Twitter As a Security Device

Twitter as a security device

A single-case study on Geert Wilders’ use of Twitter during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections

Picture by Yordi Dam

Author: Melanie Schnezler Master Political Science: International Relations Research Project: European Security Politics Supervisor: Rocco Bellanova Second reader: Marieke de Goede Student number: 11234839 Date: June 2017 Words: 20.237

Explanation of the cover photo This photo was taken by Yordi Dam and used in the newspaper article written by Clara van de Wiel for the Nieuw Rotterdamse Courant (NRC) named “Hoe Wilders via Twitter de revolutie voorbereidt – [own translation] How Wilders is preparing the revolution throug Twitter” (van de Wiel 2017). The photo was taken from Geert Wilders while tweeting in the parliament, and it illustrates of how much importance Twitter is to Wilders.

Abstract Today over 300 million people in the world use Twitter to send out messages about their personals views, opinions and experiences. Amongst them are many Dutch politicians. Even though the platform was originally created for communication purposes, today it is often used for the promotion of political ideas and opinions. Geert Wilders, party leader of the Dutch Freedom Party; Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), demonstrates this by regularly referring to his political stances in his tweets. The political importance of the platform is however often been overlooked. This research argues for Twitters’ political importance by analyzing Geert Wilders’ use of Twitter, for the performance of security, during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections. The research uses the security practices theory of Amicelle et al. to emphasize the importance that devices have on the outcome of security practices. Amicelle et al.’s angle on devices, permits us to analyze the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter contribute to Wilders’ performance of security. By defining these characteristics and comparing them to those of other forms of speech acts, the thesis shows the uniqueness of Twitter. By exploring Wilders’ social disposition towards the platform and the context in which his tweets are best considered, the thesis gives the reader a full understanding of Wilders’ way of using Twitter for security purposes and of the political power it is able to have. The research concludes that Twitter, when used for security purposes, can be considered an important tool for the promotion of Wilders’ security visions.

List of Abbreviation CDA Christen-Democratisch Appèl (own translation: Christian Democratic Appeal) EU European Union IR International Relations MP Member of Parliament NRC Nieuw Rotterdamse Courant PVV Partij voor de Vrijheid (own translation: Freedom Party) SMS Short Message Service US United States VVD Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (own translation: People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy)

List of Tables Table.1 General structure of thesis’ analysis chapter [own table]..………………..31 Table 2. An overview of Wilders’ tweets [own table]...... 43 Table 3. An overview of Wilders’ parliamentary speeches [own table]....…………….48

List of Figures Figure 1. Left: The scientific method of research: inductive and deductive..………25 Figure 1. Right: The scientific method adopted with variables from this research……..25 Figure 2. Results of the Dutch 2017 parliamentary election…………………….…...... 54 Figure 3. Graphic on the polls between October 2016 till April 2017…………….....56

List of Pictures Picture 1. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 07-12-2016…………...... 8 Picture 2. Picture of Twitter sketch by Jack Dorsey…………………………...…...……9 Picture 3. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 10-12-2016...... ……....34 Picture 4. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 07-12-2017……………....35 Picture 5. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet, posted on 05-12-2016……………..45 Picture 6. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ retweet, posted on 20-02-2017…………….46 Picture 7. Parliamentary question of Geert Wilders, sent on 28-03-2017………………..49 Picture 8. Parliamentary questions of Geert Wilders, sent on 20-02-2017…………….…51

Table of Contents

Explanation of the cover photo ...... 2 Abstract ...... 3 List of Abbreviation ...... 4 List of Tables ...... 5 List of Figures ...... 5 List of Pictures ...... 5

1. Introduction ...... 8 1.1 Formulation of the problem and societal and academic relevance ...... 11 1.3 Structure of the research ...... 12

2. Theoretical framework ...... 14 2.0 Introduction ...... 14 2.1 Critical security studies ...... 15 2.2 The practice turn ...... 16 2.3 The security practice formula ...... 18 2.4 Why not securitization theory? ...... 20 2.5 Conclusion ...... 22

3. Research design and methods ...... 24 3.0 Introduction ...... 24 3.1 A qualitative research design ...... 24 3.2 Inductive versus deductive research ...... 25 3.3 A single-case study design on the Twitter use of Geert Wilders ...... 26 3.4 A three-fold analysis ...... 27 3.5 Reflection on reliability and validity of the research plus possible obstacles ...... 30

4. Analysis ...... 31 4.0 Introduction ...... 31 4.1 The social disposition of Wilders ...... 32 4.1.1 Wilders’ social position towards media ...... 33 4.1.2 Wilders’ social position towards his security measures ...... 36

Conclusion ...... 42 4.2 Exploring the socio-technical differences between Wilders’ tweets and parliamentary speech acts ...... 44 4.2.1 Analyzing Wilders’ tweets ...... 44 4.2.2 Exploring Wilders’ parliamentary questions ...... 49 4.2.3 Comparing tweets with parliamentary questions ...... 52 4.3 Context ...... 53 4.3.1 The Dutch electoral system ...... 54 4.3.2 Specificities of the PVV and the overall context of the elections ...... 56

5. Conclusion ...... 58

6. Literature ...... 62

1. Introduction

Picture 1. Screen caption of Geert Wilders’ tweet on Islamic immigration, posted on 07-12-2016.

The picture above (picture 1.) shows a Twitter message, also known as a tweet, from Geert Wilders’ Twitter account approximately three months before the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, held on the 15th of March. This direct and arguably harsh language in his tweets is not uncommon when scrolling through the Twitter page of the party leader of the PVV, who’s party became the second largest party of the Netherlands winning 20 out of 150 seats in parliament. Wilders’ use of Twitter has not gone unnoticed by the media. Headers like “Geert Wilders most influential on Twitter” and “How Wilders prepares a revolution through Twitter” have been present in daily news during the months before the Dutch parliamentary elections on the 15th of March (van de Wiel 2017; The PostOnline 2016). Twitter is a digital platform upon which people can post tweets consisting of a maximum of 140 characters (Weller et al. 2014). The platform was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey as a tool to update friends on their activities and whereabouts (Akcora & Demirbas 2010). Dorsey was inspired by the delivery constraints to Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, which break up into two messages after 160 characters. The same limits were then used for Tweets, reserving 20 characters for the name space and 140 characters for the

8 message. Picture 2. below shows the original sketch of the layout made by Dorsey. It shows that the current status is “reading” and that one can find other users by entering their e-mail in the “know someone?” function. The medium was originally meant for the fast messengers, truckers, bikers and emergency services (Weller et al. 2014). However, since its founding Twitter has become ragingly popular, with an estimated number of 313 million users in 2013 (About.Twitter 2017). In the political world Twitter has gained popularity as well. The platform has become a way for politicians to reach out to the electorate. This is due to its large number of users, the possibility to respond to each other’s Tweets (@-mentions), to external links (by inserting hyperlinks) and to topics (trough hashtags #) (Graham, Jackson & Broersma 2016).

Picture 2. Picture of Twitter sketch by Jack Dorsey, 2000. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackdorsey/182613360/ (Dorsey, 2006).

In 2016 the communication advisory bureau Lindblom analyzed the Twitter use of all 150 Dutch members of parliament (MPs) in the previous year (The Post Online 2016). It found that 144 out of 150 MPs have a Twitter account and together sent over 131.500 tweets that year, an average of 496 tweets per day (The Post Online 2016). According to the bureau Wilders is the most influential MP of the Netherlands, with over 714.000 followers. This is a

9 far greater number than his direct electoral competition. Mark Rutte, party leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) which won 33 seats in parliament, has 101.000 followers. Alexander Pechtold, party leader of the Democrats66 (D66) which won 19 seat in parliament, has 630.000 followers, and Sybrand Buma, party leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which also won 19 seats in parliament, has 70.100 followers. The influence of the MP on Twitter was not only measured by the number of followers, but also by the effect a tweet has on the public. In fact, Wilders does not send most tweets per day, but his tweets are the ones mostly commented and shared (The Post Online 2016). The Nieuw Rotterdamse Courant (NRC), the fifth largest Dutch national newspaper, investigated all Wilders’ tweets since 2009, when he became active on the platform (van de Weil 2017). The following list, English translation presented between brackets, presents the 13 most used topics in his tweets, which are signaled on Twitter by a hashtag (#):

1) #kominverzet (put up resistance) 2) #grenzendicht (borders closed) 3) #NoMoreIslam 4) #stempvv (vote pvv) 5) #PVVOP1 (pvv on first place) 6) #NEXIT (Dutch Brexit) 7) #NederlandWeerVanOns (the Netherlands ours again) 8) #PVV 9) #genoegisgenoeg (enough is enough) 10) #stopislam 11) #knettergek (totally crazy) 12) #minder (less) 13) #deislamize (less Islam)1

This in itself is already interesting data, since seven out of the 13 hashtags resonate with the PVV’s security measures written in its election program for the 2017 parliamentary elections (PVV party program 2017-2021). The PVV’s party program for the 2017 parliamentary elections consists of 11 measures two of which are directly linked to security. The first is de- Islamization, a position the PVV aims to accomplish through the implementation of eight

1 Van der Wiel, 2017, “Hoe Wilders via Twitter de revolutie voorbereidt”, NRC.

10 measurements that ban the Islamic culture from the Netherlands – for example by banning of Islamic immigrants, or prohibiting the Koran (PVV party program 2017-2021, point 1). The PVV’s second security position is drastically increasing governmental spending on the police force and the Ministry of Defense (PVV party program 2017-2021, point 9). Tweets related to these security measures can be considered promotions of the security vision of the PVV. The more followers Wilders’ Twitter account has, and the more his tweets are liked, retweeted and commented on, the more people his security promotions reach. Wilders is thus performing security through tweeting. This thesis in interested in how this performing of security by Wilders takes place and how his tweets contribute to the security goals of Wilders, is what interests this thesis. There is little doubt on the fact that the internet is increasingly important as a tool for politicians to reach out to their electorate (Vergeer et al. 2013, p. 478). Most of the research done so far on Twitter has however focused on the social side-effects of the platform. For example, prior studies have shown that Twitter can potentially help build more direct connections between politicians and voters. Because the platform gives citizens and politicians the ability to bypass traditional media and newspapers, Twitter can bring the two sides closer together (Broersma & Graham 2012). Despite the fact that Twitter has the potential to increase direct interaction between citizens and politicians, most of the empirical research shows that politicians use Twitter for the deliver messages to the public instead of communicating with them (Jackson & Lilleker 2009). Comparative research has been conducted on the use of Twitter by Dutch and British politicians during the 2010 general elections to see if they differ in style (ibid.). The researchers discovered that Dutch politicians were not only more active on Twitter during campaigns, but also more likely to embraced the interactive potentials the medium has (ibid.). This research aims to enrich the field of studies on Twitter, by adding a new research angle on the use of Twitter for the performance of security. By performance of security this thesis means

1.1 Formulation of the problem and societal and academic relevance There is no doubt about the increasingly important role the internet plays in parliamentary elections (Vergeer et al. 2013, p. 478). During parliamentary elections, politicians become more active on social media (Metaxas & Mustafaraj 2012). Research has been done on Twitter use by politicians during the Dutch parliamentary elections of 2012 (Jacobs &

Spierings 2014; Dietz 2013), but the latest parliamentary elections have yet to be thoroughly examined. This research is inspired by the phenomenon called Twitter and aims to fill in the literature gap existent on the 2017 Dutch parliamentary election. Moreover, it aims to fill the gap in the theoretical field, by focusing on the security use of Twitter. This thesis finds its societal relevance in the fact that the political impact of Twitter has often been overlooked. A problem that immediately comes to mind when scrolling through Wilders’ Twitter page is the language he uses in his tweets, arguably assaulting and discriminating a religious minority in the Netherlands. In the Dutch constitution the first article states that every person in the Netherlands should be treated similarly, and that discrimination by religion, race or gender is prohibited (Parlement & Politiek 2017, de Grondwet). The fact that Wilders is allowed to speak in such language on a platform open to everybody, is arguably dangerous for the persistency of the Dutch constitution. Twitter is an open platform without major constrictions on the language use (Theocharis et al. 2016, p. 1008), can arguably be seen as dangerous for the society. If Twitter itself cannot protect citizens by make rules about language allowed in tweets, the government possibly could. The legal implications of Wilders’ Twitter use would be interesting for law students to the research. By showing that Twitter can be used as a tool in the performance of security by politicians, the thesis aims to emphasize this political relevance. In exploring the relationship between Wilders and his tweets for security purposes this thesis answers the following research question: How does Geert Wilders use Twitter as a device for practicing security, during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections? To fully answer this question, the following sub-questions will be answered in this research:

- What are the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter? - What is the social disposition of Wilders in relation to his Twitter messages? - What are the main characteristics of the context of the Dutch parliamentary elections in which Wilders’ tweets are placed in?

