^aInstitute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands. E-mail: b.verbeek@fm.ru.nl; a.vandervleuten@fm.ru.nl

Abstract

This article analyses Dutch European and foreign policy-making since the end of the Cold War as a two-level game that changed because of alterations in the polarity and interaction density of the international system, intensified European integration and a greater involvement of domestic actors. On the basis of an analysis of four policy areas (security and defence, trade and agriculture, European integration, and new security issues), it traces and explains changes in the content of Dutch foreign policy and the nature of the policy-making process. It argues that although the Netherlands enjoys more room for manoeuvre at a global level, it is simultaneously more constrained by a loss of power at the European level, on the one hand, and a growing influence of domestic stakeholders, on the other hand.