on findings from the author’s fieldwork in Indonesia. Why children marry and how this practice both informs, and is treated within, multiple competing normative frameworks in place? The dissertation starts from analysing child marriage discourse at the international level, moves to discuss the political contestation over child marriage at the national level (Indonesia), and then investigates child marriage as a social practice on the Indonesian island of Bali.This is a socio-legal study of international human rights, which contributes to the scholarly field of human rights and children’s rights by using ideas from the other disciplines in social science. Show less
This is a study on the Dutch private law doctrine of the indivisibility of the security rights pledge (pand) and hypothec (hypotheek). It deals with the roots of this doctrine in roman law, ius... Show moreThis is a study on the Dutch private law doctrine of the indivisibility of the security rights pledge (pand) and hypothec (hypotheek). It deals with the roots of this doctrine in roman law, ius commune and French customary law. Show less
This project contemplates an ethics of difference and singularity that can effectuate a displacement of anthropocentrism and radical transformation in the way we understand and approach... Show moreThis project contemplates an ethics of difference and singularity that can effectuate a displacement of anthropocentrism and radical transformation in the way we understand and approach relationality across species borders. The reflections take place against the background of the problematic accompanying the (re)presentation of animals in the subject-centered models of moral philosophy and law, and call into question the salient ways in which theorists have engaged these avenues in order to effect change in our treatment of animals. Animal liberation scholars and activists have mainly sought to address the plight of animals from the theoretical frameworks of legal rights, interest-based equality, and identity discourse that foreground the ways in which animals are essentially similar to human beings in terms of ethically relevant qualities or characteristics. This project critically reflects on Emmanuel Levinas’s formulation of the ethical in order to advance an alternative understanding of human-animal relations as grounded in the radical singularity or difference of individual beings. This project deconstructs the dominant animal rights models by uncovering anthropocentrism as a guiding thread of the Western metaphysical tradition and illustrating how the construct of subjectivity born from that tradition forecloses or limits certain ethical possibilities. Show less
This study builds on the work of Juffermans who has shown that religion takes on three ‘different meanings’ in Spinoza’s works, namely 1.superstition; 2. faith; and 3. philosophical religion. In... Show moreThis study builds on the work of Juffermans who has shown that religion takes on three ‘different meanings’ in Spinoza’s works, namely 1.superstition; 2. faith; and 3. philosophical religion. In this way Spinoza has provided us with a nuanced normative theory that can help us to evaluate religions. Different from the Straussian view which considers this theory to be rife with contradictions, this study researches how the three perspectives on religion could exist side by side.Spinoza’s theory of religion, so it is argued, following Fraenkel, belongs to a tradition of philosophical religions. In this tradition the Divine is understood as the perfect exemplar of reasonableness, and historical religions are understood as pedagogical-didactical tools to lead the common people to a life of reason.Spinoza was not only a critic of religion and the Bible, he also endorsed them for individuals as well as for societies. Spinoza’s religious ideas were understood by Spinoza’s circle of friends as an example of ‘reasonable Christianity’. Spinoza was not in favor of the separation of Church and State. He was a proponent of a state-guided ‘public church’, guarding over the faith of the general population and fighting the superstitious beliefs that can divide society. Show less
More than three quarters of Indonesians do not have access to piped water. They depend on river water for bathing and sometimes also for drinking water. But the vast majority of rivers are... Show moreMore than three quarters of Indonesians do not have access to piped water. They depend on river water for bathing and sometimes also for drinking water. But the vast majority of rivers are severely polluted, many of them by industrial waste. This book explains why it has been so difficult for both the government and citizens to act against industrial river pollution. This socio-legal research looks at regulation and explains how government institutions have set norms to polluting behaviour, and how they have detected and responded to violations. It also analyses how citizens have participated in this process and how they seek redress for the wrongdoings they are faced with. Does victim involvement offer better chances for adequate environmental problem solving? The author illuminates the complex interrelations between the processes of regulation and redress seeking. Two extended case studies on Rancaekek in West Java and Kao-Malifut in North Maluku demonstrate illustrate how in practice these interrelations can lead to losing sight of stopping the actual pollution problem, shifting focus to compensation and increased social tensions and inequality within communities. This study’s theoretical contribution lies mainly in expanding the insights into the mutual influence of regulation and redress seeking. Show less
