The Conditionality of Moral Evaluation

This thesis unravels the interplay between discourses on refugee groups and policy actions in the context of a case study on the Dutch response to the Moria camp fires in September 2020. It contributes to filling the under-researched analytical gap between discourse and policy. In addition, it builds on the theoretical insights and analytical strategies of variety of discourse scholars, to come to a comprehensive operationalisation for the purpose of analysing the interplay between discursive group constructions and policy actions. The research shows the manifestation of vulnerability and deservingness in the Dutch discourse on refugee groups. It demonstrates how these constructs combined determine who is deserving, therewith latently excluding the deserving from the undeserving. Furthermore, the research demonstrates a varying contribution of discursive group constructions in the legitimisation of the Dutch policy response to the Moria fires. It is shown how in some policy contexts, the narrative of vulnerability contributes to legitimisation through moral evaluation. Yet in different policy contexts, this moralisation becomes conditional on a narrative of exceptionality and a rationale on selectiveness.