The Netherlands: Old Solutions to New Problems

Abstract

The emergence of immigration and integration as a new line of conflict, the rise of new political parties, and the fragmentation of the political landscape have contributed to cabinet volatility in the Netherlands. While this presented new challenges for coalition governance, Dutch politicians have mainly looked to old consensus-based solutions to address these new problems. Whereas electoral politics and political campaigns have become more adversarial in style over the last twenty years, coalition governance seems still to be guided by the politics of accommodation. The Netherlands can clearly be described in terms of the Coalition Compromise Model, in which the coalition agreement as well as coordination and conflict-management mechanisms remain of central importance. Majority coalition formation is still the norm, even though since the early 2010s governments have not always commanded a majority in the Senate, which necessitated various forms of cooperation with opposition parties.