Dutch Language Blog

We all know politics can be a dangerous topic, therefore, I am simply going to give you all an overview of some of the major national political parties in the Netherlands, and I’ll try to keep my own political opinions mostly out of it.  But!  I thoroughly encourage you all to have a lively debate with one another in the comments section.  Also keep in mind that many cities have their own local political parties, and those tend to do quite well in the local elections.  I couldn’t possibly list them all here.

Therefore, in no particular order, the major Dutch national political parties:

PvdA, Partij van de Arbeid : Labor Party
http://nu.pvda.nl/

The Labor Party in the Netherlands is a fairly old and respected party.  They are a social-democratic party, which means they have a focus on social services and welfare.  Their talking points include improving education and access to education, social benefits, and as of late, stabilizing the economy. PvdA were responsible for the recent collapse of the cabinet, as they decided to quit due to their conflicting views on continued Dutch involvement in Afghanistan.  PvdA had repeatedly promised its voters that they would pull troops out of Afghanistan, but this had not happened.  CDA wanted to continue involvement.   In making the tough decision to stand by their political promises, PvdA quit, which in turn meant that the coalition was defunct.  It is possible that this issue was a bit of the “straw that broke the camel’s back” as PvdA has had a rocky history with CDA, and there were many other problems between the two parties at the time this issue came to a head.

The most recognizable member of this party is Wouter Bos, the former minister of finance who saw the Netherlands through the economic crisis during 2008-2009.  Within the last week he stepped down from politics altogether, stating that he has not had enough time for his family since joining politics.  Wouter Bos will be replaced by Mayor Job Cohen of Amsterdam, and at the time of this writing, many people feel favorable about Cohen as his replacement.  Because of his widespread support, he is quite possibly the next Prime Minister, but only time will tell.

VVD, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie : People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy
http://www.vvd.nl/

The VVD is the largest economically conservative party in the country, and like the PvdA, are a long-standing and respected party.  They are what I would call in American terms more libertarian, but let me be clear about some terminology.  In Europe the term “economically liberal” means that there is less government involvement, hence you will also hear this party called “economically liberal” in European terms.  This means that they focus on less government regulation for businesses, a free-market economy, individual responsibility and freedom and less government rules and regulations overall.  This party did not make up the most recent coalition government with CDA and PvdA, though they have been a member of many coalition governments in the past.  Interestingly enough, some of the more populist political party leaders were originally members of the VVD and then moved on to form their own parties.  They are currently led by Mark Rutte, who, in a poll of the opinions of parliament members last year, was considered the best politician by his peers.

CDA, Christen-Democratisch Appel : Christian Democratic Appeal
http://www.cda.nl/

CDA is a Christian-democratic party that generally remains centrist on many issues.  In 1980 they were formed from the fusion of one Catholic political party, and two Protestant parties.  Although they were founded out of three Christian political parties, they focus on religious tolerance, and being Christian is not a requirement for membership in this party.  They use the Bible in a very general sense as a moral compass for their values, and because of this they do appeal to members of other religions as well.  CDA has held the majority in the cabinet for many years now, and the current Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, who has had four terms as prime minister, is from CDA.  With elections coming up on June 9th, we all wait to see if Balkenende will return as prime minister for a fifth coalition government, though many people, both within and outside of CDA, feel it might be time for something new.  Balkenende has received quite a bit of backlash in the last few months over a number of important issues, and the recent fall of the cabinet was the second fall of the cabinet that has occurred under his leadership.  Although his leadership skills have been under fire, CDA still remains one of the dominant political parties.

D66, Democraten 66 : Democrats 66
http://www.d66.nl/

D66 was formed, if you hadn’t already guessed, in 1966, by journalist Hans van Mierlo.  Sadly, the founder of D66 recently passed away at the age of 78 after a very long and successful political career.  The main goals of D66 have been further democratization of the Dutch political system, and more political involvement from citizens.  They are therefore progressive, because they want to change the political system itself, socially liberal because they believe that the backbone of the society is it’s ability to help it’s citizens, and radically democratic because they believe that citizens should be able to have a physical vote on issues and political positions.  They would like citizens to be able to vote for the mayor of their city, the prime minister, and on specific issues, just to name a few things.  They focus on citizen outreach through “livingroom chats” with citizens in their own homes, where they figure out what the constituency wants through one-on-one interaction.  They like to consider themselves politically flexible on the issues, therefore they do not take a strong philosophical stand and prefer to deal with issues on an “as they come” basis.  Historically they have remained a bit more economically conservative and have a focus on supporting smaller business, while being socially liberal and fairly outspoken champions of gay rights.

