Why has the nationalist-populist tsunami, expected to win all 2016-2017 elections, so far been contained to the English-speaking world? This tidal wave peaked with Brexit and Trump’s win of the US presidency. And then it stopped in its tracks. Instead, we have encountered a phenomenon that has been dubbed ’the strange non-death of Old Europe’. […]
The Dutch Referendum – Revolt Of The 60%
Highly educated versus lowly educated. Muslims against non-Muslims. ’People’ versus ‘Elite’. Young against old. Mainstream against populist. All is pointing in the same direction: countries like the Netherlands enter the future in increasingly separate worlds. The divisive tensions seem to triumph over the binding, bridging forces. Take the Dutch referendum about the EU-Association Agreement with […]
Refugees: The Bright And Dark Sides Of Modern Germany
Germany’s Dutch neighbors are following its refugee debate closely and with a mixture of admiration, astonishment and confusion. Before “Cologne” we had great respect for the German “welcoming culture” and Angela Merkel’s courageous “We can do it”. One felt the painful contrast between a Germany that wanted euphorically to show off its good side and […]
Understanding Democracy’s Achilles Heels
A new Dutch survey signals the need for moderate forces to reinvent themselves in order to halt growing dissatisfaction with the political and democratic process. The societal tensions that have come to the surface in many European countries as a result of the refugee crisis are a symptom of a wider systemic crisis. Our postwar […]
Europe’s Populist Pandora’s Box
In Europe, the populist Pandora’s box has been opened. From Athens to Dresden, Paris to Madrid, we are seeing strong signs of a people’s revolt against the established order everywhere. A pan-European crisis of political trust and representation comes to the surface, focussing mainly on the presumed dark sides of migration and European integration. Nearly […]
The Secret Mission Of Frans Timmermans
Frans Timmermans is now Juncker’s number two in the new European Commission. Formally in charge of ‘Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights,’ his more difficult undertaking will likely be the informal task of keeping the UK in the EU. Last year, the Kings’s Speech (Speech from the […]
Electoral Bloodbath For Dutch Labour
The Dutch Labour party (PvdA) is in a coalition government with the conservative-liberal political party (VVD) of Prime Minister Mark Rutte: recent local elections saw them lose significant traditional strongholds, with their support falling to 10%. The elections appear to signify an historic shift towards ever greater social fragmentation as ‘Big Tent’ parties fail to […]
Electoral Storms Threaten The Dutch Coalition
The Dutch mainstream parties have held together a polder model-style agreement on structural reforms ‒ but local and European elections look set to fracture this governing coalition in 2014. Dutch coalition – I am writing this piece for State of the Left while watching a live press conference with French President Francois Hollande and Dutch […]
The European Parliament Elections – Habermas Versus Farage
The 2014 election campaign for the European Parliament sees Euro-realists squeezed between federal radicals and anti-EU-extremists. Our leading politicians are reluctant to come to the rescue. You would expect that, in the run off to the ‘mother of all European elections’ – the forthcoming May 2014 elections for the European Parliament, at which everyone expects […]
Back To The European Community!
The European Union needs a strong dose of John Gray philosophy. The European Project as it has developed over the years needs a strong antidote against hybris. An antidote against imperial overstretch. An antidote against technocratic materialism and the Brussels ‘one size fits all’ tyranny. And a Gray-ish antidote against naïve and dangerous utopian thinking. […]
Squeezed between a German and a British Europe?
The Netherlands remains divided on the future of European integration between those wanting a ‘German’, federal Europe and those in favour of an enlarged, but looser union. A few weeks ago, I participated in the German-Dutch Forum in Berlin, capital of Europe. The topic was the future of European integration. The forum is not world […]
Dutch Politics: A new post-populist Phase?
The new Dutch coalition government combines austerity politics with a ‘fair redistribution of pain’ This week, the new Dutch Government was installed, in the presence of Queen Beatrix. The two-party cabinet will consist of the conservative-liberal VVD and centre-left Labour Party (PvdA) – the two winning parties of the September 12th national parliamentary elections. VVD-leader Mark […]
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