Explain Dutch politics to me

[diptheriadan]

Like, what are the major issues in the county, what are the political parties, where do they stand, how are they doing. That sort of thing.

[DavidB.]

The Christen-Democratisch Appèl (CDA, "Christian Democratic Appeal") is a big-tent confessional party for both Protestants and Catholics. The party is a merger of the Catholic People's Party (KVP, Catholic big-tent party), historically the most important Dutch political party, and the smaller Protestant Christian Historical Union (CHU, an elitist party for moderate Protestants) and Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP, a working-class party for devout Protestants). It is important to understand that the Netherlands was historically, until secularization, one of the most religious countries in Western Europe, comparable to Ireland in some ways. Confessional political parties always had a majority and from the implementation of universal suffrage until 1994, confessionals had always been in government. At the same time, the relationship between Protestants and Catholics was often shaky, but when secularization started and the religious parties started to lose ground, they recognized it was important to have one big confessional party at the political center in order to maintain their "pivotal" position in the political system, meaning that other parties could not govern without the confessionals. Therefore, in 1980, the CDA was founded (after successfully running at one slate in the 1977 election). The party is known for its belief in a way "between state and market" and its focus on organizations in society. It has been strongly in favor of European integration. It governed from 1977 until 1994 and from 2002 until 2012 and is currently in opposition. The party is generally seen as a center right party, but does not self-identify as right-wing, though it is definitely (and increasingly) closer to the VVD than to the PvdA. Its leader is Sybrand van Haersma Buma, an upper-class lawyer. Recently, one of the biggest issues of disagreement within the party has been the government cooperation with the PVV (2010-2012), which many people within the party opposed and which is generally seen as a mistake: they will probably not do this again. The party itself is seen as distinctively to the left of its electorate. The CDA is fairly conservative on religion-state issues, but it is a catch-all party and it has recently been very careful in focusing on its Christian side. Its "conservatism" is embodied in talk about "norms and values" and "standing together" and "being there for each other", not in its outspokenness on issues like euthanasia and abortion: it is too much of a catch-all party for that.

The Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA, literally "Party of Labour" but often translated to "Labour Party") stems from the country's socialist worker's movement. The Dutch Labour Party has never been as strong as its Scandinavian or German counterparts, and it has always had to govern with Christian Democrats. The country has had only one genuine left-wing coalition (1973-1977), and even that coalition included Catholics. Iconic former Prime Minister Willem Drees (PvdA) is known for rebuilding the country after WWII and introducing old age pensions. In the 1970s, the New Left movement took over within the party. The party gained popularity, becoming the largest party of the country in 1977, but it had shifted so far to the left that the CDA preferred to govern with the Liberals. Therefore, the PvdA was in opposition from 1977 until 1989 (apart from a short stint in a failed government with CDA and D66 in Van Agt's "fighting cabinet" from 1981 until 1982). In 1989, the party had moderated its tone; in the 1990s, the heydays of the Third Way, this was so much the case that then party leader Wim Kok stated that the party had lost its "ideological feathers", which he saw as something great. However, since the Fortuyn revolt in 2002, the Dutch political agenda has been dominated by issues regarding immigration, and it has been hard for the PvdA to convince people on these issues. It has been successful in elections that were about the economy, attracting left-wing voters, but it is absolutely hated by large segments of the population that once voted for the PvdA and it is currently at an all-time low in the polls. New leader Lodewijk Asscher will likely not be able to change the tide.

The Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD, "People's Party for Freedom and Democracy") is the Dutch liberal party. Liberals in the Netherlands have always been flirting with a form of secular, bourgeois conservatism and this explains much of the VVD's electoral appeal. However, due to the dealignment of the electorate, it has been able to attract many voters who previously voted for different parties (mainly the CDA) by shifting to the right. There has been much analysis about the VVD adopting a populist tone, but the party, in reality, has always flirted with populism, which also happened under Hans Wiegel and Frits Bolkestein. Historically, the VVD has always been the third party in the Netherlands, behind KVP/CDA and PvdA. It was either the junior partner in a government with confessionals or in opposition. However, it has been able to position itself at the heart of the Dutch political right in recent years, leading the right-wing Rutte-I government (VVD-CDA supported by PVV, 2010-2012) and, after obtaining its best election result ever, the Rutte-II government (VVD-PvdA, 2012-now). It is for "a Europe that works for the Netherlands", lower taxes, smaller government, privatization of healthcare, a strong military and a conservative foreign policy and could be seen as closer to some (secular) conservative parties than to certain liberal parties, though the ideology of liberalism remains important within the party.

The Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV, "Party for Freedom") is a radical right-wing VVD splitoff led by Geert Wilders. He left the party over a certain number of views he did not agree with -- funnily, by consequence of the electoral competition with the PVV, the VVD has now reverted its positions on almost all of the issues over which Wilders left the party. Wilders has attracted a lot of attention from the beginning, creating a film about Islam ("Fitna") and saying remarkable things. The party started out as "right-wing on everything", including the economy, but shifted to the left on economics before the 2010 election: Wilders promised, together only with the Socialist Party, that the pension age would remain 65 (doing a 180 only two hours after the ballot boxes closed). It obtained its best election result ever in the 2010 election and supported the VVD-CDA government from the outside, but stopped supporting the government over a new round of budget cuts in 2012. The party is for leaving the EU, against immigration from Muslim countries, and it has been the most "ideological" party in Western Europe terms of anti-Islamism: Wilders believes Islam is taking over in Europe and the "Judeo-Christian civilization" needs to be defended. On issues not related to immigration and the EU, the PVV often adopts the stance that is most popular among the population.

The Socialistische Partij (SP, "Socialist Party") is a left-wing socialist party (surprise!) to the left of the PvdA. It used to be Maoist, but has become less radical over the years, though it has still never been in government. It is very left-wing on economic issues but has had a harder time convincing voters on immaterial issues: many working-class voters do not agree with the party's relatively tolerant views toward immigration and Islam. The party is "against this capitalist EU" -- while it seeks to reform the EU from the inside, it wants to prevent Brussels from becoming more powerful. The party's members are very activist.

Democraten 66 (D66, "Democrats 66") is a social liberal party that was created in order to "destruct the political system" and make the Netherlands a more democratic country. The party has governed quite often (1973-1977, 1981-1982, 1994-2002, 2003-2006) and generally loses a lot of seats after governing. Nowadays, it is led by Alexander Pechtold and geared toward winning higher educated people's vote. It is popular in the country's "progressive belt", in university towns and in rich suburbs. The party is staunchly in favor of secularism and a federal EU. It is right-wing economically, supportive of more liberalization, and seeks to represent the youth on issues regarding pensions. Its current popularity is mainly due to its vocal opposition to the positions of the PVV: Alexander Pechtold is generally seen as the personification of the "anti-Wilders".

GroenLinks (GL, "GreenLeft") is a merger of Communists, Pacifist Socialists, Radicals and Evangelical Socialists. It has never been in government. The party has recently been struggling in defining itself: should it be a "liberal left-wing party" or a socialist green party? Recently, after its fatal crash in 2012, the party has been focusing on being left-wing again and it seems to be successful in doing so, since polls indicate that the party is at an all-time high now. New party leader Jesse Klaver being young and looking good doesn't hurt them either. Together with D66, GL is the most pro-EU party. It has also been very supportive of open borders and a less restrictive immigration policy.

The ChristenUnie (CU, "ChristianUnion") is a Protestant party. It is left-wing on economic issues and conservative on religion-state issues. On the one hand, it has proposed that speeding fines be dependent on people's income; on the other hand, it is conservative on, for instance, LGBT issues and on abortion. The party is "softly euroskeptical". It is popular in the Bible Belt and within certain branches of the Dutch Protestant Church.

[DavidB.]

The Staatskundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP, "Reformed Political Party" -- hard to translate tbh) is also a Protestant party, but for people who are more right-wing both religiously and politically -- often people who do not have a tv and who do not vaccinate their children. The party is officially theocratic and very conservative: it cares very much about abortion. Supporting Israel is also among its most important issues. The SGP is economically right-wing too, though it has a more nuanced stance on issues related to the environment and to development aid than, for instance, the VVD. The party is strongly against the Islam, which it finds to be "idolatry". For that reason, local branches have not been hesitant in voting against the construction of new mosques.

The Partij voor de Dieren (PvdD, literally "Party for the Animals", but often translated to "Animal Party") is the world's first animal party that has been elected to parliament. Its ideology, however, is broader than only animals: it could be described as "eco-socialist" and stands for the "degrowth" of the economy. As opposed to many other left-wing parties, it considers economic growth inherently bad for everybody who lives on the planet. It says it always protects the weakest in society, and animals are only one example of this. The party is against the EU, which it perceives as capitalist and corporatist.

50Plus will do anything and everything for a little bit more free money for old people and does not have any other relevant views. DENK is a political party representing immigrants and their descendants (mainly Muslims). VNL is a euroskeptical party that is very right-wing economically: it wants a flat tax of about 20%. Forum voor Democratie want more direct democracy, less immigration, lower taxes and they want to leave the EU.

[DavidB.]