1.3 Structure of the research Each of the sub-questions elaborates on a variable of the security practice formula created by Amicelle et al. (2015, p. 302): “security practices= actors’ social disposition + socio-technical characteristics of devices + context”. By applying the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) to the tweets of Wilders, this research will gain a fuller

12 understanding of the security practices of Wilders. What the research understands by Wilders’ security practice is explained in the research design chapter. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The introduction sets the stage for the topic of the research and presents the main research question answered in the thesis. The second chapter introduces the theoretical framework, which lays down the theoretical field in which the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) can be best understood. The third chapter explains the research design, which further elaborates on the operationalization of this thesis. The fourth chapter is the actual analysis part of the research, which is divided into three sections, each covering one of the variables of the security practice theory. The next chapter elaborates more thoroughly on the theoretical framework of the thesis and prior research done on this research topic.

2. Theoretical framework Before starting with the theoretical framework, it is important to explain what this thesis considers a security device and why is considers Twitter to be one. Taken from the Oxford Dictionary, a device is a thing made or adapted for a particular purpose, especially a piece of mechanical or electronic equipment. It is also a plan, method, or trick with a particular aim (Oxford Dictionary2). Even though the Oxford Dictionary explanation refers to devices as being especially a piece of mechanical or electronic equipment, many scholars have argued that security devices can take non-material forms (Behrent 2013 & Butler 2010). Foucault as well as Behrent argue that the term technology does not per definition refer to tools, machines or applications of science, but could also refer to human processes and methods (Behrent 2013, p. 56). Amicelle et al. (2015) emphasize the role that performativity has within their model. Following Butler’s explanation, performativity speech acts can bring about certain realities and can have social consequences (Butler, 2010: p.147, italics in original). In the case of the Geert Wilders, Twitter messages can be seen a performative speech act. By regularly posting messages with his political opinion, Wilders hopes to alter the public’s vision and gain more political popularity. “Performative speech acts have productive effects in the world; they configure worlds differently and bring something new or different into being” (Amicelle et al. 2015, p. 298, italics in original). Applying this to the Twitter of Wilders, would suggest that his messages are motivated by the urge to bring something new into being. Bringing Twitter in as a security device in the security practice formula, also enriches existent research on security devices.

2.0 Introduction This chapter discusses the theoretical framework of the thesis. The thesis uses the security practice theory by Anthony Amicelle, Claudia Aradau and Julien Jeandesboz (2015) to answer the main research question: How does Geert Wilders use Twitter as a device for practicing security, during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections? Their theoretical proposal is summarized in the formula: “security practices= actors’ social disposition + socio-technical characteristics of devices + context” (Amicelle et al. 2015, p. 302). By filling in this formula, with Geert Wilders’ tweets as the security device, this thesis aims to get a full understanding of Wilders’ security practices and his use of Twitter to benefit these practices. To obtain this

2 Oxford Dictionary; www.myoxforddicttionary.nl

14 understanding it is important to determine what this thesis identifies as Wilders’ security practice. As mentioned in the introduction, the PVV has two political measures in its party program relating to security: de-Islamization and investing more money in the Ministry of Defense and the police force (PVV party program 2017-2021). This research considers these measures as the security goals of Wilder. The security practices in this situation would be the implementation of national legislation that could prohibit the entering of Islamic immigrant or that grants more money to the police force and the Ministry of Defense. This theoretical framework is consists of four steps, each one helping to specify the field in which the security device theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) can be understood. First, the security practice theory is places in the broader approach of critical security studies, an umbrella approach characterized by its focus on the effect of human agency on social change by emphasizing consciousness and culture (Always 1995, p. 2). The second steps explains the practice approach, which highlights the importance of analyzing the context of a subject in order to gain a better understanding of the transformation of the subject (Schatzki 1995, p. 11). Within this step the practice theory of Bourdieu (1979) is explained. A famous practice theory Amicelle et al. extensively use in their security practice theory (2015). The third step further examines the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015). The fourth and final step argues why this research chooses the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) as a theoretical framework, instead of securitization, a more familiar critical security theory also focusing on the influence of language (Peoples and Vaughan-William 2010; Waever et al. 1993 & Buzan et al. 1998). In the conclusion a few final words on the theoretical findings are mentioned.

2.1 Critical security studies The security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) can be better understood in a framework of broader disciplines, the first one being critical security studies. Critical security studies is a sub-discipline, within International Relations (IR) theories, that has gained prominence over the past two decades (Browning and McDonald 2011, p. 235). Classical critical theorist, e.g. Karl Marx, Jürgen Habermas and Max Weber, are known for criticizing the traditional approach to security. Traditional security studies see the state as the main referent object (the object that is being threatened) and the use of force as the subject of security (Waltz 1979). Many critical studies of security have argued that not only states are units of analysis that can be threatened by external factors, but also communities, national identities and even the

15 environment can be seen as units of analysis in security studies (Peoples and Vaughan- William 2010; Waever et al. 1993; Buzan et al. 1998; McDonald 2008). Moreover, scholars of critical security studies recognize the fact that security is a socially constructed phenomenon which can be a politically powerful instrument (Browning & McDonald 2013, p. 236). The security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) follows the argumentation of critical security studies, since it does not necessarily use states as main unit of analysis. When relating critical security studies to this research, the research can also be considered a critical security study. First of all, the state is not the main unit of analysis. The research examines artifacts (e.g. written Tweets, academic literature and newspapers), to obtain a better understanding of the characteristics of Twitter, Wilders’ position in relation to his Tweets and the context his position is placed in. Additionally, this research addresses security as a practice, more thoroughly explained in the next paragraph, which argues that security is formed by processes of human activity (Butler 2010; Goffman 1959). This relates perfectly with the notion of critical security studies on the socially constructed phenomenon. The following section explores the practice turn more thoroughly.

2.2 The practice turn A more narrowed down approach than critical security studies, is the practice turn. The work of Amicelle et al. (2015) should also be acknowledged as a practice theory. The ‘practice turn’ approach is one not only present within IR theories but also apparent in philosophy, history, sociology and cultural theory (Schatzki, Cetina & Savigny 2001, p. 11). Practice theorists in IR invite scholars to look at world politics through practices (Adler & Pouliot 2011). Adler and Pouliot argue that a focus on practices does not offer a grand theory, but does account for many actions and phases of the world (e.g. power and security, institutions and organizations and trade and finance) (Adler & Pouliot 2011, p. 2). By looking more precisely at the everyday practices of the world, these phases can be better understood (Doty 1996). Though, options differ on the definition of a practice. According to Christian Bueger et al. (2017, p. 128) a practice consists out of three elements: physical movements (doing and saying things); practical – unconscious or conscious – knowledge; and out of objects used in the practice. According to Adler and Pouliot (2011), a practice can be defined by five elements. First, a practice is a performance, a process of doing something (Butler 2010; Goffman 1959). Contrary to entities, they have no existence without this process. Second, practices usually

16 follow a pattern, which means that different practices usually produce similar behavior. However, room for maneuver for agency however remains (Goffman 1959). Third, practices are competent through social recognition, meaning that individuals interpret their performance and are able to appraise a practice (Pouliot & Emanuel 2011, p. 7). Forth, practices rest on background knowledge. This knowledge precedes the practice and resembles skills instead of norms and ideas (Bourdieu 1990). Lastly, practices bring together discursive and material worlds, meaning that they combine language and action. Without language people could never be able to communicate and make physical decisions which lead to the practices. Practices are typically executed in a world of ideas and individuals, which in turn changed by those practices (Pouliot & Emanuel 2011, p. 7). Within the practice theory there are differing opinions on what eventually explains practices, but despite their differences all practice theorists share the belief that all human activity, language, science and power occur within, and are components of, a field of practices (ibid.). Traditional practice theorists see practices as “arrays of human activity” (Schatzki 2001, p. 11). A “posthumanist” minority, focusing on technology studies, adds that these activities can also include those of nonhumans, such as machines or objects of scientific investigation (ibid.). Schatzki et al. (2001) define the ‘practice approach’ as one that “develops an account of practices, either the field of practices or some subdomain thereof (e.g., science), or treats the field of practices as the place to study the nature and transformation of their subject matter” (Schatzki et al. 2001, p. 11). By this they mean that analyzing the context of the subject is more important than the subject itself, when interested in the transformation of the subject. Practice approaches usually oppose theoretical paths such as individualism (rational choice theory and network analysis) and structuralism (Schatzki et al. 2001, pp. 10-11). Pierre Bourdieu (1979) defined this field as the social context in which the actors are operating. This context is defined by (unequal) power relations between actors (Pouliot & Mérand 2013, p. 30). The context in which the practice takes place is therefore crucial to investigate. This research will therefore analyze the context of the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections to get a thorough overview of the context in which Wilders’ tweets function. Apart from the context, there is another important aspect for the explanation of practices. This aspect has been defined by Pierre Bourdieu as “[(habitus) (capital)]” (1979). Habitus is explained by Bourdieu as “a system of lasting, transposable dispositions which, integrating past experiences, functions at every moment as a matrix of perceptions, appreciations and actions” (Bourdieu, cited in Pouliot & Mérand 2013, p. 29). The habitus is

17 established by objective and subjective structures, the former referring to an actors’ position in the field and the latter to an actors’ disposition. The habitus exists partly unconscious, and helps actors to better achieve their objectives (Jackson 2009, pp. 106-107). Capital is defined as “a resource, specific to the field (such as cultural or political capital) which actors aim to accumulate and benefit from” (Pouliot & Mérand 2013, p. 36). Capital can hence be seen as the currency for a particular field. An actor born in a social position endowed with, for example, cultural capital, has an advantage compared to an actor that is not (Jackson 2009, p. 110). Bourdieu’s sociological model “[(habitus) (capital)] + field = practice” (1979), based on the study of the French social classes, has been and is still very influential in the practice approach and serves as the main theoretical inspiration for the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015). Amicelle et al. formulate their security practice formula along the lines of Bourdieu’s sociological model. Their notion of social disposition and context should therefore be generally understood as Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and field. In paragraph 2.3, the formula will be more thoroughly explained. By approaching security practices through devices, Amicelle et al. (2015) distinguish themselves from existing practice theories as such the sociological theory from Bourdieu. The authors aim to emphasize the importance that devices have on the outcome of practices. This new research angle is what makes the theory so interesting for this thesis, since it provides this research with the tools to investigate the way in which Wilders uses Twitter to perform security.

2.3 The security practice formula After laying the basic understanding of field in which the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) should be understood, this section digs deeper into to formula presented by the authors:

“security practices= actors’ social disposition + socio-technical characteristics of devices + context” (p. 302).

