Visiting the Netherlands: land of social peace and hidden conflicts? Food for Thought Radboud University Nijmegen, November 2015 Prof.dr.ir. Jan Terpstra.

Visiting the Netherlands:land of social peace and hidden

conflicts?

‘Food for Thought’Radboud University

Nijmegen, November 2015

Prof.dr.ir. Jan Terpstra

Ruth F. Benedict (1887-1948)

Ruth Benedict: ‘A Note on Dutch Behavior’ (1944)

The typical Dutch are: -self-confident, moralistic, convinced of having Right on their side, proud of disrespect for authority;-strong faith in civil liberties; -tolerant (but in their speech they may be intolerant and condemnatory); -puritan, tidy, prudent, thrifty, cautious; -they like to ‘run things down, even their beloved country’; -their behavior does not include flattery and they do not like medals and parades; -individualistic, but also family-oriented; -very serious and ‘do not enjoy the lighter things in life.’

(Reprinted in: Van Ginkel, 1990)

‘A Guide to the Dutch’1. The Dutch are tolerant and love their freedom2. They value equality3. They are open and extravert, but not very focused to showing respect to authorities; they are generally more interested in sincerity (which may result in being noisy)4. Although Dutch society is highly secularized, Calvinism is still strong in society, resulting in moralizing5. The Dutch believe in consensus6. Just behave in a ’normal’ way: ‘just act ordinarily, because that is worse enough’ 7. The Dutch are sparing and thrifty. 

Three historical factors contributing to Dutch culture

• A republic, not a kingdom; no central powers, but decentralization; no military traditions. Resulting in an egalitarian culture.

• Dominance of Calvinism: work ethic, austere way of life, pessimism, individual responsibility, moralizing.

• Early capitalism: open and international orientation, individualism

Rembrandt: The Night Watch (1642)

Jan van der Vucht, Church of Rotterdam (1637)

Citizens’ satisfaction with life (EU and NL) (EU = green, NL = yellow) (2013)

National distribution of household income, 10 EU countries (GINI index, 2013)

Slovenia 0.23Sweden 0.24Netherlands 0.25Belgium 0.27Luxemburg 0.28Germany 0.28France 0.30Italy 0.32United Kingdom 0.33Spain 0.35

Source: Eurostat, CBS

Gini index, national distribution of income (income after tax) (2010)

Source: LIS database (2015)

Poverty in EU-countries (% of population) (2006)

Netherlands 10 Belgium 15

Denmark 12 Ireland 18

Sweden 12 United Kingdom

19

Finland 13 Spain 20

France 13 Italy 20

Germany 13 Greece 21

Luxemburg 14 Letland 22

Source: CBS, Eurostat

Number of days with strikes 2009-2013, EU-countries

Source: CBS, ETUI, Eurostat

Number of prisoners (per 100.000 inhabitants) (2014)

UK 147*Spain 144Luxemburg 128France 118Italy 116Belgium 116Germany 78Norway 70Denmark 67The Netherlands 61Finland 55

(Source: WODC, CBS, 2015; *data 2013

Institutional forms and (hidden) conflicts in the Netherlands

Institutional forms Underlying (hidden) conflictsPillarization Religious diversityPolder model Capital and labour organizationsCoalition politics Different political ideologies and

parties

Pillarization, Polder Model and Consensus Politics: in the future?

• Creating new problems (Polder model: slowness, delays, lack of transparency and accountability, inefficiency)

• Social and economic changes (form modern to late modern society): secularization, individualization, loss of authority, stronger belief in neoliberalism (markets), and new political movements.