PhD Position - Party Competition and Political Rhetoric

Project: How political parties debate: comparing the drivers and impact of political rhetoric in the European Parliament and domestic legislatures.

Applications are invited for a fully-funded four-year PhD position in the field of European Politics (1.0 FTE), focusing on understanding on how political parties talk about sensitive issues in the European parliament and in their home legislatures and across different types of parties. It also seeks to understand what explains their rhetorical choices and it investigates the role of political rhetoric in shaping public interpretation of these issues.

Under the joint supervision of Dr. Adrian Favero and Dr. Martijn Schoonvelde, and with Prof. Pieter de Wilde as the professor of record, the successful candidate will develop their own specific focus within the theme of the project, depending on their own interests and research experience. You will be embedded in the Graduate School of Humanities, and within the Chair Group European Politics and Society, a diverse, multidisciplinary and motivated group of academic researchers.

Ultimately, the project seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of how political parties’ framing of sensitive issues affects public discourse and democratic engagement, examining the interplay between political communication, ideology, and multilevel governance. How are sensitive issues, such as migration, identity, gender, race, globalization, and economic hardship - to name just a few - framed in parliamentary debates?

A key aspect of this research involves analyzing the relationship between political parties and the levels of governance—national and EU—where they operate. The historical rootedness of parties in domestic politics versus their engagement at the EU level offers a complex backdrop against which parties select and frame issues.

Potential research questions include examining the rhetorical differences between populist and non-populist parties on sensitive issues, how these differ in domestic versus EU contexts, and the factors driving these communication patterns. The project could involve both quantitative and qualitative data (e.g., speech data, party and / or speaker features), to assess government-opposition dynamics, national differences, the type of populist party, the degree of Europeanization of parties, and individual preferences and attitudes of representatives.

Expectations of the candidate:

• Engage in regular meetings with supervisors to discuss the PhD project development.
• Write four publishable articles/chapters, with supervisory guidance.
• Attend and present ongoing research at conferences, colloquia, summer/winter schools.
• The PhD candidate is expected to teach a total of 0.4 FTE spread over the second, third and fourth year of their appointment within the BA European Languages and Cultures.
• Complete the PhD within 4 years.

Qualifications

• A Master’s/Research Master’s degree in a relevant social science or humanities discipline (International Relations, Political Science, European Studies, Communication Studies, etc.) with high academic merit—an average grade of 8.0 or above on the Dutch scale (or international equivalent, with some flexibility possible). Candidates who are in the process of completing their Master's degree at a date between the deadline of this application and the start date are also encouraged to apply.
• Excellent analytical skills and capacity to do innovative research.
• A clear and well-articulated motivation for pursuing PhD research.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English.
• Fluency in at least one of the official languages spoken in the European Union.