With this formula, the authors emphasize the importance that devices have on political events (2015, p. 302). Amicelle et al. do not make explicitly clear what they mean by security devices (2015). Despite the lack of an explicit definition, they do argue that calling something a device is to recognize an intentional purpose and a desired effect (2015, p. 294). Samuel Tanner and Michaël Meyer investigate (2015) the everyday use and practice of three sorts of

18 technological devices (mobile phones, body scanners and mobile digital terminals) by police men, and argue that several artifacts are used as security devices even though they are not made or validated for this purpose (Tanner & Meyer 2015). This notion links perfectly to the fact that this thesis considers Twitter to be a security device. Even though Twitter is made to serve a mere communication purpose, if used for a security purpose –the promotion of Wilders’ security measures – the medium can be considered a security device. By focusing on devices, Amicelle et al. contribute to a group of political scientist scholars focusing on technology in their research. Between them a perennial division has become clear, with on the one side scholars who argue that technology has innately dangerous consequences for human being and on the other side scholars arguing that technology is simply a neutral tool that should not be given more philosophical importance than it deserves (Spicer 2003). Amicelle et al. (2015) do not define technology as something intrinsically dangerous for human beings. They do however criticize scholars who argue that technological devices are purely autonomous tools (ibid.). Amicelle et al. (2015) argue that a choice of security device, for example public policy, body scanner or a drone, comes with a range of problems, methods of operations and techniques (Amicelle et al. 2015, p. 294). The authors call these the socio-technical characteristics of the device. They argue for this new way of thinking, since not enough attention has been given to the performative and political effects of security devices (Amicelle et al. 2015, p. 294). Following the argumentation of Amicelle et al. (2015) on devices, this research defines Twitter as a security device and therefore as influential in the outcome of Wilders’ security practices. Wilders’ choice of security device – Twitter – for the promotion of his security measures, is therefore attached to a set of social and technical characteristic. Only by understanding these, is becomes possible for this research to draw conclusions from Wilders’ use of Twitter. The social disposition aspect of the formula should be generally understood as the notion of habitus from Bourdieu (1979). By this Amicelle et al. (2015) mean the actors’ position in relation to the device. This relation is influenced by multiple factors. First, the actor can be either the one governing (producer of) the security device, or the one being governed (the consumer) (Amicelle et al. 2015, p. 296). Linking this to Wilders’ tweets, the following can be stated: one the one hand the is the owner of his own Tweets, since nobody controls what he posts on his Twitter account. On the other hand, Wilders still needs to follow the technical characteristics of Twitter like everybody else. Meaning that Wilders, similar to other Twitter users, is for example bound to the limit of characters possible in a tweet.

Second, security devices are tangled in a web of past experiences that functions consciously as well as unconsciously as a guide for an actor’s future use of a device (Bourdieu, cited in Pouliot & Mérand 2013, p. 29). Moreover, a security device is intrinsically interconnected to strategies of use, through which the controller of the security device has the power to control and limit the freedom of the others (Behrent 2013). Wilders separated from the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in 2004, because he did not agree with the party conforming with the European Union (EU) regulation that made the accession of Turkey to the EU possible after necessary reforms. Wilders absolutely did not want Turkey to be able to join the EU and consequently separated from the VVD. The PVV participated in the parliamentary elections as an independent party for the first time in 2006. It seems as if Wilders’ measures in relation to the Islam is embedded in Wilders’ security values. The analysis chapter of this research shows how the social disposition of Wilders influence his performance of security. The theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) has been defined as a practice theory. And since practice theories are defined ones that “treats the field of practices as the place to study the nature and transformation of their subject matter” (Schatzki et al. 2001, p. 11), it is relevant for this thesis to gain an full understanding of the context in which the tweets of Wilders should be understood. This thesis focuses on the 2017 parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, and analyses the time period from December 1st till the date of the elections, March 15th. As shown in the introduction, it seems as if Wilders uses tweets to promote his security vision. This thesis is interested in the relation between Wilders and his tweets and investigates this through the implementation of each of the components of the formula. Incorporating the research’s topic in the formula of Amicelle et al. (2015), the formula looks as followed:

“National legislation on de-Islamization and increasing governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense and the police force= Wilders’ social disposition on Twitter and his security measures + socio-technical characteristics of Twitter + context of the 2017 parliamentary elections”.

2.4 Why not securitization theory? A theory many security scholars will think of when thinking about research on the effect that words (in this case Twitter) have on security matters, is securitization theory (Waever et al. 1993; Buzan et al. 1998). This theory argues that powerful security actors can use speech acts

20 to legitimize extraordinary policy measures, by framing an otherwise normal (political) event into an existential threat, such as migration (Waever et al. 1993; Buzan et al. 1998). A security actor frames an ordinary subject, immigration for example, as a security threat and thereby legitimizes extraordinary measures. The public then supports this securitization move, believing the urgency of the threat, allowing the politicians to use any type of security measurement they consider appropriate in order to stop it (Waever 1995, p. 55). The decision to choose the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) instead of the securitization theory lies in three factors. First, this research does not consider Twitter as a speech act. Although tweets are mostly written words and therefore arguably speech acts, Twitter as platform is only accessible through the use of a technological device, e.g. a smartphone or computer. Besides, tweets do not always have to consist of word, but can also be images or videos. This thesis therefore considers Twitter as a technological platform on which people can post speech acts. Second securitization theory pays too little attention to contextual influences (McDonald 2008). As mentioned earlier, the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) is a practice theory, focusing on security practices and the influence that security devices have on them. Whereas securitization theory mainly focuses on the strength of the speech act and position of the security actor, security practice theories focus on the entire field of interactions, positions and context for the outcome (Schatzki et al. 2001). The choice of a practice theory gives this research the possibility to focus on the context in which Wilders’ tweets should be addressed a crucial factor in explaining a social and political event (Huysmans 2002). Third, securitization theory mentions only one sort of speech act by security actors, namely the spoken one (Waever et al. 1993; Buzan et al. 1998). Amicelle et al. argue that different security devices have different socio-technical characteristics. By defining Twitter as a security device instead of a speech act, this research also shows the difference between the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter and parliamentary speeches. Choosing securitization as a theoretical framework, would cause both Twitter and parliamentary speeches to be considered speech acts, which would remove the opportunity to show the unique set of social and technical characteristics belonging to Twitter. As mentioned in the introduction, Twitter has become a heavily used social platform by politicians in the Netherlands. The phenomenon of Twitter being used to perform security has however not yet been investigated. This thesis hopes to contribute to the public knowledge about Twitter and the research done on the subject.

2.5 Conclusion This theoretical framework chapter has given a thorough understanding of the theoretical field in which the security practice theory of Amicelle et al (2015) should be understood. The chapter did this in four steps, each step narrowing down this field. Prior to these steps, the chapter defined what it means by security practices when using the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015). The research considers Wilders’ security practices to be the realization of Wilders’ security measures (de-Islamization and more funding to the Ministry of Defense and the police force). The steps were as followed: First, the chapter argued that the security practice of Amicelle et al. is best understood as a critical security study, by showing that they, similar to security studies, do not focus on states as their main unit of analysis. The actors focus on technological devices. This falls in line with this research’s focus, since focuses on the Twitter as the main unit of analysis Second the chapter defined the security practice theory as a practice theory. This theoretical approach puts its focus on the process performances and the influence that a person’s conscious and unconscious values have on it (Pouliot & Emanuel 2011; Bourdieu 1979; Schatzki 2001). Amicelle et al. do the same, by arguing that security devices and the social disposition –which can be seen as Wilders’ conscious and unconscious values – of the actor determine for the outcome of security practices. To investigate these two aspects, it is not only important to have a separate understanding of Wilders’ security measures and the technicalities of Twitter, but also to know how this process of using Twitter is influenced by Wilders’ social disposition and the context of the 2017 Dutch elections. Thirdly, after elaborating on the theoretical field for the understanding of the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015), the chapter explained of the security practice formula presented in their work. Following their formula, the section showed that Wilders’ security practices are influenced by his social disposition. The latter is considered as Wilders’ conscious and unconscious values, shaping his relation with Twitter and his security measures. Finally, the chapters explained why the research uses the security practice theory instead on the securitization theory, more often used in critical security studies. The research states that it considers Twitter not merely as a speech act, but as a technological platform which enables people to post speech acts on it. Twitter is a device, which can be used for the purpose of performing security. However, a tweet does not have to entail a security message, but can also address everyday activities that have nothing to do with security. Considering tweets as securitizing moves would assume the fact that they are always used for security purposes. Moreover, analyzing Twitter through the security practice theory gives this research

22 the possibility to analyze the context in which Wilders’ tweets can be understood. A crucial aspect when analyzing a social phenomenon like a politicians’ social media activity. The next chapter elaborates on how this research will apply the security practice theory to the tweets of Wilders.

3. Research design and methods

3.0 Introduction This chapter explains the research design of this thesis. The chapter is built up in steps, each step explaining more specifically the choice of research design and method. The first step explains the choice for a qualitative research design, a design characterized by in depth analysis usually of a smaller number of research units (Swanborn 2004, p. 7). The second step explains the research’s partially inductive and partially deductive design. The third step argues for the use of a single-case study design within this research, a design that focuses on the exploration of one specific case, Geert Wilders’ use of tweets to perform security. The fourth section presents the methods of data collection used by the thesis, namely literature, discourse and document analysis, and data analysis. Fifth, the chapter reflects on the reliability and validity of the research and discusses the possible obstacles for an objective conduction of the research.

3.1 A qualitative research design In order to answer the research question of the thesis, this research adopts a qualitative research design. Qualitative research permits the researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of the research subject, for example Twitter as a tool for security practices. The choice for a qualitative research analysis is based on the advantages and strengths of this kind of research design. Qualitative research is often used to identify certain structures in society. To understand these structures, perspectives of multiple actors are taken into consideration. The old distinction, that qualitative research is only used for theory building and quantitative research for theory testing no longer holds (Wesley 2010). There are large well known quantitative databases (e.g. Central Bureau for Statistics), that perfectly lend themselves for theory building and many qualitative research has been done to test theories (Van der Zee 2016, p. 6). Similarly, the argument that qualitative research does not use variables on interval- or ratio level has been criticized by multiple qualitative researchers (Swanborn 2004). The most important distinction according to van der Zee is the number of research units being analyzed (2004, p. 7). In quantitative research analysis the quality of the research is directly linked to the number of research units that is being analyzed. The higher the number, the better conclusion a researcher can conduct. With qualitative research analysis this is different. The quality of the research is not defined by a higher number of research units. Instead, the

24 research gains an in-depth analysis on a few research units and provides the reader with a better understanding of the processes and context of the research units (Van der Zee 2016, p. 7). This is crucial for the thesis, since its main research aim in to gain a thorough understanding of Wilders’ use of Twitter for the achievement of his security goals.

3.2 Inductive versus deductive research This research’s choice for an inductive and deductive approach is made on basis of the purpose of the research (van Lanen 2015). Whereas deductive research is usually done when researchers want to test a theory, inductive research is mostly conducted when creating one. Most qualitative research is inductive, since most of the qualitative research is focused on the creation of new concepts (Jansen 2016, p. 53). Vromen defined qualitative research as a research method that is “premised on discovering categories and being explanatory with open questions, rather than only testing theoretically derived hypothesis through deduction” (Vromen 2010, p. 27). This research is carried out partially inductive as well as deductive (see figure 1.).

Figure 1. Left: The scientific method of research includes proposing hypotheses, conducting research, and creating or modifying theories based on results. Reprinted from Lumen Learning.

Figure 1. Right: The scientific method of research includes proposing hypotheses, conducting research, and creating or modifying theories based on results, adopted with variables from this research.

First, a problem is detected, indicated as an observation in figure 1., namely the fact that there is little research done on Twitter as a security device and that the political importance of the medium is often overlooked. After detecting this problem, the research looks for a fitting theory to answer the central research question, indicated with finding a suitable theory in figure 1. right-side. This process is overly inductive in the sense that it detects a problem and looks for a theory that helps to investigate the problem. The third step falls more along the lines of deductive research, namely applying the security practices model of Amicelle et al. (2015) to the Wilders’ use of Twitter and testing its applicability. Finally one can argue that this research also aims to modify the theory of Amicelle et al. (2015), by showing that Twitter can be added to the list of security devices. The next sections explains the research decision to make use of a single-case study design.

3.3 A single-case study design on the Twitter use of Geert Wilders This research uses a single-case study design, a design mostly used for analyzing social events, groups or organizations (Kennedy 1979). Similar to the qualitative research design in general, the strength of a single-case study lies in the extensive description of the case and an in-depth understanding of the social processes involved in the case. A single-case study analyzes the case within its natural environment, meaning that the case is not separated from the context it is in (Swanborg 2013) This is an important aspect for this research, since its aim is to explain the Twitter use of Wilders, whose acts cannot be seen separately from its context. Moreover, since practice studies have been defined as ones that focus on the coming into being of practices, it is important for this research to analyze Wilders’ tweets in their context (Schatzki 2001). There has been critique on the use of single-case study researches, especially on the possibility to generalize from a single-case study (Yin 1981; Wesley 2010). Because a single case study only gathers data from one case, it is difficult to draw conclusions about other cases – so there is no external validity (Wesley 2010, p. 5). For instance, this thesis cannot draw conclusions about other party leaders that are active on Twitter, since the research did not focus on their situation.

