From Despair to Complacency: The Development of the Dutch Local Elite

Abstract

In this chapter, we present some of the findings and main tendencies from comparing three Dutch surveys within the Democracy and Local Governance (DLG) research project conducted in 1989 34 (Eldersveld, Strömberg & Derksen 1995), late 1996, (de Vries 1997), 2000 and early 2000.¹ But we first briefly describe the institutional structure of government in the Netherlands and sketch some of its main developments.

The 1989 survey was carried out by Wim Derksen, Professor at the University of Rotterdam, together with Jeanet Pronk, Yoka van Eck and Hermine Rietman. The data from this study are previously published by Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado in the book Local Elites in Western Democracies. A Comparative Analysis of Urban Political Leaders in the U.S., Sweden, and The Netherlands (Elderdsveld, Strümberg, Derksen 1995).