SP, Socialistische Partij : Socialist Party
http://www.sp.nl/

SP is another Dutch political party with a long and rich history.  They were originally founded as a combination of Maoist and Marxist/Leninist groups in the 1970s, and subsequently went through a few incarnations, until they finally settled on leaving behind Marxist/Leninist philosophy in the early 1990s.  Since 1994 they have been officially called SP, though they are by no means a new party.  SP is a democratic-socialist party with very clear philosophical positions on the issues, in stark contrast to D66.  They focus on many social issues, including welfare, education, employment, and worker’s rights, with the guiding principle being socialist philosophy.  The political representatives often stand in stark contrast to other politicians if you go see a local debate, where the SP member will most likely be wearing red, and most likely won’t look like a politician at all, but rather a regular working-class citizen who got concerned and decided to get involved.

The most recognizable face of SP for the last two years has been their party leader, Agnes Kant, who recently stepped down from this position.  This followed the poor results of SP in the recent local elections, and her personal decision that someone else might fill the position better.  Agnes Kant has made a bit of a caricature out of herself in the last few years because she gets really fired up over the issues and does a lot of yelling, which is a bit nontraditional for Dutch politicians.  On the other hand, her passion for politics has been admirable, and whether or not I agree with her politics, I do think she’s been fun to watch and someone I would want on my side in a fight.

Ok, here is where I’ll stop for now, I think five major political parties is enough for you all to chew on for right now.  In the next blog I’ll cover another five political parties you should know about, some of them being more controversial than others.

But in the meantime, why not leave us a comment?  Tell us all about your thoughts on the recent elections, the fall of the cabinet, or any other political topic you want to discuss.

One of the benefits of learning a foreign language is that once you do, you find yourself getting more involved in the culture than you could otherwise.  Yes, many people in the Netherlands speak English on some level or another, but generally all the interesting Dutch stuff happens in Dutch.  One of those interesting things is politics.  And it is an interesting time to be in the Netherlands as we recently had the city hall elections, and will be holding the national elections on June 9th due to the fall of the cabinet earlier this year.

General Information

The Netherlands has a multiparty constitutional monarchy.  That’s a mouthful!  What it means is that there is a king or queen, currently Queen Beatrix.  The monarch is limited in power by a parliament, a group of officials elected by the general public. The entire system is governed in compliance with a constitution, which sets out the ground rules for the system and the basic rights and privileges of the people.

Constitution

The Dutch constitution dates from 1815 and has been revised a number of times since.  The constitution includes a bill of rights which includes, among many other things, the right  to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, the right to counsel and the right to education.  This document sets the guidelines for the parliamentary system, the judicial system, and the role of the monarchy.

Monarchy http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/

The current monarch in the Netherlands is Queen Beatrix.  The royal family are the descendants of William of Orange.  The queen serves a few primary functions in government.  She serves as an adviser to the cabinet and prime minister in the role of expert on how the government works.  She provides continuity in government between elections and the time when a new coalition is formed.  The Queen’s role is to appoint the person in charge of coordinating the process of forming a coalition government.

But mainly the role of the monarchy is in a very general sense to serve as a cultural icon for the Dutch, both at home and abroad.  The royal family are invited to many international political functions, and serve as ambassadors for the Dutch people.

Parliament http://www.parlement.nl/

The parliament in the Netherlands consists of the First Chamber (Eerste Kamer) and the Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer).  The Tweede Kamer is where all the action happens, and some people feel that perhaps the Eerste Kamer no longer fills much of a role in the government here.  To be quite honest, I don’t really have a position on that issue, but perhaps some of you might.