Even though it is difficult for single-case studies to be statistically generalizable, since the research is arguably often too case-specific, the research can be theoretically generalizable, meaning that the research contributes to a wider theoretical framework applicable to multiple cases (Smaling 2009, p. 7). The methodological aim of this research is therefore rather to contribute to the theoretical framework of Twitter as a security device and give the reader a thorough understanding of Wilders’ use of Twitter for the achievement of his security position, than to draw conclusions about other politicians use of Twitter. Moreover, this research can be inspiring for other scholars, to conduct further research on the topic of Twitter use of politicians. In the analysis and conclusion of this research a few recommendation for follow- up research are made. The next section explains the method of data collection of this research, elaborates on the data collected to answer the research question and focuses on the analyses used in this research.

3.4 A three-fold analysis As explained in the theoretical framework, this research analyzes the three variables of the security practice formula of Amicelle et al. (2015) applied to Wilders’ use of Twitter. The analysis is built in accordance to these variables, starting with Wilders’ social disposition towards his media use and his security measures. Consequently, a section on the socio- technological characteristics of Twitter follows, and finally a section will present the context of the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections. The analysis of Wilders’ social disposition towards his media use and his security measures as written in the 2017 party program will be divided into two parts. The first part analyzes Wilders’ social disposition towards his media use. The research tries to find documents that demonstrate Wilders’ media strategy. The research uses document analysis as a method to gather data. By analyzing documents from three different sources –academic literature focusing on Wilders’ media strategy, newspaper articles reporting on his media strategy and documents that articulate his own words on his media strategy, for example tweets or interviews – the research aims for an objective vision of Wilders’ media strategy (Boyatzis, 1998, p. 13). Moreover, by gathering data from national newspapers, that are in the list of ten most read national newspapers of the Netherlands 3, the research aims to guarantee the representativeness and authenticity of the data (Wesley 2010, p. 5).

3 List of ten most read newspapers in the Netherlands: https://top10-lijstjes.nl/meest-gelezen-kranten-nederland/.

The second part of this paragraph focuses on Wilders’ social disposition towards his security measures – de-Islamization and increasing governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense and the police force – as written in the PVV’s 2017-2021 party program. For this analysis three party programs of the PVV (2006-2011; 2010-2015; 2017-2021) are analyzed for their security vision. This analysis is also done through document analysis. The choice for these three party programs has three reasons. First, the 2017-2021 party program is the one of the most recent elections and central to the context of this research. The 2006-2011 party program is the first one made by the PVV as an independent party. Analyzing its security vision gives a better understanding of how much Wilders’ security measures are embedded in his values. Due to a limited amount of time, the research analyzes three of the existing four party programs. The research chose the 2010-2015 program over the 2012-2017 one, since this program is made right after the economic crisis of the Netherlands, lasting from 2007- 2011 (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek CBS). Such drastic economic changes can have a significant influence on the party programs of political parties (Otjes 2014). The security vision of the party programs is analyzed for the use of language, prominence of the position and aimed measurements mentioned in the security position. Through this thorough analysis on how embedded Wilders’ security measures and his media strategy are, this research aims to be able to draw conclusions on how these social dispositions influence Wilders use of Twitter. For the analysis of the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter this research compares tweets of Wilders related to his two security measures to parliamentary speeches of Wilders on the same topics. The research looks for differences in technicalities, language and aimed public and purpose of the two forms of speech acts. All data is gathered from a time-period between the first of December 2016 till the 15th of March 2017, the so called election months of the 2017 parliamentary elections. First, Wilders’ tweets form the entire time-period are manually scanned for possibly relevant tweets. To do this the website www.allmytweets.nl, is used, which gives Twitter users the possibility to see all tweets sent from and send to a particular account. After the research gathered all relevant tweets the tweets are sorted in the categories retweet or tweet from Wilders himself. A person’s own tweets and a retweet have other purposes and functions and are therefore analyzed separately. Retweeting causes a tweet to be exposed to an entire new groups of followers and therefore viewed more times than it already has (Weller et al 2014, p. 21). The analysis of one tweet of each sort is presented in the section. The analysis is done through the method of discourse analysis. A few decennia ago discourse analysis only

28 happened in linguistic studies, but recently this method is used in many different research disciplines, including critical security studies (van den Berg 2016). The method involves not only spoken texts, but also images and written texts and tries to draw conclusions on the communication between multiple actors (ibid.). An important implication of discourse analysis, is the believe that language can have intended or unintended consequences (ibid.). The research looks for specificities in language, pictures used by Wilders and topics chosen in his tweets. For the analysis of the parliamentary question the same strategy is used. First, all parliamentary speeches of Wilders during the election months are manually scanned for ones related to Wilders’ security measures. Afterwards, the speeches are sorted by the categories: motions, questions of amendments. Finally, the research will present an analyses of each sort, by looking at language and further technicalities of the parliamentary speeches. Concluding to this section the technicalities plus the social characteristics Wilders’ tweets and parliamentary speeches are compared, as such the research will be able to draw conclusions about the unique set of socio-technical characteristics of Twitter. The third and final paragraph analyzes the context in which Wilders’ tweets should be understood. The research does so by analyzing two aspects of the context. First of all, the specificities of the Dutch electoral system. It is important to understand this system, since it has the ability to influence party strategies (Lago et al 2017). The research uses information derived from the website www.parlement.nl, on which all information on the Dutch electoral system is gathered. This website is created by the Parlementair Documentatie Centrum initiated by the University of Leiden. This center focuses on the digitalization of political information to widen the reach of its information (PCDU UL, content). Secondly, the general context of the 2017 Dutch elections will be analyzed. For this second aspect the research sketches an overview of the most important themes and players present during the elections, of how the elections were perceived by the international community and of the party specificities of the PVV. By taken these aspects into the overview of the general context of the elections it becomes clear where Wilders and his party can be considered during the 2017 parliamentary elections in the Netherlands. Concluding to this paragraph, the research aims to draw conclusion about the influence of the context on Wilders’ use of tweets for security purposes during the Dutch parliamentary elections of 2017.

3.5 Reflection on reliability and validity of the research plus possible obstacles As mentioned earlier in the single-case study paragraph, it is tricky to generalize conclusions to a larger population, because of the small number of research units that is analyzed. Therefore, case study researchers often do not aspire to select cases ‘representative’ of a larger population since they cannot make external valid claims (Bennett 2002, p. 5). The external validity of this research is for the same reason not linked to the practical generalizability, but to the theoretical generalizability of the thesis. By enriching the theory on security devices –adding Twitter to the list of devices able to use for security purposes– the research aims to fill the research gap in the security studies field. Achieving full internal validity, by making sure that there is no bias in the research, is difficult in qualitative research with only one researcher. One can argue that through the position of the researcher him of herself, documents are interpreted differently (Wesley 2010, p. 4). For this thesis it can arguably be said that my own unconscious dispositions regarding Wilders as a politician could get in the way of an objective research. However, through a datailed explanation of the method of data collection and analysis, plus the analysis of data from multiple sources (triangulation), I aim to remove any form of bias from the research (Boyatzis, 1998, p. 13). Moreover, the discourse analysis of Wilders’ tweets and parliamentary speeches is done with the help of a coding system –MAXQDA – which further improves the internal validity of the research (Wesley 2010, p. 4).

4. Analysis

4.0 Introduction Table 1. below shows the general structure of the analysis chapter. In the left column the sub- questions are presented, each of which will be addressed in a separate section. In the middle column the operationalization of each sub-question is presented. In the right column the paragraph number is given. Ultimately, addressing these sub-questions permits us to answer the main research question of the thesis. The first section explains the social disposition of Wilders in relation to his Tweets, which looks at the relation between Wilders and Twitter, his motivation towards the platform and his previous experiences with it during parliamentary election. The second section focuses on the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter. By comparing the socio-technical characteristics Wilders’ tweets with those of his parliamentary speeches, it becomes clear that Twitter has its unique set of characteristics that are beneficial for Wilders’ security performance. The third section analyzes the context in which the tweets of Wilders should be considered. This section looks at the overall public support for the PVV and the electoral system, to gain a better understanding of the surroundings Wilders’ tweets are placed in. Finally, the research draws some conclusions about the security practices influenced by Wilders’ tweets and the level of applicability of the security practice formula on Wilders’ tweets.

Sub-question Operationalization Paragraph

What is the social disposition of - Wilders’ opinion/strategy on the use of 4.1.1 Wilders in relation to his Twitter Twitter: from interviews and Wilders’ and his security vision? own tweets. - Wilders’ media strategy: from newspaper 4.1.1 articles and academic research on Wilders’ use of media. - Social disposition to security position: by 4.1.2 comparing three party programs of the PVV with a focus on its security vision. What are the social-technical - Analyzing Wilders’ tweets. 4.2.1 characteristics of Twitter? - Analyzing Wilders’ parliamentary 4.2.2 questions.

- Comparing writing style of tweets and 4.2.3 parliamentary speeches of Wilders on the same topic. What are the main - Exploring the Dutch electoral system and 4.3.1 characteristics of the context in its effect on Wilders’ security practices. which Wilders’ Twitter is - Analyzing the effect of the general placed in? context of the 2017 parliamentary 4.3.2 elections on Wilders’ security practices: through investigating newspaper articles on the most important topics and players in the elections and the outcome. Table.1 General structure of the analysis chapter, with on the left side the sub-questions answered in four different sections and the right side the operationalization of the question.

4.1 The social disposition of Wilders Amicelle et al.’s (2015) definition of social disposition is strongly linked to the habitus concept of Bourdieu (1979), which was defined more precisely in the theoretical framework section (section 2.2). In short, the habitus can be seen as a built-in system consisting of conscious and unconscious perceptions which help the actor to achieve their goals (Jackson, 2009, pp. 106-107). Wilders’ disposition towards Twitter can be seen a set of norms and values influenced by his past experiences with the platform, as well as his opinion and motives for using Twitter. Amicelle et al. (2015) argue that “although these social actors often have no choice but to make do with compulsory devices, their “ways of operating” are not necessarily passive and entirely guided by established rules” (p. 300). The way of using a device, influences the product as well as the outcome of the practice (De Certeau 1984, p. 12). In Wilders case the product then refers to the realization of his security measures. Wilders’ disposition is investigated through the analysis of two aspects:

4.1.1 Wilders’ position on the use of Twitter and other media outlets. 4.1.2 An analysis of Wilders’ general party programs (2006, 2010, 2017) on relevant topics for this thesis, e.g. migration and security, to see whether his perception towards these topics has changed during the years.

4.1.1 Wilders’ social position towards media It is possible to retrace Wilders’ media strategy through three sources. The first is through academic literature on Wilders’ media strategy, the second source are newspaper articles on his media strategy and finally the documents that articulate in his own words the media strategy, e.g. tweets or interviews. Through this threefold analysis this research aims to get a thorough and objective understanding of Wilders’ social disposition on the use of Twitter and other media outlets. On the first aspect is very hard to find extensive material. Peter Bakker and Peter Vasterman (2013) found that not many academic literature researches Wilders’ media strategy, but that most of the studies have been done on the content of his tweets (Bakker & Vasterman 2013). However, through extensive research on all available academic literature on Wilders’ media strategy, this research found one key concept more or less defining Wilders’ media strategy. This key concept is also found in newspaper articles reporting on Wilders’ media strategy and documents voicing Wilders’ own vision on his media strategy. The key concept that defines Wilders’ media strategy is control over his own appearance in the media. Hence, it is typical for Wilders’ media strategy that he himself determines where and when he appears in the news. As soon as Wilders makes a statement, he leaves the discussion to the press, the public and the political competition without participating in it (Bakker & Vasterman 2013). One could argue that Wilders will lose this control in the long-term by not participating in the discussion. Therefore, the concept short- term control is a better fit for Wilders’ media strategy. Control in the sense that Wilders’ prefers his messages to go directly to the public, without being altered by traditional media outlets. Short term in the sense that Wilders does not make the effort to control the discussion that follows his statements. This key concept can also be found in newspaper articles discussing Wilders’ media strategy as well as in Wilders’ own expressed view on his use of Twitter. In an article published by the newspaper Telegraaf on the 22nd of February 2017 is stated:

“Geert takes the wind out of his competitions sails by stating away from as many debates and interviews as possible. This has nothing to do with being cowardly, but is a well thought out media strategy” (Klaversteijn 2017).

