Leon Wessels MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Dutch History, Political History

Cohort/Start PhD: 2018-2019

The Perception of Political Elites in the Netherlands, 1650-1950

Utrecht University
Promotor(es): Prof. dr. Joris van Eijnatten, Prof. dr. Franciska de Jong
Aanstelling: vanaf januari 2018

The research focuses on the perception of political elites in the Netherlands between 1650 and 1950. The main research questions are: Which characteristics were attributed to elites? How did the concept of elites change over time? How can the shifting perception of elites be explained? The PhD candidate intends to shed a new light on the introduction and adoption of modern ideas about politics and human equality by studying the perception of elites. For this research computational methods will be combined with a more traditional hermeneutic approach.