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Waiting in the Wings: New Parties in the Netherlands

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Abstract

Even in the relatively open political system of the Netherlands, most new parties never pass the threshold of representation and keep waiting in vain in the wings of political power. Since 1989 only 10 out of 63 newcomers gained one or more seats in parliament, owing to a favourable political opportunity structure and significant resources. Three of them disappeared into political oblivion after one parliamentary term. Only two of them have participated in government. In this paper we offer some explanations as regards the variety in origins as well as a typology with respect to their differences in terms of ideology and policy agenda. The analysis shows that however short-lived parties in opposition may be they have an impact on the political agenda, in particular recently.

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Notes

  1. For a complete list of new Dutch parties in the period 1989–2006, see the Appendix.

  2. Interview with C. Mahabier, Hilversum, 28 August 1989.

  3. At first named ‘Action committee for a 5/6 pension for everyone’ (Aktiounskomitee 5/6 Pensioun fir jiddfereen’) it changed its name into ‘Action Committee for Democracy and Just Pensions’ (Aktiounskomitee fir Demokratie a Rentegerechtegkeet) in 1993 and finally into ‘Alternative Democratic Reform Party’ (Alternativ Demokratesch Reformpartei) in 2006; see online: www.adr.lu/partei.html (accessed on 2 December 2007).

  4. Democrats 66 (D66), a party that defined itself as pragmatic reformer when founded in 1966, entered parliament in 1967 — and has stayed there until today.

  5. The three Dutch newspapers NRC Handelsblad, Trouw and de Volkskrant published 55 articles about LN in the period between Fortuyn's exit and election day; in the same period they published only one article about its rival, Sustainable Netherlands (Duurzaam Nederland, DN) and none about the Party of the Future (Partij van de Toekomst), which might also be considered a pragmatic reformer or purifier party. In 1994 and 1998 purifiers had also attracted very little attention from the media: one article about the General Democratic Party (Algemene Democratische Partij, ADP), two about The New Party (De Nieuwe Partij, DNP) and two about the Voters Collective (Kiezers Collectief, KC).

  6. All celebrities were lijstduwers, that is, they held lower positions on the party list but had made it clear that they did not want to be elected but only to lend moral support to the party.

  7. In early June 2007, Interview/NSS predicted 29 seats for the SP and 28 seats for the PvdA (online: www.politiekebarometer.nl/archief, accessed on 14 October 2007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    André Krouwel

  2. Documentation Centre Dutch Political Parties, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

    Paul Lucardie

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  1. André Krouwel
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Appendix

Appendix

See.Table A1

Table a1 List of new parties in the Netherlands (1989–2006)
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Krouwel, A., Lucardie, P. Waiting in the Wings: New Parties in the Netherlands. Acta Polit 43, 278–307 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/ap.2008.9

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