Governance and Politics of the Netherlands

The new fifth edition of this leading textbook provides a clear and comprehensive account of governance and politics in the Netherlands. The book has been revised throughout to provide full coverage of recent developments and events, including the latest proposals for constitutional reform.

The Netherlands has often been characterized as a place of political calm, with a culture of cooperation and compromise in dealing with key political issues. Now, at a time when climate change and immigration are high on the political agenda, the electorate is growing ever more unpredictable and political fragmentation makes forming majority coalitions increasingly difficult, it is vital to question how the Dutch system will continue to achieve consensus.

Taking a comparative and analytical approach, the authors examine the features of the country’s political system that have long made it a subject of study for political scientists: its consociational form of democracy, the difficulties of cabinet formation, the so-called ‘polder model’ involving interest groups in the development of government policies, the pragmatic approach to issues such as euthanasia and drugs and the high levels of satisfaction and trust in political institutions.

Governance and Politics of the Netherlands provides both students and scholars with a complete and reliable introduction to a country whose small size belies its importance in comparative political analysis.