Gerrit Voerman

Independent Local Political Parties in the Netherlands

Abstract In the last 15 years, the Netherlands has witnessed the enormous growth of independent local parties and of their electoral support. In order to assess the success of independent locals in the Netherlands, this paper explores how independent local parties distinguish themselves ideologically, organisationally, and operationally. It presents the results of two online surveys of 1,800 independent and other local parties in the Netherlands. Compared to local party branches, independent local parties are more successful in performing the organisational, programmatic and nomination function of political parties. They are spearheading the change to a modern cadre party with politicians and a small number of active volunteers taking care of the partys rootedness in society. Furthermore, they enrich local politics with new political dividing lines, smoothing the entry of new demands, themes, and issues onto the political agenda. Finally, they are proving to be more resourceful in recruiting citizens to stand as candidates for municipal councillorship.

Different shades of green: A comparison between members of Groen Links and De Groenen

A comparison between Groen Links (formed in the Netherlands by a fusion of the Pacifist‐Socialist Party, the Political Radical Party, the Evangelical Peoples Party and the Communist Party of the Netherlands) and its ecological rival De Groenen enables Panebiancos conclusions about the effect of a partys size to be put to the test. The members of the small De Groenen seem hardly more active than members of the somewhat larger Groen Links, nor more homogeneous in terms of age, education, religion or ideology. There are, however, interesting differences between the two. De Groenen are more likely, for example, to embrace radical ‘dark green’ or ecocentric ideas than the members of Groen Links, and the former are more concerned to ‘bear witness’ than to engage in electoral activity at local or national level.

A drama in three acts : The relations between communism and social democracy in the Netherlands since 1945

In the history of the relations between communism and social democracy in the Netherlands in the post‐war era, the communist appeals to reunification of the working class movement run like a continuous thread. Apart from ideological reasons, the Dutch Communist Party tried to overcome its situation of political isolation this way ‐ it even sacrificed its own trade union to this objective. However, no matter how often these pleas were voiced, social democracy rejected them.

'Away with all your superstitions!' : the end of communism in the Netherlands

On 5 June 1991 the Communist Party of the Netherlands dissolved itself, having decided to merge with the Pacifist‐Socialist Party and the Political Party of the Radicals. This was not a repercussion of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe associated with perestroika, but the result of the partys evolution since the late 1970s, when it turned its back on an orthodox Stalinist past. After 1980 the party renounced, in turn, its Leninist heritage. An analysis of the delegates to the CPNs congresses shows how this reflected a fundamental shift in the partys social composition. Its dissolution and merger with the PSP and PPR in the Green Left was a logical conclusion to these developments.

Memberless parties: Beyond the business-firm party model?

It is widely assumed that political parties need to have members in order to fulfil their functions in a representative democracy (drawing up platforms, candidate nomination and electoral mobilization) and in terms of their legitimacy. However, the theoretical literature on party models – the evolution from the mass party to the catch-all party, the electoral-professional party and/or the cartel party – suggests an increasing marginalization of members within the party organization. In the business-firm party model, members no longer have any role whatsoever. The next phase in this development seems to be a party without members. This article analyses the contextual (societal, communicational and institutional) factors favouring the rise and endurance of the memberless party as well as the strategic conditions for doing without formal membership (such as maximizing the centralization of internal decision-making, promoting party unity and enhancing electoral effectiveness). The functioning of two no-member parties – the Freedom Party in the Netherlands and the Lega dei Ticinesi in Switzerland – will be discussed in the empirical part of this article.

Rural protest groups and populist political parties

Some agricultural or rural protest groups in the Western world evolved into political parties - often of a populist nature - whereas others did not. This book is the first to explore under which conditions this happens, and to what extent current populist parties have agricultural or rural ties and related agendas. Well-known authors with a background in rural studies or in political sciences describe and analyse the situation in a number of Western countries (the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, Australia, Finland). The contributions in this book show that the accessibility and responsiveness of the political system and the institutionalized agrarian interest groups, as well as the existing political landscape, are influencing the decisions of rural protest groups to found a political party. However, nowadays the chances of these parties being successful are small due to the declining share of the agricultural sector within European societies. Although there will always be grounds for agrarian protest, it seems safe to say that the heyday of agrarian populism is over.

The Netherlands' green paradoxes

In CNS 10, Barney Dickson analyzed the first Party Congress of Hollands Green Left. The present account of Green Left and their rivals The Greens by Gerrit Voerman (who directs the Documentation Center on the Dutch Political Parties at the University of Gronngen) deals with the origins and development of the green political movement in the Netherlands, and the respective roles of Green Left and The Greens, focusing on the alliances that make up the former and the related weakness of the latter.

The Netherlands: Political development and data for 2017: THE NETHERLANDS

The year 2017 was a period of contradictionary development in terms of political stability in the Netherlands. On te one hand, the Mark Rutte II cabinet, the longest serving cabinet since the Second World War, was the first since 1998 to complete the entire term. On the other hand, the highly volatile 2017 national elections yielded the most fractionalized parliament in Dutch history. The ensuing cabinet formation was the longest on to date.

Halverwege? Tussenbalans kabinet-Rutte II

Kabinet-Rutte II wordt gekenmerkt als een minderheidskabinet. Het zoeken naar ad-hoc meerderheden om wetsvoorstellen door de Staten-Generaal te loodsen, leek de afgelopen jaren centraal te staan. In dit proces werd gezocht naar een constructieve oppositie met onder andere D66, de SGP en de ChristenUnie. Heeft dit geleid tot een degelijk minderheidskabinet of resulteerde het in politieke rommeligheid? Kortom, hoe heeft kabinet-Rutte II het de afgelopen twee jaar gedaan?

Extremismus in den Niederlanden

Das niederlandische Parteiensystem wurde von Klassenkampf und Kulturkampf gepragt. Am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts entstanden evangelische, katholische und sozialistische Massenparteien, eng verbunden mit Gewerkschaften, Frauen- und Mannervereinen, Hochschulen und Schulverbanden, Zeitungen usw. – kurz: eigenen gesellschaftlichen Milieus oder Saulen (zuilen). Die Eliten der Massenparteien und Massenorganisationen trafen sich regelmasig. So entwickelte sich in den Niederlanden eine Konkordanzdemokratie – wenn nicht eine Konkordanzoligarchie, weil die Bevolkerung recht wenig Einfluss auf die Kompromisse zwischen den politischen Eliten nehmen konnte.