ABSTRACT
Mid-term the den Uyl administration, in retrospect often characterised as ‘the most progressive Dutch cabinet ever’, succeeded in transferring sovereignty to Suriname. 1 Closing the book on the Antilles was also a target, but in the later stages of this period Caribbean affairs were no longer a priority in The Hague. After its premature fall in 1977, the den Uyl cabinet left a legacy of political polarisation rarely seen in Dutch history. Despite a clear left-wing victory in the elections, a centre-right coalition won the day and, in fact, up until 1989 the Netherlands was almost continuously run by coalitions of Christian democrats and conservative liberals. Economically, this was a period of wavering growth and even years of recession. The answer in the domain of industrial relations was a substitution of polarisation for moderation and cooperation, thus laying the foundations for the rather spectacular economic growth of the 1990s. The same was true in the social and political arena, which also witnessed a turning away from polarisation during much of the 1980s.
