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This page serves two purposes. First, it seeks to stimulate contacts between researcher and people who are either involved in ISAF, have related interests or conduct similar research (e.g. critical discourse analysis, media studies, humanitarian interventions). The editor welcomes suggestions and questions about the project. Moreover, a pdf file with project information is available in English, German and Dutch upon request.
The second purpose is to provide students who consider applying for a PhD position with a template for writing a proposal. Please note that this is just an example and a successful PhD application usually requires reading through multiple abstracts of existing or already completed PhD projects. At least as important is some thorough networking with potential supervisors before any formal application is sent.
In line with the cross-border nature of the project, its supervisory team contains academics in three countries:
To contact Mr van Efferink, please use the e-mail address on this page:
The key objective of the research project is to bring clarity in how the use of text and image by newspapers leads to particular representations that (de)legitimise the sending of national troops to Afghanistan. A related issue is to what extent newspapers differ in terms of journalistic approach.
The central research question is:
The central research will be addressed by examining two sub-questions:
Afghanistan has continually faced foreign meddling since the country was ‘founded’ in 1747 with the election of emir Ahmad Chah Durrani. The UN established ISAF after the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001. The main responsibility of ISAF is to bring stability in Afghanistan and reduce international terrorism. In 2006, the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan rose substantially as ISAF received a broader mandate.
Most research on Afghanistan has focused on the US that has the largest number of troops committed. Great Britain and Germany have however contributed most troops to ISAF after the US, and have been far less often the subject of research. The latter also applies to the Netherlands, which was the first NATO member to withdraw its ISAF troops from Afghanistan.
A critical discourse analysis of the headline, text, photo and its caption forms the key part of the investigation. This method helps to examine which options have been preferred while representing a particular event. It requires a thorough knowledge of the context of the representation and the related interests and aims.
The research project concentrates on a variety of actors, including countries, organisations and individuals. Such an analysis is valuable because every actor has various identities, roles and qualities, all of which can be used to provide an accurate description of her or him. Each description has nonetheless another meaning.
The context analysis consists of among other things a study of the national histories and interviews with politicians, journalists and editors.
Newspaper are interesting research objects as they function as 'mirror of society', thereby both shaping and being shaped by a national debate on a particular issue. Furthermore, they actively engage in maintaining ideas about the national identity and international role of countries.
Seeking to examine newspapers with different styles and ideological backgrounds, three newspapers have been selected in each country. For the United Kingdom, these are Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Sun; for Germany, Bild, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung; for the Netherlands NRC Handelsblad, De Telegraaf and De Volkskrant.
The research project concentrates on various moments to identify changes in the representations of the engagament. Key moments for all three countries are the months after 9/11 and the days that their parliaments decided to send (more) national troops to Afghanistan.
Another relevant event for Great Britain was the 300th British soldier that had died since 2001 in Afghanistan in 2010; for Germany the NATO bombardment of two fuel trucks in 2009 (being requested by German army); for the Netherlands the fall of the government in 2010 due to disagreement about ISAF.
The researcher carries out the research project with Royal Holloway, University of London. He is also Visiting Scholar at Goethe- Universität Frankfurt am Main and Universiteit van Amsterdam. These universities facilitate his research in Germany and The Netherlands.
Leonhardt van Efferink holds Master’s degrees in Geopolitics, Territory and Security (King’s College London) and Financial Economics (Erasmus University Rotterdam).
He worked as a senior country risk analyst at three financial institutions, was a senior policy adviser at the Dutch Ministry of Finance and is founding editor of the website ExploringGeopolitics.
