Suchergebnisse

Response, Henk te VeldeDuring my research I have greatly benefited from the historiography of political parties and I agree with Bosmans that the relatively new approach of political culture should collaborate with classic political history. However, I am more interested in similarities between different political currents and how they compare with the international scene. Another area of particular interest for me is the public aspect of political leadership and how this relates to the time in which it takes place. The issue is, therefore, not the party political aspects of Colijn's leadership but rather the praise he received at that time from outside his own party. The most prominent political leaders were not modest administrators but 'partisan', controversial members of the best-organised and strongest parties, such as the orthodox Protestant ARP. Among many other things, I analyse the relevance of clichés about 'Calvinist' and 'religious' politics with regard to the public appeal of ex-orthodox Protestant Den Uyl. Unfortunately, however, Van Deursen seems to believe, unjustly, that I am expressing my own personal opinion on Calvinism.

While Christian Democratic parties in several Western European countries are often said to be in crisis, the European People's Party holds the largest parliamentary group in the European Parliament since 1999. This paradox relies on the specificity of the different 'national' electoral logics, on the one hand, & the realization of a long-term 'European' majority strategy, on the other. The alliance with Conservatives & Conservative parties has to overcome an absolute electoral decline in 'old' EU countries & a relative decline through the accession of 'new' member states without Christian Democratic parties. The EPP majority strategy is realized through various ways: the key position of the transnational party & party group, the role of political leadership, the way of decision making, the cooperation with side organizations, the problem solving of ideological conflicts, etc. Our analysis proves how the majority strategy of the European Christian Democrats realizes its ultimate 'survival strategy' despite (or thanks to) several national party crises. 2 Tables. Adapted from the source document.

It is argued that Max Weber's concept of charismatic leadership is useful in better understanding current political developments, using the example of the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini & the religious establishment to revolutionary power in Iran during the 1960s & 1970s. Most analyses fall short in explaining the breakdown of the Iranian monarchy by relying too much on social factors that were characteristic of Iranian society long before it entered the revolutionary decades, & by failing to recognize the interrelationship among revolutionary developments. If the charismatic character of Khomeini's leadership is acknowledged, charisma reveals itself as the most central element in the revolution & the social, political, economic, & religious causes of the revolution become explicable as a by-product of this single fact. 4 Tables, 35 References. Modified AA

In the Netherlands, the rise of new parties such as the Lijst Pim Fortuyn, the Partij voor cle Vrijheid, lead by Geert Wilders & the movement Trots op Nederland, lead by Rita Verclonk, have attracted much attention. In an attempt to interpret & explain the (temporary) advance of these parties, both commentators & political scientists have often used the notion of populism. In most commentaries however, it remains unclear what the term exactly means & whether it has any explanatory value. The aim of this article is to investigate whether Rita Verclonk & Geert Wilders & their movements may actually be labeled as populist. By discerning the presence of the features of an ideal-typical populism in discourse & performance of both politicians their 'degree of populism' is measured. The differences in degree of populism also helps to explain why Geert Wilders & his party proved (thus far) more successful & durable. Adapted from the source document.

The Iraq War has once again spotlighted the divisions within the European Union that have prevented a unified foreign policy & strategy in its leadership. While the common market & currency, along with the accession of ten new member states have contributed greatly to a sense of European unity, the reliance on majority consensus & "soft security" neither ensures effective supranational policy making, nor does it eliminate the tension caused by the international leadership claims of three European Union members: GB, France, & Germany. The former two are both nuclear powers & permanent members of the Security Council, while the latter is one of the world's leading economies, & the dominant one in Europe; each has its own interests & orientations (eg, the transatlantic reflex of GB, the Continental reflex of France, & the pacifism of Germany). It is proposed that the European Union give more coordinating & directive power to the Union Ministry for Foreign Affairs to ensure a common foreign policy for the continent. A. Siegel

The European Union affects the internal organization of national political parties. We found 'traces of Europe' in the party statutes of all Belgian parties that are represented in the European Parliament since 1999. Europe is, to a greater or lesser extent, present in party goals, rules on party membership, & party organs. Parties have elaborated rules for the organization of European elections, the selection of European executives, the formulation of party programs, & internal & external coordination of policy formulation. At first sight these rules seem to confirm the hypothesis that Europe is in the first place a concern of party leadership, & that it reinforces centralization of decision making. Yet the full confirmation of this hypothesis requires further comparative research on the Europeanization of political parties. 1 Appendix. Adapted from the source document.

