Cruise Missiles and the Western Party System: Some Dutch Lessons

In: Armed forces & society, Band 12, Heft 4, S. 581-590

Abstract

The dilemma of whether or not to deploy cruise missiles in the Netherlands led to widespread protest; at one stage, it threatened a breakdown of civic order. In June 1984, the Dutch government came up with a complex decision, which aimed at eventual deployment while disarming the potent peace movement. This article discusses the decision both from the wider perspective of the alleged decline of party systems in Western democracies and their potential impotence in the face of the many extraparliamentary action and protest groups and from the aspect of postindustrial agenda issues. It concludes that the history and tradition of Dutch pluralist democracy not only inspired the successful strategy of the Dutch government in its cruise missile quandary, but it also offers wider lessons for viable party politics in postindustrial societies.