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Sacrifice Freedom for Freedom : A qualitative content analysis of the freedom definition used by party families during the COVID-19 pandemic

Delbrück, Konstantin C. A. (2023) Sacrifice Freedom for Freedom : A qualitative content analysis of the freedom definition used by party families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Abstract:The COVID-19 pandemic led to many restrictions on citizens’ basic rights to protect public health. That sparked debates in the German and Dutch parliaments, where parties openly discussed trade-offs between different freedoms. This frame makes it possible to analyse the freedom definition used by parties in both countries. It is assumed that each party family has a preferred set of freedom dimensions, emphasising them more prominently than other freedoms. So far, there has been no research on the freedom definition used by party families, and there has also been very little research connecting party families and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study a qualitative content analysis is performed to grasp the latent meaning of the parliamentary speeches. Five parliamentary debates per country during the COVID-19 pandemic, covering the time period 2020–2022, were chosen. The freedom definition used for coding is derived from the Human Freedom Index by the Cato Institute and adjusted to the setting of a public health crisis. The analysis shows that the freedom definition used per party is in line with the overall ideology associated with the respective party family. It also shows that the freedom definition is consistent over time.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:71 sociology, 88 social and public administration, 89 political science
Programme:European Studies MSc (69303)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/97254
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