ABSTRACT
The Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie as well as Democraten ’66 (D66) belong to both transnational liberal federations. Individuals are in principle free, equal, and emancipated, but the state should provide conditions for them to fulfil themselves. In its preference for individual freedom, self-determination, and a ‘market without dominance’ D66 comes close to classic liberalism; yet the pursuit of equality and involvement – a contemporary translation of ‘solidarity’ – and social and ecological preconditions could be considered characteristic of ‘social’ liberalism. Like most European polities, the Dutch political system has been shaped by the class cleavage but also by a religious cleavage. In 1879, the first modern – orthodox protestant – mass party in the Netherlands was founded, demanding state subsidies for confessional schools. Radical right populism and its critique of the open multicultural society and of globalisation, free trade, and welfare state reform, has become a serious opponent of liberalism, more than Christian Democracy or Social Democracy.
