Debating Evil

Using Word Embeddings to Analyse Parliamentary Debates on War Criminals in the Netherlands

Authors

  • Milan van Lange NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies
  • Ralf Futselaar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51663/pnz.59.1.07

Keywords:

War Criminals, Penal History, Parliamentary History, Word Embedding Models, Word2Vec

Abstract

We are proposing a method to investigate changes in historical discourse by using large bodies of text and word embedding models. As a case study, we investigate discussions in Dutch Parliament about the punishment of war criminals in the period 1945-1975. We will demonstrate how word embedding models, trained with Google’s Word2Vec algorithm, can be used to trace historical developments in parliamentary vocabulary through time.

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Published

2019-06-07