Classic Dutch Cleavages and Voting Behaviour

Oxford University Press eBooks, pp. 245–262

Abstract

Abstract Lipset and Rokkan considered national and industrial revolutions to be the main sources of cleavages. The Netherlands experienced three national revolutions: the revolution for independence (1568–1648), the Patriot/Batavian Revolution (1786–1806), and the Belgian Revolution (1830–1831). These revolutions produced a cleavage that led to the separation of the Netherlands and Belgium, and within the Netherlands produced a religious cleavage between Catholics and Protestants. The Industrial Revolution did not so much produce a class cleavage in the Netherlands as exacerbate differences that already existed. The Netherlands was virtually an ideal type of institutionalized cleavages that became well known as Verzuiling or pillarization. This contribution shows how the Dutch pillars developed and included cleavage organizations for virtually all areas of life, from cradle to grave, and including political parties. However, in the 1960s, the pillar system began to break down and the old cleavage structure is now basically defunct, as can be shown by the irrelevance of this structure for contemporary voting behaviour.

Authors 2

1. Galen A. Irwin Aachen Institute of Political Science

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Political Science, Leiden University

2. J.J.M. van Holsteyn Aachen Political Science

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Political Science, Leiden University