The current VVD-PvdA grand coalition consists of two parties with highly contrasting views that ended up having to form a government together due to their big gains in the 2012 election in an election campaign where many voted for one of these parties to keep the other out only to get both of them. The government will lose its majority and the political landscape will end up being more fragmented than ever, with no large parties and six parties with 10%-17%. Coalition building will therefore be challenging and any new coalition will probably have to include at least four parties. The most likely option, at this point, is a VVD-CDA-D66-GroenLinks coalition, which means people reject the previous government but get something highly similar.

[Hnv1]

How peculiar the Netherlands has such a vivid multi party system compared to all its neighbors. What historically caused this? As you don't have that many ethnic schisms going way back.

[DavidB.]

How peculiar the Netherlands has such a vivid multi party system compared to all its neighbors. What historically caused this? As you don't have that many ethnic schisms going way back.

We may not be divided on the basis of ethnicity, but the religious divide between Catholics and Protestants has been of paramount importance to our politics since the foundation of the Dutch state. From the late 19th century until, say, the 1960s, we had "pillarization", the fragmentation of society in four distinct segments (Catholics, Protestants, Socialists and liberals), which were to a certain degree segregated, with their own education system, healthcare, organizations, newspapers and political parties. None of them had a majority and proportionalism ensured that policy would more or less have to take into account the interests of all pillars. The introduction of proportionalism in the early 20th century was part of a political compromise between leaders of the elite in the first place. So this is why proportionalism was introduced. The low threshold and the relatively high degree of political engagement in combination with extremely quick political dealignment and secularization (especially in the Catholic south) does the rest, I think.

[Tender Branson]

Like, what are the major issues in the county, what are the political parties, where do they stand, how are they doing. That sort of thing.

Read this thread.

[Lord Halifax]

Like, what are the major issues in the county, what are the political parties, where do they stand, how are they doing. That sort of thing.

Read this thread.

Much too long and fragmented if you want an overview.

[Crumpets]

Interesting. I figured for a while that I wasn't very close to any of the Dutch political parties since the decline of the PvdA, but your description of D66 makes it sound very appealing to me, even if it's probably a bit too far to the right economically for my taste.

One question I have, since I've only been vaguely following the Dutch election: it looks like the PVV's popularity (and Geert Wilders along with it) vary dramatically over time. That seems odd for such a polarizing party, and I'd expect it to be more like the FN in France, which can rely on ~25% of the vote in every Presidential election, but rarely gets much more. In the past three months, for example, their numbers have gone from around 32% down to about 21%. And interestingly, it looks like it's the centrist parties picking up the slack. Do you know why that would be, or maybe I'm looking at the data wrong?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Pillarization sounds like the future of the US, based entirely on ideology. It's already apparent with the ranting about people's social media bubbles, or how just about how news sources today are quite ideologically biased, growing regional polarization, etc.

[RFayette]

Very interesting info.  I had a question with respect to the SGP:  what percent of the members of the party are as socially cut off as you suggest?  (No TV, no vaccines, etc.). Also, does the party appeal to nominally/non-religious types who are strongly right-wing or are they almost exclusively in the PVV?

[Lord Halifax]

50Plus will do anything and everything for a little bit more free money for old people and does not have any other relevant views. DENK is a political party representing immigrants and their descendants (mainly Muslims). VNL is a euroskeptical party that is very right-wing economically: it wants a flat tax of about 20%. Forum voor Democratie want more direct democracy, less immigration, lower taxes and they want to leave the EU.

What kind of immigration policy does VNL have? Does eurosceptic mean leaving the EU, or just bitching about them evul eurocrats?

[Zinneke]

Pillarization sounds like the future of the US, based entirely on ideology. It's already apparent with the ranting about people's social media bubbles, or how just about how news sources today are quite ideologically biased, growing regional polarization, etc.

Its a concept probably specific to the Lowlands due to their struggle in building nationhood as a social and political identity. Its pretty much all but gone in NL. Here our healthcare for example is still pillarised but the private sector insurance/mutuality companies fill the same role. The Trade Unions are pillarised (we have a liberal trade union, which does't make sense in European political terminology) but the Universities, political parties and newspapers aren't any more.

The Netherlands probably de-pillarised the most due to the Wim Kok years, although David will know more about that than me.

What is going on in the US is more to do with societal fragmentation. You guys already had modern nationhood long before this started as far as I can tell.

[DC Al Fine]

Pillarization sounds like the future of the US, based entirely on ideology. It's already apparent with the ranting about people's social media bubbles, or how just about how news sources today are quite ideologically biased, growing regional polarization, etc.

Its a concept probably specific to the Lowlands due to their struggle in building nationhood as a social and political identity. Its pretty much all but gone in NL. Here our healthcare for example is still pillarised but the private sector insurance/mutuality companies fill the same role. The Trade Unions are pillarised (we have a liberal trade union, which does't make sense in European political terminology) but the Universities, political parties and newspapers aren't any more.