This quote, in which it becomes clear that Wilders avoids opening the discussion with competing politicians and traditional media, the short-term control concept is voiced again.

By making as little appearances as possible in situations which cannot be entirely controlled – in interviews and in debates Wilders is not able to control his interviewer or opponent – he keeps the control over his appearance in the media (Klaversteijn 2017). This absence also causes the physical contact with his voters to be scarce (Ketalaar 2017). It is again short-term because this avoidance of the public debate takes away the opportunity for Wilders to influence the debates on his political vision. The concept of short-term control is also visible when analyzing Wilders’ own expressions on his media strategy. In an interview with the broadcasting station WNL, Wilders called Twitter a “great instrument”, because the medium gives him the opportunity to convey his message “directly and unfiltered to the people”, without being disrupted by “not always kind journalists” (van de Wiel 2017). This direct connection to his followers, again gives Wilders the opportunity to control his own appearance in the media.

Picture 3. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ tweet on his distrust towards the press, posted on 10-12-2016.

Picture 3. above shows a tweet posted by Wilders on the 10th of December 2016, and reflects his opinion on the traditional media perfectly. The graphic shows the president of the United States (US), Donald Trump, who bypasses the traditional media by using social media to inform the public, and commented by Wilders with “Never trust the press”(Wilders tweet, 10-12-2017). Trump’s media strategy has been labeled as “de-professionalizing” and even

“amateurish” to counter the traditional political communication (Enli 2017, p. 50). Instead of focusing on factual statistics, like his competition Hillary Clinton did, Trump tweeted from a ‘gut-feeling’ because he knew these kinds of tweets get published by the media (Enli 2017, p. 54). Trump confirms previous done studies that show that celebrity politicians get media coverage significantly more often than unknown politicians (Enli 2017, p. 55). This “amateurish” and “de-professionalizing” strategy can also be found in the media strategy of Wilders, during the 2017 parliamentary elections. In fact, Wilders even directly refers to Trump when expressing his relation with the media (Wilders’ tweet, 07-12-2016; Wilders’ tweet 10-12-2016). What cannot directly be seen in picture 3. above, but does resonates with Wilders’ strategy of short-term control, is the fact that he never replies to his own tweets. This specific has 195 comments were placed under it. None of those is from Wilders himself. This shows that Wilders uses Twitter purely to articulate his own political ideas instead of communicating with his followers. The concept of short-term control over his appearance in the media can thus be found in all three aspects analyzed in this research. The fact that Wilders is a political supporter of Trump has been made clear by Wilders several times. For example, picture 4. below presents a tweet by Wilders’ stating that he hopes that Trump will win the US presidential elections, since this will be good for the US as well as the EU. In an interview with the Cable News Network (CNN) Wilders said that he sees resemblance between him and the US presidential candidate. “People vote for us because they fell that their problems relating to their jobs, criminality, immigration and terrorism are not addressed by other politicians” (Heijmans 2017). Concluding to this analysis it can be stated that Wilders has the tendency to use any form of media outlet to ventilate his own opinion instead of using it as a discussion platform. He tweets controversial statements after which he leaves the discussion up to his competition and journalists. It appears to be Wilders’ media strategy to shout a lot and not to communicate. This strategy is amplified by Wilders avoiding as many debates and interviews as possible. This way he keeps the control over his appearance in the media. This strategy gives journalists a hard time. When writing too much on Wilders, journalists are accused of giving Wilders a platform, but not writing on Wilders leads to accusations of ignoring a large number of citizens and of demonization (Bakker & Vasterman 2013). However, this control has a short span, since Wilders does not try to control the discussion following his political statements. The next paragraph analyzes Wilders social disposition in regards to his security measures.

Picture 4. Wilders’ own tweet stating that he hopes Donald Trump will win the US presidential elections. Written on 07-12-2016

4.1.2 Wilders’ social position towards his security measures As briefly discussed in the introduction, there are two measures related to security in the 2017-2021 electoral program of the PVV:

1) De-Islamization, divided into the following eight measures: a. No more asylum seekers and no more immigrants from Islamic countries, borders closed. b. Withdraw every residence permit with a fixed time period and close all centers for asylum seekers. c. Prohibiting any expression of the Islamic belief that go against the rule of law. d. Prohibiting headscarves in the public sector. e. Preemptively imprisoning radicalized Muslims. f. Criminals with double passports should be denaturalized and deported. g. Prohibiting the return of Syria fighters. h. Prohibiting the Koran and closing all mosques and Islamic schools. 2) More money to the Ministry of Defense and the police4.

4 Election program of the PVV for the 2017 parliamentary elections: https://www.pvv.nl/visie.html.

Analyzing three party programs of the PVV gives a better understanding of the development of these measures security measures. Do these security measures change every election or are they intrinsically imbedded in the parties values? The research looks at each of the three PVV programs to see whether the two security measures found in the latest party program are also present in the previous programs. Concluding, this research comments on the development of the two security measures.

De-Islamization Party program 2006-2011 In its first party program as an independent political party the PVV focused on three themes: lowering taxes, addressing immigrations and integration more strict and creating better schools (PVV party program 2006-2011). The second theme is relevant for this thesis, since this theme relates to the de-Islamization measure presenter in in the 2017 party program. In the section on addressing immigration and integration in the 2006 party program Wilders makes his first reference to the Islam as threatening for the Dutch identity and state.

“Since 1,6 million immigrants, of which 1 million Islamic immigrant, have settled in our country, setting and defending our national identity has become a highly urgent matter. In its political-theological effect, the Islam is a movement aimed against the Western civilization. The pure Islamic belief is in our opinion intrinsically non-democratic. We should invest in moderate Muslim through education and acting stronger against discrimination.” (Own translation of PVV party program 2006-2011, section II).

In this quote it becomes clear that Wilders’ vision on the Islam – as being incompatible with the Dutch norms and values and therefore a threat to our nation’s identity and state – is intrinsically embedded in Wilders’ disposition. In the parties fist official party program the idea of intrinsic inequality between the Islam and the Western civilization is already present. Aimed measures for this security measures are the following:

“As long as it is not clear that the Dutch Muslim community accepts the Dutch rule of law, there is a fundamental lack in trust that is necessary to allocate them with the same rights and freedoms as the rest of the Dutch society. To prevent any escalation of problems and to stop an autonomic process that can lead to irrevocable results, we argue for a moratorium of five years for new Islamic schools and mosques. Moreover we argue to close our borders for Islamic

migrants for five years. The absorption capacity of Dutch society is too overloaded not to have strict borders.” (Own translation of PVV party program 2006-2011, section II).

“Immigrants in the Netherlands score disproportionally higher on the unemployment- and criminality records. It is time for unorthodox measures. Street terror of mostly Moroccan adolescents leads to non-tolerable Islamization of parts of cities. Street terrorists who are pledged guilty of criminal offences should be sent back to their land of heritage. If they commit less serious crimes, such as berating or spitting, they should be sent to a re-education camp for a year to be taught manners” (Own translation of PVV party program 2006-2011, section II).

Comparing the 2006 party program to the 2017 one, it can be stated that in 2006 the Wilders’ measures against fighting problems relating to the Islamic belief are less permanent. Whereas the party program of 2017 opts for a permanent closing of the Dutch borders for Islamic immigrants, the party program of 2006 argues for five year stop. The same goes for the closing of Islamic schools. The idea that the Islamic belief is a threat to the Dutch identity and rule of law is however already strongly present in the party’s first electoral program. This value can therefore be said to be intrinsically embedded into Wilders’ social disposition.

Party program 2010-2015 The PVV’s party program for the governmental term from 2010 till 2015 is called “The agenda of hope and optimism” and consists of 60 pages of program divided into 13 political positions (PVV party program 2010-2015). In this program Wilders’ vision of Islam has gained more prominence, by naming the second section “Choose for combating the Islam and against mass-immigration” (PVV party program 2010-2015, table of contents). In the foreword of the party program Wilders makes his second reference to the Islamic culture as threatening to the Dutch identity:

“In the meantime, more and more Dutch people feel like they are losing The Netherlands. Neighborhood after neighborhood, street after street, school after school is Islamized. Our elites have started to believe in the illusion that every culture – and the values attached to it – is equal. Our pride, the welfare state, in which the Dutch people for decennia’s long put parts of their salary, is being spent on “happiness-seekers” from Islamic countries.” (Own translation of PVV party program 2010-2015, foreword).

The fact that Islam is already mentioned in one of the titles of the chapters and in the foreword of the party program shows that fighting the influence of the Islam has become more prominent in Wilders’ security vision. In the chapter on combating the Islam is described as:

“A political ideology, a totalitarian school aimed at domination, violence and suppression. There do exist moderate Muslims but there is no moderate Islam. The Koran proscribes behavior that counters our rule of law, like anti-Semitism, discrimination of women, killing atheistic people, and a holy war until the Islam has dominated the world. ” (Own translation of PVV party program 2010-2015, combating the Islam).

It becomes very clear from this passage that Wilders is performing security, by using the words “domination, violence and suppression” to describe the Islam, Wilders portrays the religion as something dangerous and evil. Moreover, by saying that the Koran proscribes “killing of atheistic people” and “a holy war until the world is dominated”, Wilders portrays the Islam as threatening for the Dutch safety and therefore as something that immediately should be stopped (PVV party program 2010-2015, combating the Islam). These links to violence and war creates a sense of fear and urgency. Wilders is performing security through his use of language, by presenting the religion Islam as a threat to the Dutch security. Comparing the 2006 party program with the 2010 party program, one can state that the 2010 party program is hasher than the one from 2006. This can be seen by looking at the first description of the Islamic religion. In 2006 the Islamic is defined as non-democratic. In 2010 the Islamic belief is not only non-democratic, but also anti-Semitist and aimed at world domination and killing atheistic people. Wilders words on the Islamic belief have become harder. Moreover, the party program of 2006 emphasized the fact that it is the duty of the Dutch government to invest in moderate Muslims. This emphasis is taken out of the party program of 2010. Examples of aimed measurements against this Islamic problem are the following:

“- Close all Islamic schools - Close all mosques in which propaganda is used in favor of violence - Nobody with a double nationality can become a Dutch citizen - No more immigrant from Islamic countries - Prohibit the Koran and Burka’s, make headscarves taxable” (Own translation of PVV party program 2010-2015, combating the Islam).

Comparing the two party programs on Islam, there are many similarities. In both the Islamic belief is portrayed as threatening for the Dutch culture, identity and rule of law. However, the aimed measurements in the 2010 party program are more similar to the 2017 party program. There is no limit of five years on the prohibition of Islamic immigrants and neither is there on the closing of Islamic school. Lastly, the re-education camps are taken out of the party program. Instead, there is no special attention for teen-age Muslims, and criminals with a double passport should be taken back to their country of heritage (Own translation of PVV party program 2010-2015, combating the Islam).

Party program 2017-2021 Since the security position of Wilders most recent party program are already mentioned in the research, it is not necessary to quote them again. Moreover, the latest program only consists of one page of bullet points, summing up the 11 most important political measures of the party (PVV party program 2017-2021). It can be said the anti-Islam disposition of Wilders has increased in prominence throughout his party program. Not only has the language used to describe the religion harshened, but also combatting the religion has gained a more prominent place within the program itself. In the latest party program, from 2017-2021, the de- Islamization measure is the only one further defined into eight sub-measures (PVV party program 2017-2021). However, even though there are differences between the three party programs on the Islamic matter, the most important finding of this comparison is that it becomes clear that Wilders’ social position on the Islam is embedded in his social-disposition. Wilders’ performance of security, be framing the Islam as threatening to the Dutch security, follows the line of critical security studies, which states that security is a subjective phenomenon, that is altered by the different vision of actors (explained in section 2.1). Wilders makes the Islam into a security subject by his choice of words.

