Discovering the Dutch – Flashcards

In the Netherlands these non-Western immigrants are called allochtonen, "those who come from elsewhere."

People who come from a Dutch background, not immigrants

"Purple Coalition" 1994 to 2002 "purple" coalitions of social democrats (red party colors) and liberals (blue) that governed between 1994 and 2002. These were not only the first coalitions without participation of any of the confessional parties since 1917, but also coalitions that presented themselves as explicitly non-ideological, in which the social democratic party in particular "had shaken off its ideological feathers"

role of perspective, "usable Dutchness" foreigners embrace or reject aspects of Dutch society to define or reinforce their own national identity. Opposition to other cultures and societies is an indispensable ingredient in each national identity. Consequently, the Dutch "other" has been used to legitimize geopolitical ambitions or facilitate domestic debates about the relationship between government and citizen, the moral and ethical fabric of society, and integration and diversity.

(continental Europe) Conservative because rights are linked to social status, and the welfare state is used to sustain distinctions, not to make them disappear. Catholic parties were often responsible for putting this type of welfare state in place. Consequently, social security is targeted at keeping mothers at home and hence day care, for instance, is typically underdeveloped. The state aims to fund only those programs that are not already well organized by civil society. As the level of benefits is positioned between that of the two other types, so does the tax level. The Netherlands is usually counted among the latter welfare states. Yet, as the Dutch system includes some traits of the social- democratic type, it is sometimes considered to belong to that group.

(US, Canada, Australia) Liberal welfare programs are lean and avoid interference with the market. They primarily target the very poor. Entitlement rules are strict and to be a welfare recipient generally carries a social stigma. Middle-class citizens cover their own risks and save for their own pensions through private insurance. Hence, the liberal welfare state is relatively cheap and taxes can be low. However, the resulting transfer from rich to poor is limited, and differences in income between these two groups remain substantial.

(Scandanavia) Social-democratic parties took the lead in establishing them. However, since they did so in cooperation with farmers' parties, more than lower-class interests are taken into account. Hence, recipients include the middle classes. As entitlement is nearly universal, receiving a welfare payment does not necessarily carry a stigma. As everyone is entitled to relatively high levels of welfare, market involvement is limited and social and economic differences between citizens remain small. How- ever, high taxes are needed to pay for all this.

In the CMEs of Western Europe the state plays a large role in the economy, trade unions are also quite important, and banks and companies engage in long- term relationships.

In liberal market economies, the problem of coordination between firms and between firms and their financiers, employees, suppliers, and customers is solved through market mechanisms. LMEs are free market economies. (Wall Street)

soft drugs, euthenasia; crimes that don't warrant law enforcement because there is no true 'victim'

"cultural fundamentalism/essentialism does not reify culture, but it is in reality about relationships between cultures as understood and bounded, internally homogeneous, integrated and exclusive sets of values, behavior and meanings which are thought to be inevitably threatened by foreigners who by definition have a different culture" (V. Stolcke, "Comment on Ralph Grillo, 'Cultural Essentialism and Cultural Anxiety'", Anthropological Theory, 3(2):175-77.

Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture.

considerable progress had been achieved in all major indicators, such as participation in employment, in education and housing. Overall, the second generation was doing significantly better than their parents, par- ticularly among the Surinamese. The continuing identification among Turks and Moroccans with their countries of origin and with Islam was taken as a sign of a successful multiculturalism: institutional integration could indeed go hand in hand with preservation of the original cultural identity. vs. "multicultural drama" viewpoint Scheffer argued that this would eventually undermine social cohesion and the functioning of the liberal democratic state, particularly because of the supposedly illiberal ideas of the Muslims.

SOFT DRUGS NOT LEGALIZED Decriminalization or decriminalisation is the abolition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts, perhaps retroactively, though perhaps regulated permits or fines might still apply

politicians will become highly educated and no longer speak in language that the people they are meant to represent understand, will be incomprehensible to to general population and no longer be repesentative

(Following fall of pillars) Consequently, political parties and their representatives in parliament and government lost much of their legitimacy, a tendency that was exacerbated by the technocratic style of government of the 1990s. Citizens did not lose their trust in the democratic system as such, nor was there a decline in voter turn-out - this has been invariably high, around eighty percent since mandatory voting was abolished in 1970. Yet the politicians themselves became increasingly worried about the relationship with their constituency. When Fortuyn voiced the populist cliche? that the "political class" had lost its connection with the "real people," especially those who were said to suffer from the burdens of multiculturalism, he was expressing a concern that was already widespread among mainstream politicians.

a trend of thought that favors equality for all people. Egalitarian doctrines maintain that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or social status

The idea that voters have become more willing to switch between parties. This is related to the dealignment thesis that voters are no longer consistent strong party identifiers with correspondingly stable voting behaviour, but free to choose who to vote for depending on the issues of the day.