The Netherlands probably de-pillarised the most due to the Wim Kok years, although David will know more about that than me.

What is going on in the US is more to do with societal fragmentation. You guys already had modern nationhood long before this started as far as I can tell.

So how did that work? Was there some sort of natural sorting to ensure Catholics, or Socialists or whatever wound up employed by an employer who negotiated with the appropriate union?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Netherlands probably de-pillarised the most due to the Wim Kok years, although David will know more about that than me.

sounds like it was much earlier than that.

[Zinneke]

Pillarization sounds like the future of the US, based entirely on ideology. It's already apparent with the ranting about people's social media bubbles, or how just about how news sources today are quite ideologically biased, growing regional polarization, etc.

Its a concept probably specific to the Lowlands due to their struggle in building nationhood as a social and political identity. Its pretty much all but gone in NL. Here our healthcare for example is still pillarised but the private sector insurance/mutuality companies fill the same role. The Trade Unions are pillarised (we have a liberal trade union, which does't make sense in European political terminology) but the Universities, political parties and newspapers aren't any more.

The Netherlands probably de-pillarised the most due to the Wim Kok years, although David will know more about that than me.

What is going on in the US is more to do with societal fragmentation. You guys already had modern nationhood long before this started as far as I can tell.

So how did that work? Was there some sort of natural sorting to ensure Catholics, or Socialists or whatever wound up employed by an employer who negotiated with the appropriate union?

Well, there is some evidence of corruption, but its more subtle than that. For example, Claude Moniquet wrote in his ''Black Book of Belgium'' that to fulfill certain pillared-influenced quotas, a prospective employee would be asked : do you believe in democracy? do you believe in freedom? If he answered yes both he was officially a Liberal, even though the employee was a socialist. he was told to register as a Liberal to fulfill the Liberal quota. This mainly happened in the public sector but the gap between the private and public sector in Belgium is very small. its little things like that that make Belgium a bit surreal.

Nowadays, the unions are still just organised according to the old pillars.

[mvd10]

I get a ''it's not the economy stupid'' vibe from this election. The economy is doing fairly well but the government parties aren't getting rewarded for it (not that the government policies helped the economy that much). There isn't really a main issue, but a lot of politicians talk about norms and values, even/especially VVD politicians, which is pretty interesting since the VVD always was the party fighting against ''betutteling'' (government patronizing). Conservative seems to be an insult in Dutch politics, but if it weren't an insult the VVD probably would call itself conservative by now.

[DavidB.]

I get a ''it's not the economy stupid'' vibe from this election. The economy is doing fairly well but the government parties aren't getting rewarded for it (not that the government policies helped the economy that much). There isn't really a main issue, but a lot of politicians talk about norms and values, even/especially VVD politicians, which is pretty interesting since the VVD always was the party fighting against ''betutteling'' (government patronizing). Conservative seems to be an insult in Dutch politics, but if it weren't an insult the VVD probably would call itself conservative by now.

I think the economy is the sort of thing people vote on when it's not doing good; if it's doing good, as is the case now, people move on to other issues. The Fortuyn revolution taking place in 2002 was no coincidence, and neither was the Trump revolution in 2016.

The Netherlands probably de-pillarised the most due to the Wim Kok years, although David will know more about that than me.

sounds like it was much earlier than that.

Yeah, depillarization took place from the 60s onward. The CDA's good results in the 80s should be attributed to the relative popularity of the Lubbers governments, not necessarily to high degrees of political alignment or partisanship. The formation of the first purple government could be seen as the political consequence of cultural changes that had been taking place for decades.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You can track depillarisation quite well through election results; monolithic KVP results in Limburg and North Brabant suddenly end in the early 70s etc.

[DavidB.]

You can track depillarisation quite well through election results; monolithic KVP results in Limburg and North Brabant suddenly end in the early 70s etc.

It is interesting to see how the PvdA peaked in some Limburg working-class areas in the 70s and 80s to be replaced by SP and PVV from the 00s onward.

Kerkrade 1963: KVP 70.7%, PvdA 18.9%
Kerkrade 1977: PvdA 43.4%, CDA 33.2%
Kerkrade 1989: PvdA 50.2%, CDA 34.8%
Kerkrade 1998: PvdA 40.4%, CDA 19.7%
Kerkrade 2002: CDA 32.7%, LPF 23.5%, PvdA 16.6% (!), SP 6%
Kerkrade 2006: PvdA 28.2%, SP 25.1%, CDA 20%, PVV 12.9%
Kerkrade 2010: PVV 36.3%, PvdA 18.4%, SP 13.8%, CDA 11.6%
Kerkrade 2012: PvdA 25.7%, PVV 25.5%, SP 16.9%, CDA 6.7%