Increase in governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense and the police Party program 2006-2011 The 2006-2011 party program of the PVV does not argue for the same measures concerning security – increasing governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense and the police force– as it does in the party program of 2017-2021. The program makes one reference to an increase of money for policemen on the street. This statement is incorporated in its first political stance

40 on the lowering of taxes, so does not have its own section (PVV party program 2006-2011). Governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense is on the contrary even lowered:

“- Cutting the bureaucracy and government - Less ministries and less governmental agents” (PVV party program 2006-2011, section 1).

The 2006-2011 party program argues for less governmental involvement and more space and freedom for the entrepreneurial citizen. The only reference made to the military is when Wilders mentions that the government should keep to its core responsibilities, namely safety and defense measures (PVV party program 2010-2015, section I). The party program does mention that punishments should be higher on criminal behavior – after being convicted three times a person should get a life-long prison sentence – but the emphasis lies on the practical aspect of the position instead of the policy-making aspect (PVV party program 2010-2015).

Party program 2010-2015 The security position of the PVV in its 2010 party program is more or less similar to the one in 2006. However, security has gained a more prominent place in the 2010 party program. Whereas in 2006 the PVV refers to security solely as the state’s core responsibilities, in 2010 the subject is one of the 13 main subjects discussed in the party program – even the first one in the whole program (PVV party program 2010-2015). In the section on security the PVV argues for the following measurements:

“- 900 million euro extra on policemen - Police officers from their desks to the field - Policemen should spend 80% of their time in the field - Ministry of Security - After three heavy violent crimes a life-long prison sentence should be given” (PVV party program 2010-2015, section security).

One can see that the aimed measures on security are almost similar to the party program in 2006. The PVV still aims for more policemen in the streets and less behind their desks. The difference between the two party programs is found in the measurement on a Ministry of Security (PVV party program 2010-2015, section security). Whereas the PVV wanted less Ministries and less governmental agents, the party opts for a new Ministry on Security in their

2010 party program. Its 2010-2015 security focus is thus more focused on the governmental duty of protecting the country than in 2006. The PVV’s political opinion on governmental security spending has thus developed through the years and has not been a consistent prominent factor for the party’s existence.

Party program 2017-2021 Similar to the position on Islam, the security position of Wilders in his 2017-2021 party program has already been presented and is almost similar to Wilders’ security position of 2010 – more money to the Ministry of Defense and the police force (PVV party program 2017-2021). When comparing Wilders’ security position through the three party programs, it becomes clear that the police force and the Ministry of Defense have developed separately. Wilders’ position on increasing the number of policemen in the streets, and harsher punishments on crimes seems more intrinsically embedded into his social disposition than his position on an increase of governmental involvement with security. Governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense has gone from cutting back on governmental spending to creating a new Ministry for Security. In can be argued that Wilders’ social position on the governmental involvement is less imbedded into the social disposition of Wilders and therefore more influenced by the context of the specific election. In the following paragraph some concluding words are advanced on Wilders’ social disposition.

Conclusion The above sections analyzed Wilders’ social disposition in two aspects. The first aspect is Wilders’ social disposition in regards to his use of Twitter and other media outlets, and the second aspects is his social disposition in regards to his security measures. Wilders’ media strategy is defined by the concept of short-term control. This is voiced in multiple aspects. First of all, Wilders does not have an employee tweeting for him, but posts all of his own tweets. Second, he favors communication through social media, because these give Wilders the opportunity to directly communicate with the public instead to going through the “not always as pleasant” traditional media. Moreover, by deliberately avoiding interviews and debates, Wilders leaves little room for discussion and counter arguments on his political vision. Hereby, Wilders tries to control the public debate. Lastly, Wilders makes no effort to control the discussion following his political statements. Interesting follow-up research would be to investigate the long-term

42 effect of Wilders’ tweets and to demonstrate whether his controversial statements have an long-lasting impact on the following discussion. The process of “de-professionalization” of media strategies by avoiding traditional media strategies is also seen in the media strategy of Wilders’ colleague from the US, Trump. This research only focuses on Wilders’ Twitter use, due to time limits. Interesting follow-up research would be to conduct a comparing case study in which the two seemingly similar media strategies are compared. Linking this paragraph of the analysis to Wilders’ social disposition as formulated by Amicelle et al, it can be stated that Wilders has a positive disposition in regards to the use of Twitter during parliamentary elections, since tweets give him the opportunity to maintain in control over his media appearance and the possible counterarguments he receives. The fact that Wilders uses Twitter for the promotion of his security vision then is perfectly explainable through his social disposition regarding Twitter. The second aspect is Wilders’ social disposition in regards to his security measures, namely de-Islamization and increasing governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense and the police force. The research found interesting distinctions between two measures. Whereas Wilders’ position on the Islam and on the role of policemen seem intrinsically embedded into his social disposition, his position on governmental involvement altered drastically trough the three party programs. It can be stated that the latter is less intrinsically imbedded into Wilders’ social disposition and therefore more context driven. Linking this to the notion of social disposition of Amicelle et al. (2015), the measurements in in each of Wilders’ party programs on the governmental involvement would thus be consciously altered in accordance to the context in which the elections take place. Which factors of the context eventually lead to an increase of governmental involvement in Wilders’ party program would be interesting to investigate by follow-up research. Relating these two social disposition aspects to the Twitter use of Wilders during parliamentary elections, one would expect Wilders to constantly promote his position on the Islam and on the role of the police, and his position on governmental involvement only when the context of the election favors this promotion. The context of the parliamentary elections in 2017 is investigated in the next section.

4.2 Exploring the socio-technical differences between Wilders’ tweets and parliamentary speech acts

Total number or tweets between 01-12-2016 and 15-03-2017 +/- 1470 tweets (including retweets) Number of security related tweets 269 tweets Number of own tweets 102 tweets

Number of retweets 167 tweets Number of tweets related to de-Islamization 268 tweets Number of tweets related to more funding to security 1 tweet

Table 2. An overview of Wilders’ Twitter from the 1st of December till the 15th of March. Own table.

As mentioned earlier in the theoretical framework, this research addresses Twitter as a technological platform which can be used to perform security, by posting security related tweets on it (section 2.4). These tweets are considered speech acts by this research. Twitter also allows pictures and movies to be posted within tweets. All of these tweets, with or without visual material are considered speech acts. Lene Hansen (2011, p 51) argues in her research that the traditional concept of speech acts should be enriched by visual material, since this can also ‘speak security’. The parliamentary questions are always considered speech acts by this thesis, since they consist out of words only. The analysis on the socio-technical differences between Wilders’ tweets and parliamentary speech acts is done through the following sub-sections:

3.3.1) The analyzes of the socio-technical characteristics of twitter 3.3.2) The analyzes of the socio-technical characteristics of parliamentary speeches 3.3.3) Exploring their technical and social difference

4.2.1 Analyzing Wilders’ tweets Table 2. above gives an overview of the distribution of tweets Wilders posted during the election months (1st of December – 15th of March). One can see that Wilders posted 269 security related tweets, which is over 18% of his total amount of tweets. It can also be seen that the most popular security topic is de-Islamization. The distribution between his two security measures shows an overwhelming majority of tweets on de-Islamization. Wilders

44 posted only one tweet relating to his security position of increasing the governmental funding on the police force and the ministry of Defense and 268 tweets relating to his de-Islamization position. Wilders mostly makes use of retweeting other peoples or organizations tweets, namely 167 times. This means that Wilders shares an existing tweet, newspaper article or other document on his own Twitter and commented on it. Wilders created his own tweets a 102 times, less than his amount of retweets. This means that Wilders himself comes up with the text, pictures or movie he wants to post on his Twitter platform. Other people can then like his tweet, by pressing the “like” button, rewteet his message, or respond to it. The latter gives people the opportunity to post reactions (also containing of 140 characters) to Wilders’ tweets, creating a conversation under the original tweet. This conversation is openly accessible for people with a Twitter account and can be seen by all Twitter users. The following section looks at the two different sorts of tweets explained above, normal tweets, and retweets to analyze their technical and social characteristics. The tweet below (picture 5.) is categorized as Wilders’ own tweet. This can be seen by the fact that his name is the only one placed above the tweet. When looking at this tweet, three aspects stand out: first the language style, second the images and topics used by Wilders, and third the amount of people reacting to it and retweeting the message. First, his language style is direct, he uses short sentences and words that can come across as offending. By referring to the Islam as an “invasion”, Wilders portrays the religion as something unknown and dangerous to the Dutch nation. He strengthens this idea be saying “enough is enough”, meaning that there is too much Islam as it is.

Picture 5. Screen capture of Geert Wilders tweet on the Islamic invasion, posted on 05-12-2016.

Second, Wilders cleverly makes use of images in his tweet. By showing pictures of hordes of Islamic looking people, he makes it seem as if all those people are at the doorstep of the Netherlands. Moreover, in every picture the mass of people is either stopped or accompanied by a security official, soldier or a police officer. This expresses the image that these Islamic migrants act against the rule of law or should be handled by law enforcement of security actors. The topics #NetherlandsOursAgain and #VotePVV are active links, that direct people to a page on which all the tweets mentioning this topic appear. This makes a topic easier to discover by other users. Topics could, through this method, be spread well beyond the amount of followers a person has (Weller et al 2014, p. 17). Third, on the 30th of May 2017 (on the date of this screen capture), the tweet has been liked 1541 times, retweeted 1348 times and 159 messages were sent as a response to the tweet. These technical features of Twitter give users of the platform the opportunity to directly get in touch with other Twitter users interested in the same topics. In picture 5. above Wilders’ media strategy of short term control becomes visible again. Of the 159 reaction posted below Wilders’ tweet none of them

46 is of Wilders himself. This shows that Wilders again leaves the discussion to the public instead of participating in it. The second tweet (picture 6. below) shows a retweeted message posted by Wilders of an article published by the newspaper Telegraaf. Translated the tweet says: “No way. Only if I can close that mega mosque for good. And after the rest. #deislamization” (Tweet from @geertwilderspvv 2017). The original article reports on the fact that Wilders, with nine other prominent party fractions in the elections, got invited by the debate organizer Marianne Vorthoren to participate in the first National Islam-debate. This debate was held in the largest mosque in the Netherlands, but Wilders declined his invitation (“PVV welkom op Nationaal Islamdebat” 2017).

Picture 6. Screen capture of Geert Wilders’ retweet on the closing of a mega mosque, posted on 20-02-2017.

Analyzing Wilders’ language in this tweet, it is again straight forward and arguably insulting. In this tweet, Wilders does not use images, but the original article to strengthen his security position. Wilders directly links to 1.8 in his party program: prohibiting the Koran and closing all mosques and Islamic schools. Through retweeting this news article, Wilders promotes his own security position. This move can be seen as a security practice. Wilders uses the technical characteristics of Twitter –in this case the possibility of retweeting – to perform security. On the first of June (on the date of this screen capture) 560 users liked this tweet, 258 retweeted the message and posted it on their own Twitter, and 201 people

47 responded to this tweet. Amongst these 201 responds there is again none of Wilders’ own Twitter account, showing again Wilders’ media strategy of short term control. This thesis cannot draw further conclusions from the responses posted below the tweet, since it does not further analyze the posted comments. The comments posted below and the retweets might also be used to criticize Wilders’ position. It would be interesting for follow-up research to investigate the responds posted below Wilders’ tweets, to measure the effect Wilders has on the public. It is possible to state that 560 users agreed with Wilder security position, since they liked his tweet. This sub-section concludes that Wilders cleverly makes use of the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter. Wilders uses Twitter as a device to continually express his security ideas an visions. This way, Twitter users are constantly exposed to Wilders’ ideas, without having to read his party program. The positive effect of Twitter’s socio-technical characteristics works two ways. First, Wilders makes use of the characteristics of Twitter by writing short and direct messages about his security vision, by retweeting pictures or news articles and commenting on them, and by creating clickable topics on which users can find relating tweets. Second, Twitter’s characteristics create a positive snowballing effect for Wilders’ security vision. Other Twitter users widen the range of his tweets. By liking, retweeting them on their own Twitter account, and commenting on Wilders’ tweets, he receives even more visibility than he initially did. This causes Wilders’ security vision to receive extra viewers and possibly more followers and votes. Twitter’s socio-technical characteristics have thus been beneficial for Wilders security practices and increase the possibility that Wilders’ security measures – de-Islamization and increasing governmental funding on security – are realized. The fact that his social disposition is positive towards Twitter comes as no surprise after this analysis. Even though it remains difficult to draw conclusions on the effect of Wilders tweets on the number of his votes, this research does conclude that the socio- technical characteristics of Twitter have a positive effect on the relation between Wilders and his Twitter account and that de medium was an important tool for his performance of security during the 2017 parliamentary elections.

