ABSTRACT
The Netherlands is a small, densely populated country with about 15 million inhabitants. Originally an agricultural and sea-faring nation, industry has transformed the economy, particularly since the Second World War. Because of its colonial past in Indonesia and Surinam, and because of the past need for unskilled labour which necessitated the import of foreign workers (for example, from Turkey and Morocco), The Netherlands is now becoming a multicultural society. At the present time, the country is a capitalist welfare state, with a relatively successful and smooth-running economic system.
