Abstract
The murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 shocked the nation. Fortuyn had challenged the political order by winning the local elections in Rotterdam. He was poised to win the national elections, which were to be held just weeks after his death. Fortuyn sought to represent the ‘forgotten men and women’. The reaction to his assassination was ferocious: the parliament was nearly stormed and the legitimacy of the incumbent order rapidly declined. This chapter analyses the effort of national politicians to manage this legitimacy crisis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Andeweg, R.B., and G.A. Irwin. 2009. Governance and Politics in the Netherlands. Hampshire, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Baumgartner, F.R., and B.D. Jones. 1993. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Black, I. 2002a. Activist in Court Over Fortuyn’s Murder. The Guardian, May 2. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/09/thefarright.politics.
Black, I. 2002b. Dutch Mourners Turn Out in Force to Salute Fortuyn. The Guardian, May 11. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/11/thefarright.politics.
Black, I. 2002c. Far Right Comes in Second in Dutch Poll. The Guardian, May 16. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/16/eu.thefarright.
Boin, A., and P. ’t Hart. 2000. Institutional Crises and Reforms in Policy Sectors. In Government Institutions: Effects, Changes and Normative Foundations, ed. H. Wagenaar. Boston: Kluwer.
Boin, A., P. ’t Hart, and E. van der Torre. 2003. Blauwe Bazen: Het Leiderschap van Korpschefs. Zeist: Kerckebosch.
Boin, A., A. McConnell, and P. ’t Hart (eds.). 2008. Governing after Crisis: The Politics of Investigation, Accountability and Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Boin, A., P. ’t Hart, E. Stern, and B. Sundelius. 2016. The Politics of Crisis Management: Public Leadership Under Pressure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Boin, A., C. Kofman, J. Kuilman, S. Kuipers, and A. van Witteloostuijn. 2017. Does Organizational Adaptation Really Matter? How Mission Change Affects the Survival of U.S. Federal Independent Agencies, 1933–2011. Governance 30 (4): 663–686.
Boin, A., C. Brown, and J. Richardson. 2019. Managing a Mega-Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Bovens, M.A., P. ’t Hart, S. Dekker, G. Verheuvel, and E. De Vries. 1998. The IRT Disaster and the Crisis in Crime-Fighting in the Netherlands. In Public Policy Disasters in Western Europe, ed. P. Gray and P. ’t Hart. London: Palgrave.
Brouwer, A. 2002. De Dreiging van de Straat: Het Volksoproer dat niet kwam. De Groene Amsterdammer, December 22. Retrieved from https://www.groene.nl/artikel/dreiging-van-de-straat.
Buruma, I. 2002. What Pim and Diana Had in Common. The Guardian, May 14. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/may/14/thefarright.eu.
Catino, M. 2013. Organizational Myopia: Problems of Rationality and Foresight in Organizations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Commissie Feitenonderzoek. 2002. De Veiligheid en de Beveiliging van Pim Fortuyn: Feiten en Verantwoordelijkheden. The Hague: Sdu Uitg.
de Vries, J., and S. Van der Lubben. 2005. Een Onderbroken Evenwicht in de Nederlandse Politiek. Amsterdam: Van Gennep.
Freedland, J. 2002. Watch and Tremble: The Fallout from the Assassination of Pim Fortuyn Will Be Felt Not Just in Holland But Right Across the World. The Guardian, May 8. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/may/08/thefarright.uk3.
Hansèn, D., and E. Stern. 2001. From Crisis to Trauma: The Palme Assassination Case. In Managing Crises: Threats, Dilemmas, Opportunities, ed. U. Rosenthal, A. Boin, and K.L. Comfort. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Kuper, S. 2002. Grieving Dutch Set to Give Power to Fortuyn’s Heirs. The Guardian, May 12. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/12/theobserver1.
Lang, K. 2002. Pim Fortuyn—Obituary. The Guardian, May 7. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/may/07/guardianobituaries.thefarright.
Lijphart, A. 1968. Verzuiling, Pacificatie en Kentering in de Nederlandse Politiek. Haarlem: Becht.
Osborn, A. 2002a. Pim the Martyr Unites a City in Grief. The Guardian, May 8. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/08/thefarright.politics3.
Osborn, A. 2002b. Dutch Authorities Ignored Threats to Pim Fortuyn. The Guardian, December 18. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/dec/18/thefarright.politics.
Parker, C.F., and E.K. Stern. 2002. Blindsided? September 11 and the Origins of Strategic Suprise. Political Psychology 23 (3): 601–630.
Preston, T., and P. ’t Hart. 1999. Understanding and Evaluating Bureaucratic Politics: The Nexus Between Political Leaders and Advisory. Political Psychology 20 (1): 49–98.
Rosenthal, U., P. ’t Hart, and A. Kouzmin. 1991. The Bureau-Politics of Crisis Management. Public Administration 69 (20): 211–233.
Taleb, N.N. 2007. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. New York: Random House.
The 9/11 Commission Report. 2002. Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. Washington, DC.
Turner, B.A. 1978. Man-Made Disasters. London: Wykeham.
Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal. 2002, 19 December. Debat op hoofdlijnen over het rapport-Van den Haak inzake de veiligheid en de beveiliging van de heer Pim Fortuyn (28374, nrs. 12 en 13) en het regeringsstandpunt n.a.v. dit rapport, 36th meeting, pp. 2721–2743.
Verlaan, J., and H. Van den Berg. 2003. Ministers weer onbewaakt op Binnenhof. NRC Handelsblad, May 6.
Vertzberger, Y. 1990. The World in Their Minds: Information Processing, Cognition, and Perception in Foreign Policy Decision-Making. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Weick, K.E., and K.M. Sutcliffe. 2007. Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty. San Fransisco: Wiley.
Wilson, J. 1989. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Boin, A., Kuipers, S., de Jongh, T. (2019). A Political Assassination and a Crisis of Legitimacy: The Murder of Pim Fortuyn. In: Lægreid, P., Rykkja, L.H. (eds) Societal Security and Crisis Management. New Security Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92303-1_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92303-1_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92302-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92303-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)