4.2.2 Exploring Wilders’ parliamentary questions

Total number or speeches between 01-12-2016 and 15-03-2017 9 speeches Number of security related speeches 4 speeches Number of speeches related to de-Islamization 4 speeches Number of speeches related to more money to security 0 speeches Table 3. An overview of Wilders’ parliamentary speech acts from the 1st of December 2016 till the 15th of March 2017. Own table.

In this section, he same analysis is carried out on parliamentary speeches of Wilders. Table 3. above presents the general findings accessible from the government website (Overhead.nl, Parlementaire Documenten). The research investigated all parliamentary speeches of Wilders and found four parliamentary question by Wilders relating to his security measures. In total seven parliamentary questions were asked by Wilders during this period and two motions were proposed. Both the motions were not security related. From the parliamentary questions four out of the seven questions are security related. All four relating are can be categorized as de-Islamization questions. The next section explores two the security related parliamentary question in accordance to the section on Wilders’ tweet. The below parliamentary question (picture 7, for translation see footnote5) addresses a newspaper articles published by the local newspaper Tubantia on the fact that municipal Almelo wants to celebrate Islamic holidays (“Gemeente Almelo wil islamitische feestdagen vieren” 2017). When analyzing the question from Wilders, it immediately becomes clear that parliamentary questions have different technical characteristics than tweets. First of all, within parliamentary questions Wilders is only able to use words, instead of using pictures or images to strengthen his argument. Moreover, parliamentary questions do not give Wilders the

5 Own translation of picture 7 • Parliamentary questions of the members De Graaf, Wilders and Edgam Mulder (all PVV) to the the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and the Minster of Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations on the article “Municipal celebrate Islamic holidays” (published 28th of March 2017). • Question 1: Are you familiar with the article “municipal celebrates Islamic holidays?” Question 2: Are you familiar with the fact that Islamic holidays are part of an ideology that seeks to dissolve our way of living, our culture, identity, rule of law and democracy? • Question 3: Do you share the opinion that it is reprehensible that governments promote the Islamic urge to concur? If not, why? • Question 4: Are you willing to start up the conversation with the mayor of Almelo, Gerritsen (VVD), and strongly advise him to combat Islamic symbols instead of promoting them?

49 opportunity to create clickable topics or give other Twitter users the opportunity to retweet, like or comment on his message.

Picture 7. Parliamentary question of Wilders to the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations on the article ‘Municipal celebrates Islamic holidays’ (sent on the 28th of March 2017). Translation can be found in footnote.

A technical feature that is present in parliamentary speeches and not in tweets is the search code placed above the parliamentary question. This number is given to the parliamentary question, which makes the question traceable after it has been archived. All parliamentary questions ever asked are archived and can be found through the website of the Dutch state. In this archive one can find parliamentary questions by searching for title, subject or person asking the question. People who want to find Wilders’ parliamentary question can, but they do have to actively search for them instead of automatically reading them on an Wilders Twitter account. The questions are clearly related to Wilders’ position of de-Islamization, and more specifically to position 1.3 “prohibiting any expression of the Islamic belief that go against the rule of law” (PVV Election Program 2017-2021, point 1.3). In question 2 Wilders portrays the Islamic ideology as on that “seeks to dissolve our rule of law”. Hereby he directly links his question to his security measures as presented in his party program. On the language the following aspects become visibly. Wilders only asks questions possible to answer with a yes or no. By using the phrases “Do you agree”, “Are you familiar” and “Are you willing to”, Wilders does not leave much room for discussion or explanation

50 from the Minister’s side. This gives the impression that Wilders does not ask questions to be informed, but to articulate his own position. Again, this resonates strongly with the media strategy of short term control found in the analysis on Wilders’ social disposition (section 4.1.1). Wilders uses his parliamentary question to promote his security vision rather than discuss them. Picture 8. below (for translation see footnote 6 ) presents another security related question by Wilders. This parliamentary question discusses two newspaper articles published by the national newspapers Telegraaf and NRC. The first reports on the fact that the police force has raided 12 location in an investigation on money laundering, whereby they raided two mosques (“Inval bij moskeeën om witwasonderzoek” 2017). The second reports on suspicious transaction that have taken place in the Al-Houda mosque by a foundation named Babycare (van der Veel & Maessen 2017). Although the two parliamentary question addresses other articles article, the two are very similar. Looking at the language used by Wilders, he again makes use of questions in which he leaves little room for argumentation by the Minister. Moreover, also in this parliamentary question Wilders makes a direct reference to his security opinion on the prohibition of all expressions of the Islamic belief that counter the rule role of law, by saying “Do you share the opinion that more often mosques are taken over by Salafistic groups and that this is threatening to our democracy and rule of law?” (de Graaf &Wilders Parliamentary question 1474). This sub-section can that Wilders asks rather rhetorical parliamentary questions, in which he leaves little room for maneuver of the Minister. Wilders addresses articles that link to his party program in order to ventilate his own and the PVV’s political opinion. The next section compares the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter with those of parliamentary speeches.

6 Own translation of picture 8. • Parliamentary questions of Wilders to the the Minster of Social Affairs and Employment on Al Houda- mosque in Geleen (sent on the 20th of February). • Question 1: Are you familiar with the article “Police raid in mosque for money laundering” and with the A; Houda-mosque in Geleen and the earlier messages on the salafistic takeover within Al Houda and suspicions of support for armed Jihad by foundation Babycare linked to the mosque? • Question 2: Do you share the opinion that more often mosques are taken over by Salafistic groups and that this is threatening to our democracy and rule of law? • Question 3: Are you willing to close the Al Houda-mosque and to dismantl the foundation Babycare? If not, why?

Picture 8. Parliamentary questions of Wilders to the Minster of Social Affairs and Employment on ‘Al Houda-mosque in Geleen’ (sent on the 20th of February). Translation can be found in footnote.

4.2.3 Comparing tweets with parliamentary questions When comparing the two forms of speech acts, the difference in technical characteristics immediately becomes clear. Whereas Twitter gives people the possibility to respond to Wilders’ tweets, by posting a comment on it or retweeting the message on their own Twitter, parliamentary speeches lack this tool. Moreover, in parliamentary speeches Wilders can only make use of words, whereas Twitter gives Wilders the possibility to use images or video’s to strengthen his argument. This research mainly focuses on Wilders’ tweet and leaves out the analysis of the responds below the tweets. The research only scans through the responds in order to see in Wilders himself participates in the discussion, which is not the case. Interesting follow-up research would be to analyze these responses, in order to get a better understanding of the way his tweets are received by the public. The difference in Wilders’ language use can be linked to both the social and technical characteristics of the security practice theory (Amicelle et al. 2015). First, due to the different technical characteristics, tweets consisting of 140 characters and parliamentary speeches having no limit, the formulation of the speech act differs. Moreover, due to the social characteristics of the two speech acts. While his Twitter has developed into the heart of Wilders’ campaigning strategy, and therefore mainly serves the purpose of convincing voters,

52 parliamentary speeches are meant as a tool for the parliament to control the government (Parlement & Politiek 2017, Controle Tweede Kamer). Although it has been argued that parliamentary questions are asked by politicians to gain visibility in the media and therefore the public, their official function is to gain information of from the government by the parliament or the create legislation (“Kamervragen: vijf vragen en antwoorden” 2013). Moreover, Twitter is an open platform, available for everybody with an account that lacks clear rules on the language allowed to be used on the platform. This not only gives Wilders the possibility to use strong and uncensored language, it also means that Wilders’ tweets are directed at a different audience than his parliamentary questions. Wilders’ Twitter audience consists of mostly common civilians who are not as politically engaged or highly educated as the audience of his parliamentary speeches. However, when comparing the essence of the message Wilders sends out, his parliamentary speeches and tweets are quite similar. The socio-technical difference between the two speech acts seem to have no influence on that. On both of the speech acts it is clear to see that Wilders is eager to use them for the promotion of his security vision and avoids any form of discussion. 269 out of 1470 tweets Wilders posted, and four out nine parliamentary questions Wilders asked are directly related to his security measures. Out of all these parliamentary speeches and tweets one was not related to Wilders’ de-Islamization security position. This evidence strengthens the research founding on the fact that Wilders social disposition towards his de-Islamization security position is intrinsically embedded into Wilders’ security values. Concluding, it has become clear that Twitter contains a unique set of socio-technical characteristics, which is beneficial for the promotion of Wilders security vision and which fits perfectly in the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. (2015). This again enhances the working assumption of this thesis that Twitter can be considered a security device. The next section addresses the context in which Wilders’ security related tweets should be understood.

4.3 Context The theory of Amicelle et al. (2015) has been defined as being a practice theory and since practice theories are defined as theories that “treat the field of practices as the place to study the nature and transformation of their subject matter” (Schatzki et al. 2001, p. 11), it is relevant for this thesis to gain a better understanding of the context of Wilders’ tweets. As

53 previously mentioned in the research design the context of Wilder’s’ tweets during the election months is analyzed through the following two aspects:

4.3.1 A detailed elaboration on the specificities of the PVV and the Dutch electoral system. 4.3.2 A thorough description of the overall context of the elections, including the most important topics dominating the electoral discussions.

4.3.1 The Dutch electoral system Understanding Wilders’ tweets witin the Dutch parliamentary elections, requires a thorough explanation of the 2017 parliamentary elections. Having this knowledge helps to situate Wilders’ social disposition and tweets in this context and obtain a better idea of Wilders’ security practices. The Netherlands has had a proportional representation system since the revision of the constitution in 1917 (Parlement & Politiek 2017, electoral system). This means that all votes are proportionally divided over the number of seats in parliament (150 seats in total). This is the opposite from a majority system, in which every seat is linked to a district and the winner of the district get all the votes from that district. All votes given to the same party are divided by the kiesdeler (the number of votes divided by the number of seats). The number of seats are then divided by each party in accordance to their list of MP’s. MP’s who get preference votes over 25% of the kiesdeler are places on top of the list. All MP’s are equal, voted by preference votes or not, and none of the MP’s can be forced to give up their seat. Even if the MP does not support the party ideas anymore of the party he came in the party with. This happened in 2006 with Wilders, who split from the VVD and created the Wilders Group, later the PVV (Parlement & Politiek 2017, electoral system). In the Netherlands there is a very low threshold to be in the parliament, 0.67% of the total amount of votes given in the elections. This threshold is the minimum number of votes a party needs to win in order to enter the parliament. In Germany and Belgium this threshold is 5%, which causes the Dutch parliament to consist out of many small parties (Parlement & Politiek 2017, threshold). Proponents of the representative electoral system argue that small (minority) parties are now also represented in the parliament. Opponents of the system argue that this systems does not motivate parliamentary candidates to bond with their voters, since their participation in the parliament is mostly determined by their position on the candidates-

54 list of their party and most of the votes are given to the party leader. If an MP steps out of a fraction, like happened with Wilders in 2006, he has a right to take his seat and start a new fraction, since he is voted into the parliament. This right can be argues however, since most of the MP’s are purely elected by their position on the candidates list (Parlement & Politiek 2017, renewing the electoral system).

Figure 2. Results of the 2017 parliamentary election. Number of votes in total and per province. Reprinted from RTLZnieuws < https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/verkiezingen?electionCode=TK17> .