This means that the public prosecutor may decide not to institute prosecution proceedings if it is not in the public interest. The highest priority is given to the investigation and prosecution of international trafficking in drugs; the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use is accorded a much lower priority. Anyone found in possession of less than 0.5 grammes of hard drugs will generally not be prosecuted, though the police will confiscate the drug and consult a care agency. The expediency principle is applied to the sale of cannabis in coffee shops in order to seperate the users' markets for hard and soft drugs and keep young people who experiment with cannabis away from hard drugs. PRIORITIES: 1. providing hard drugs 2. providing soft drugs 3. using hard drugs 4. using soft drugs

In the Netherlands freedom of education is a constitutional right. Anyone may provide education. Private schools may have a religious or ideological character, unlike publicly run schools. Both may be based on a specific educational ethos. The government provides funding for both privately and publicly run schools, provided they meet certain requirements.

don't need laws for everything (poldermodel, pillarization)

feeling oneself to be part of Dutch community

based on multicultural principles, declaring the need for social policies to integrate minorities as groups to maintain their cultural identities

had two elements 1. 'newcomers policy,' consisted of courses on Dutch language, social orientation, and vocational training, plus individual case management to secure entry into further education or the labour market 2. 'integration policy,' concerned with improving the educational and labour market position of minority youth, and improving living conditions in mixed neighborhoods

This principle of "ministerial responsibility" - which pertains to the other members of the royal house as well - is central to the Dutch constitutional monarchy. It renders all actionsof the king subject to ministerial approval, and bills and all other "royal decrees" need a minister's signature.

the monarchy - which seems an embodiment of tradition and authority - enjoys surprisingly broad and stable public support. In fact, although the Dutch almost pride themselves on the absence of patriotism and flag-waving, it is only the monarchy that evokes symbols of nationalism comparable to that of other nations, and citizens gladly unite under the orange color of the Dutch royal house.

Paul Scheffer, a publicist and a prominent member of the Labor Party, was among the first to voice this view openly. In a much-debated article called The Multicultural Tragedy he stated that Dutch multiculturalism had failed.O? Instead, he argued, a new eth- nic underclass was emerging of immigrants who did not identify sufficiently with Dutch culture and society, and who were unwilling and unable to inte- grate. Scheffer voiced the concern that many Dutch people felt - but did not express - about continuing immigration, stagnant integration, increased segregation and a rapidly growing Muslim population. Scheffer argued that this would eventually undermine social cohesion and the functioning of the liberal democratic state, particularly because of the supposedly illiberal ideas of the Muslims. He accused the Dutch elite of having remained largely indifferent to these developments. Their cultural relativism had allegedly prevented them from demanding the newcomers to adapt. Respect for cul- tural difference had prevailed over understanding the needs of the less privileged members of the native population.

Dutch national identity is not static, but rather the outcome of a continuous process of identification, nego- tiation and exploration

In defending the independence of known things, new realism affirmed that in cognition "the content of knowledge, that which lies in or before the mind when knowledge takes place, is numerically identical with the thing known" (a form of direct realism). To some realists, this epistemological monism seemed unable to give a satisfactory explanation of the mind's proneness to error.

some one-issue parties emerged - such as the Elderly People's Party in the 1990s, and a Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD) in 2006.

segregation within society according to church membership and social status Pillarization originated in the late nineteenth century from the desire of Catholics, conservative Calvinists, and socialists to empha- size and preserve their identity within a society dominated by a liberal political elite and the Dutch Reformed Church. Whereas the process of pillarization has been interpreted as a process of eman- cipation of minorities, it was also a strategy of the religious elite to insulate members in their congregation from an increasingly secular- ized world. Since each compartment comprised both lower classes and elites the vertical metaphor of a separate "pillar" was used. Pillarization declined after the I?×O?Øs when secularization and democratization undermined the denominational and ideological identity of each pillar and as increased prosperity allowed for more mobility, education and the availability of television that offered people a glimpse across the boundaries of their own group. The Catholic and socialist labor unions merged into one union (FNV) in I?×O?O? and the three mainstream religious political parties united into one Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) five years later.

The polder model is a term that was first used to describe the acclaimed Dutch version of consensus-based economic and social policy making, specifically in the 1980s and 1990s. The term quickly took on a wider meaning, to denote similar cases of consensus decision-making in the Dutch fashion.

On the one hand, it lists that beleid means to manage and administer (besturen) on the basis of facts and expertise, which seems to imply top-down planning. On the other hand, however, it defines the term as a considerate approach (bedacht- zaamheid), preferably by hearing all those concerned and giving them a say.

The first dimension, dividing parties into left-wing and right-wing pos- itions, is related to socio-economic issues and the preferred role of the gov- ernment in this domain. A second dimension distinguishes between confessional and secular political thinking. three distinct ideological "party families:" social democrats, liberals, and Christian Democrats For a major part of the twentieth century, the three so-called "heartlands" of the main party families determined electoral behavior. Many voters identified with one of the party families and voted accordingly. Today, this structured model of voting behavior is no longer as powerful as it once was.

Populism is a doctrine that appeals to the interests and conceptions (such as hopes and fears) of the general population, especially when contrasting any new collective consciousness push against the prevailing status quo interests of any predominant political sector.

The Netherlands is among the world's top countries for equity in education opportunities, and there's a commitment to educational choice in the Netherlands. Schools following particular religious or pedagogic principles have had equal state funding as public schools since 1917 and the number of privately run schools more than doubles public ones, with one in five primary schools comprising less than 100 pupils. International education is available at both Dutch and private schools throughout the country, and up to 20 schools are expected to implement bilingual education by the end of 2015.

all schools receive the same funding and attempt to be on the same level

the urbanized ring connecting the four largest cities of Am- sterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Utrecht

Netherlands one of the most secular countries --> Secularization refers to the historical process in which religion loses social and cultural significance.

tolerance as pragmatism (anticipating inevitabilities), control (minimizing harm), and connecting dominant and minority groups