Getting things done without the double Dutch

Dr Oliver Hartwich
Newsroom
22 July, 2025

Before our Netherlands delegation in June, I wrote here about the political chaos we might encounter. Geert Wilders had just brought down the government he helped create. I wondered whether the Dutch “polder model” of consensus democracy could survive 21st century populism.

But Dutch politics was the least interesting thing about the Netherlands.

To read the article on the Newsroom website, click here.

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