Linking this to the PVV in the 2017 parliamentary elections, it can be stated that Wilders’ experiences both positive and negative effects from the Dutch electoral system. On the positive side, this system has given him the possibility to step out of the VVD and take his parliamentary seat with him. Moreover, through the system of proportional representation Wilders became the second largest party in the Netherlands with 20 seats. Figure 2. above shows the division of votes per province. The PVV is the largest party in the province of Limburg (blue in the picture). The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) however is the largest party in the province of Friesland and Overijssel. If the Dutch election would follow a majority system, the CDA would have been the second largest party. A downside to this electoral system is the fact that many small parties cause the need for large coalitions in the government. And since Wilders’ vision on immigration and the Islam is not a widely shared idea by other parties, parties can easily bypass Wilders as a partner in government (Parlement & Politiek 2017, coalities). This means that even though Wilders has become the second largest party in the Netherlands, it is very unlikely for him to join the government and to be on the actual policy-making side of the table. The next section elaborates on the general context of the elections and the PVV’s party specificities.

4.3.2 Specificities of the PVV and the overall context of the elections When analyzing the context of Wilders’ tweets posted during the 2017 parliamentary elections, it is important to understand the general context of the elections, what the most important themes and players are, and how the elections were perceived by the international community. Besides an understanding of the overall context of the elections, knowledge about the PVV as a party and its party specificities is also required. This way Wilders’ tweets can be positioned in the context after which their role in the elections can be evaluated. This section respectively discusses all aspects mentioned above. Although different newspapers have slightly other views on what the most important themes of the 2017 parliamentary elections are, they all agree on the themes immigration and healthcare. On the first theme the political opinions have been extremely divided. Whereas leftwing parties – GreenLeft, Labour Party (PvdA) – focus on the immigration history of the Netherlands and emphasize the fact that the Netherlands should look out for people in need, rightwing parties – VVD and the PVV – emphasize the limited absorption-capacity of the Dutch society (Cabrera 2017; Green-Pedersen & Odmalm 2008). Healthcare is also a theme heavily discussed. Although every parties agrees on the fact that the Netherlands should be able to provide its citizens decent and affordable healthcare the right way remains debated (Cabrera 2017). The PVV takes in a rather leftwing position in this debate, since it does not want to raise the retirement age and wants to turn back the financial cuts on healthcare (PVV party program 2017-2021). For Wilders the fact that immigration and healthcare are the most important themes of the 2017 elections is beneficial. Since these topics are also the most important topics in the PVV’s party program, Wilders can thus participate in the debates on these topics by expressing his own political vision. By doing this, he causes his position on the topic to get more media-attention. Other themes often apparent in the list of most important themes during the 2017 elections are the EU, the environment and security (EenVandaag 2017; Tonningen 2017; Cabrera 2017). Looking at the PVV and its party specificities, the flowing aspects of the party are remarkable. Wilders is the only subscribed member of the party. The PVV has more MP’s, but officially they are not members of the party (Parlement & Politiek 2017, Partij voor de Vrijheid). Wilders is therefore not accounted for his actions by the other member of the party. In short this means that his vision is the one that the PVV expresses and the one that all MP’s have to convey (Vossen 2013). Linking this back to Wilders’ use of Twitter, his one-man party explains why he can make these direct and arguably offensive statements. Since Wilders

56 does not have to be supported by other members of his party, he is free to write anything in the name of the PVV. The 2017 election have been extensively reported by the international media. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the Dutch elections will “set the tone on the role of anti- immigration politicians in the rest of the European elections” (Lemereis 2017). CNN reporters Said- Moorhouse and Jones (2017) wrote that the Dutch elections are widely seen as “an indicator of populism sentiment across Europe” (Said-Moorhouse & Jones 2017). In 2017 multiple European countries, with far-right political parties running for the presidency, are having elections – The Netherlands, France Germany, Italy, Austria and the United Kingdom (UK) (“Will Europe ride the populist wave? A visual guide” 2017). The Dutch election is the first and therefore seen a key point of measuring the European view of rightwing populism (Pauw 2017). Wilders can be seen as the one of the key players during the elections. In figure 3. the opinion polls from Maurice the Hond (2017) are shown between Oktober 2016 and April 2017. Even though it is not reliable to draw scientific conclusions from one opinion poll (Tiemeijer 2008, p. 14), it does become clear that the PVV is one of the leading parties during the election months. Since Wilders is the party leader of the PVV and his party has been on the leading parties during the elections months, he got a lot of media attention.

Figure 3. Graphic on the polls between October 2016 till April 2017. Reprinted from Maurice de Hond .

5. Conclusion This thesis has investigated the relation between Geert Wilders and his security related tweets during the Dutch parliamentary elections of 2017, by answering the following research question:

How does Geert Wilders use Twitter as a device for practicing security, during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections?

Through this investigation the thesis aimed to show the political importance of Twitter. The research accomplished this investigation through the use of the security practice theory of Amicelle et al. which consist out of the following formula: “security practices= actors’ social disposition + socio-technical characteristics of devices + context”. The thesis decided to use a practice-orientated approach because of its focus on processes that lead to the outcome of a practice. By focusing on every day actions and processes in the world, the practice approach is able to better explain socially embedded events and political phenomenon such as power and security or political institutions and organizations. The decision to use a practice-orientated theory with a focuses on the role of devices is explained by the aim of the research. Since the thesis assumes Twitter to be a security device and aims to investigate the political importance of Twitter, a theory with a focus on devices is as a perfect fit. The security practices theory of Amicelle et al. gave this research the opportunity to thoroughly explore the social and technical specificities of Twitter. As explained in the theoretical framework, the security practice formula applied to Wilders’ security tweets looks as following:

“Security practices= Wilders’ social disposition on Twitter and his security measures + socio-technical characteristics of Twitter + context of the 2017 parliamentary elections”

The analysis of the research was done in three sections, each section analyzing one of the independent variables from the security practice formula. Before the research started analyzing the three variables, it first made clear what it defined as Wilders’ security practices, namely the physical realization of Wilders two security measures as written in his electoral program of 2017-2021 –de-Islamization and increasing governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense and the police– through for example the implementation of national legislation.

The analysis of the social disposition of Wilders was divided into two aspects, Wilders’ position towards his media strategy and his security measures. Through analyzing national newspaper articles, academic literature and Wilders’ own tweets on his media strategy, the research concluded that Wilders has a very positive relationship with Twitter. Wilders prefers promoting his security vision through Twitter instead of traditional media outlets, during the parliamentary elections. Twitter perfectly fits Wilders’ media strategy found by the research. His media strategy can namely by defined by the term short-term control. Control in the sense that Wilders himself chooses when he appears in the media, by avoiding public debates and interviews and using direct and social media to promote his security vision. Short-term in the sense that Wilders does not control the discussion following his political statements, also by same avoiding public dates, interviews and not participating in the discussion following his tweets. The long-term effect of Wilders’ tweets is interesting to research for possible follow- up research of this thesis. The analysis of Wilders’ position in regards to his security measures took place through the comparison of Wilders’ security vision in three of the PVV’s party (2006, 2010, 2017). The research found that Wilders’ position on de-Islamization and the increasing of money for police force in the streets is more intrinsically embedded into his values than his position on increasing governmental spending on the Ministry of Defense. The latter is thus more context-influenced than the first two security measures. It also became clear that de- Islamization is at the heart of Wilders security vision, which is an interesting but at the same time troubling finding. Wilders split from the VVD over a disagreement on the possible EU- membership of Turkey. Wilders did not want Turkey to ever be able to join the EU. Wilders’ negative position towards the Islam is therefore not surprising. However, the fact that Wilders is allowed to frame an entire religion on Twitter as something evil and threatening to the Dutch civilization, and moreover becomes the second largest party in parliament with it, can possibly be considered dangerous. This process of successful framing strengthens the argument of critical security studies. This approach argues that security is a subjective phenomenon, transformable by human agencies (Waever et al. 1993; Buzan et al. 1998). The analysis of the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter took place through the comparison of Wilders’ security related tweets with his security related parliamentary questions. The analysis found out that Twitter has its own unique set of technical and social characteristics. Not only is a Twitter-user bound to the 140 characters limit per tweet, a Twitter-user is able retweet and comment on Wilders’ tweets. Moreover, Twitter has over 300 million users today and gives politicians the possibility to bypass traditional media. These

59 socio-technical characteristics, lacking in parliamentary speeches, make Twitter useful tool to spread political ideas without being interrupted by counterarguments or question from journalists. One can state that the socio-technical characteristics of Twitter have a positive effect on Wilders use of the platform. The analysis of the context in which Wilders’ security tweets can best be understood was also done through two aspects, each discussed in a separate paragraph. The first paragraph discussed the electoral system of the Netherlands and concluded that is has positive as well as negative effects on the PVV. On the positive side, Wilders was allowed to separate from the VVD in 2004 over a disagreement on Turkey possibly becoming a EU-member and bring his seat with him. He started his GroepWilders in the parliament without having to compete first in elections. Moreover the PVV has become the second largest party in the elections thanks to the proportional representation division of seats. If the Netherlands would have a majority system, divided into districts, the CDA would have been the second largest party. On the negative side, the low threshold causes many small parties to exist, which leads to large coalitions in order for the government to consist out of a majority of the parliament. This is unfavorable for Wilders, since many parties have already said no to working with the PVV. Despite being the second largest party, Wilders is still unlikely to enter the government. This therefore makes the realization of his aimed security measures less likely. The second paragraph discussed the leading themes and actors during the 2017 parliamentary elections, plus it gave a description of the party specificities of the PVV. The most important themes during the elections were found through the analysis of national newspapers. Even though some newspapers report on more themes than others to be of key importance during the elections, all newspapers agreed on the themes migration and healthcare (for the elderly). The fact that these themes are reckoned as most important, is beneficial for Wilders. Since both of these themes are prominently mentioned in the party program of the PVV, Wilders will receive more publicity when speaking about his own political vision. By looking at opinion polls during the elections months it becomes clear to see that the PVV has been one of the leading political parties the entire time. Since party leaders receive the most media attention, it can be stated that Wilders has been one of the leading players during the elections. Finally, the research elaborated briefly of the fact that Wilders is the only official member of the PVV, meaning that Wilders’ vision is the only one being voiced in the electoral programs of the PVV and by the MP’s. This also means that Wilders is not accountable for any of actions by other members of parliament, which gives him more freedom when writing his tweets.

Ultimately, when taking all parts of the analysis together the research can say the following. In Wilders’ situation, being the only official member of the PVV, during the 2017 Dutch parliamentary elections in which immigration has been defined as one of the most important themes of the elections, Twitter has proven to be an extremely useful tool for Wilders for the performance of security. The platform allows Wilders to bypass traditional media and immediately direct his messages to his electorate. This socio-technical characteristic of Twitter falls perfectly in line with Wilders’ media strategy. It can be concluded that almost all independent variables of the security practice formula have a positive effect on the realization of the security goals of Wilders. The only, rather determining, factor that severely decreases the realization of Wilders’ security measures seems to be the electoral system of the Netherlands. All political parties, except the 50-Plus party, have expressed to be reluctant about cooperating with the PVV in a government. The possibility for Wilders to actually participate in the policy-making process is strongly decreased through this aspect. For the realization of Wilders’ security goals it would be more favorable to compete in for example the US presidential elections. As briefly mentioned in the analysis chapter, it would be interesting to do a comparing case study on the two politicians, because the two seemingly have multiple similarities in their media strategy, their political stance in relation the Islam and approach to immigration. The research question of the thesis can be answered as followed. Wilders uses Twitter as a device for the promotion of his security vision in his party program and even preferably performs security through Twitter than traditional media outlets. The research has shown that Twitter itself can be considered a security device in the situation researched by his thesis, since it assists Wilders in the performance of security. His tweets related to security can be considered security speech acts promoting Wilders’ security vision. Twitter has become a key element in his campaigning strategy in the 2017 parliamentary elections due to the platforms socio-technical characteristics and Wilders’ media strategy. One should be careful with addressing Twitter as a security device, since the platform was originally designed as a communication tool and people can also use it to post their everyday experiences on it. It would therefore be effusive to state that Twitter is inherently related to security. However, in Wilders’ situation, when Twitter is used for security purposes, by an actor with a positive disposition towards the use of Twitter, and placed in a favorable context, the platform can be seen a security device and as political important for a the outcome of security practices.

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