The Tweede Kamer consists of the parties that were directly voted into position by the general public in the general elections.  There are many parties in the Netherlands, and some parties have as few as one seat in parliament.  After elections, a few parties get together that form a majority, set up a coalition and create a cabinet.   They have to do this because if no one has a clear majority, it’s possible nothing will ever get done.  It usually happens that the government is run by a coalition, though this is not a requirement.

The Tweede Kamer creates all new laws and policies, which is why it is the more exciting house of parliament.  This is the place where all the parties duke it out to get laws passed.  Sometimes the process can be hampered by the multiparty system -it can be slower, but other times the multiparty system allows for creative solutions to come forward -parliament members must think together and create a dynamic solution.  There are pros and cons to everything.

The Eerste Kamer is, quite frankly, rather dull.  This is a group of 75 representatives chosen by the provincial parliaments, not directly elected by the people.  Their only power is to approve or disapprove of new laws.  But the fact is, once a new law or policy has been given the go-ahead by the Tweede Kamer, it’s incredibly rare that the Eerste Kamer disapproves of the law.  That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, but it’s pretty rare, making it a place where not much action takes place.  They put the final seal of approval on a law, and that’s about it.

So there you have it, the Dutch political system in a nutshell.  How does this differ from the political system in your own country?  What do you think some of the pros and the cons are of this system?  And now that you know how it all works, we can talk a little about who the people are that are running the government here. In my next blog I’ll give you an overview of the Dutch political parties, and try very hard to be as neutral as possible.

In my last blog I promised to tell more about Annie M.G. Schmidt and her writings for the children that outgrew Jip and Janneke. She wrote a lot of books in her life, but let me pick out three of the most famous ones that everyone interested in Dutch culture should know.

Abeltje

The first time Abeltje was published was in 1953 and it was one of her first children books. The story is about a kid who works as a bellboy at the elevators in a warehouse. He is not allowed to press the green button, but the temptation wins and he does it anyway. Together with the other people in the elevator Abeltje flies out of the rooftop and adventures await.

This book was a great success and since 1998 it has been translated and published in Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Norway, Spain and Sweden. It was also translated into Hebrew. In 1995 the sequel, “De A van Abeltje” was published.

And of course a movie couldn’t be left out. In 1998 “Abeltje” entertained the audience of the cinemas. In 2000 the movie was edited for television, and with some modern adjustments was aired in seven parts by the public network AVRO.

Pluk van de Petteflet

This book appeared in 1971 and had the same illustrator as Jip and Janneke: Fiep van Westerdorp. The story is about a kid called Pluk, whom owns a small red tow truck and gets into adventures with Aagje and De Stampertjes.

Pluk van de Petteflet turned into a radio play in 1992, a musical in 2003-2004 (and won the ANWB Public Price) and of course into a movie in 2004 with famous Dutch actors to play the parts.

But Pluk was not done. He appeared again in 2004 in a brand new story with a brand new adventure, called “Pluk redt de dieren” (Pluk saves the animals). And everyone who wanted to be this brave boy got lucky in 2009, when Pluk van de Petteflet was released as a videogame for the Nintendo DS.

Minoes

Now this is my favorite! Annie M.G. Schmidt wrote this book in 1970 and it received a Zilveren Griffel (the Golden Griffel is the award for the best children’s literature) in 1971.

The story is about a cat called Minoes, who turns into a young lady. Although her appearance changed completely, she is still a cat on the inside. This means that purring and scratching are still a part of her daily routine. When she meets the almost sacked journalist Tibbe, she helps him get news for his newspaper. But things never go flawlessly, so some problems get in their way too.

Of course the book was made into a movie in 2001 and also became a great success.

I guess most of you are adults, so in my next blog I will tell you what Annie M.G. Schmidt did for you. Stay tuned!

If you found this blog interesting, check out my other blogs on Annie M. G. Schmidt:

Who is Annie M.G. Schmidt

Annie M. G. Schmidt – Jip en Janneke

Feel free to tell us all about your favorite Annie M.G. Schmidt book in the comments section below!  What was the first one of these books you read?