The career of all the burgomasters in office on 1 Aug 1975 (N=722) was studied. The concept of career was operationalized as the change in population-size of the administered municipality. Two dimensions in the career of Dutch burgomasters are distinguished: (1) intramunicipal (following the growth of the municipality), or (2) intermunicipal (being transferred to a larger municipality). There is a negative relationship between the two dimensions. Burgomasters from growing municipalities are less likely to be rapidly transferred to larger municipalities. However, the reverse holds true of the 38 municipalities that have more than 10,000 inhabitants. The burgomasters of those municipalities have a different kind of career from their colleagues. For those burgomasters transferred from growing municipalities there is a positive r between the growth of the municipality & the total growth of their career. No cause can be assigned to the negative r between population growth & intermunicipal career growth without further study. A. Orianne.

Recent trends in election campaigns in Belgium & the Netherlands are compared from both political & historical perspective; it is stressed that primary reference is made to Flanders, & only occasionally to Wallonia, when the political landscape of Belgium is discussed. Developments since the 1960s in both countries are examined, identifying similarities & differences across the following areas: (1) the consociational democracy of Belgium & the Netherlands & its erosion with the formation of new political parties, growing polarization, & negative campaigning, (2) the election system & rules; the structure of parliamentary democracy in the two countries & its reflection in election campaigns; the voter's choices & influence on the composition of both houses of the parliament & the office of prime minister, (3) the content & form of election campaigns; campaign financing, presence in the traditional & new media; free TV time, (4) what is the campaign about & for whom is the vote cast? the principal role played by the party's first candidate on the list, (5) the election rules of the prime minister & new government formation; the role of party leadership. It is concluded that Belgium & the Netherlands still share some characteristics of consensus democracies, however, developments since the 1960s, in particular the growing division between the Flemish & French-speaking regions of Belgium, led to significant institutional changes in the latter country's election campaigns & its citizen's declining interest in this political process on both federal & regional levels. Election campaigns in the Netherlands seem to be more concrete & relevant to the voter. However, both countries suffer from voters' losing direct control over who is elected & over the composition of their future government. Z. Dubiel

Between 1949 and 1962 the Netherlands renounced its sovereignty over most of its overseas territories. Nevertheless, during the entire period of the Cold War, the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) stood by its point of view that it had a global task to fulfil. This military-naval deployment, outside the NATO treaty area during and shortly after the Cold War in relation to the structural global ambitions of the Royal Netherlands Navy's leadership, is the central theme of this study. This theme is analysed on the basis of theories and an understanding of multinational fleet operations after 1945 and Dutch policy regarding naval operations outside the NATO treaty area, but above all through regional case studies (Korean War 1950-1955, operations around the Arabian peninsula 1984-2000, and in the Adriatic Sea and Montenegrin waters 1992-2001). These case studies were examined by addressing the following central questions: to what extent did these missions involve a traditional approach to Dutch foreign policy? To what extent did the Navy's leadership influence the political-strategic decision-making on these out-of-area operations? To what extent were Dutch tasks and operations different from those of coalition partners, specifically those of the British Royal Navy, which the Royal Netherlands Navy considered to be its 'sister navy'? To what extent did the existing national and international perceptions of the RNLN influence Dutch decision-making on these missions, and how much did the participation in multinational fleet operations subsequently contribute to the objectives the Dutch government had in mind? In all the three case studies, the national and international perception of the Netherlands as a maritime nation and the ability to deploy high-quality navy units were taken into account in the Dutch government's decision-making regarding the RNLN participation in multinational fleet operations. The missions always received international, and especially British and American, appreciation and respect. The fact that ...