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Based on in-depth qualitative research, this paper compares and contrasts two different policy approaches to Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) within the European context. On the one hand, the Dutch case relies on a holistic and integrated approach in which a national framework underlies a targeted multi-stakeholder approach to preventing and countering manifestations of violent extremism. On the other hand, while lacking an overarching national policy framework, the Italian case study presents a range of mechanisms and projects aimed at combating violent extremism at the local level. The paper traces the different histories of terrorism and radicalization in the two countries to assess the emergence of these divergent approaches. Subsequently, regional case studies of the Delft and Milan areas are explored in-depth to illustrate how the respective policies are put into action, and to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The research is based on expert interviews and institutional research involving municipalities, education, social work, and civil society actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the COVID crisis, the Netherlands and the UK were embarking on national energy transitions away from fossil fuel systems. However, the arrival of the pandemic unequivocally altered the trajectory of energy transitions on a global scale. Every country in the world is now grappling with the twin challenges of the COVID crisis and the climate crisis, and there is a grave risk that the short-term demands of the former could eclipse the vital long-term actions needed to address the latter. While there is optimism that green economic recoveries will propel energy transitions through investments, there is an urgent need to assess and address any new policy barriers which COVID poses to achieving them. To do so, in the summer of 2020, researchers conducted pairs of interviews with 30 experts within the social and energy sectors, involving government, industry and third sector stakeholders. Key research questions sought to identify the policy barriers acting – inadvertently or otherwise – to disrupt that balance between tackling COVID and the energy transition, and the mechanisms available to restore the necessary equilibrium. Through a structured analysis of policy barriers to the energy transition post-COVID, we assess its delivery in both countries. We derive a new taxonomy and definition of policy barriers. We also generate a suite of 10 policy recommendations, which were placed in priority order by the interviewees themselves. The paper concludes with observations on those recommendations, the differences noted between the two countries, and the validity of using policy barriers for policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dutch housing market suffered more than many other West-European housing markets from the global financial crisis. After some stimulation measures at the beginning of the crisis, the market was hit hard by several government policies in both the rented and the owner-occupied sectors. Against this background this paper pays attention to the disfunctioning of the Dutch housing market and to current housing issues which are high on the political agenda. The paper argues that the contemporary Dutch housing market serves as an engine for social inequality and leads to sharp divisions and instability in society, in social, political and in economic terms. The paper then offers some solutions for these significant housing market problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The private rental sector (PRS) is making a surprising comeback. A central argument in our paper is that we see the rise of PRS and the associated stagnation of homeownership as springing from the contradictions inherent to financialized homeowner societies. Rather than a feature of either mature or late homeowner societies, contradictions of the promotion of homeownership through the expansion of mortgage markets paved the way for a revival of the PRS. Our case is the Netherlands, but our argument has a wider remit. We sketch the dominant trends in Dutch housing policy and present an overview of the rise of PRS and Buy-To-Let in Dutch cities. We identify how housing policies and realities have driven a shift from a debt-driven to a wealth-driven model of financialization, in which the demand for PRS as an investment class and as a place to live has become central. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the military context of exposure to combat and deployment in Dutch soldiers. It does so by reviewing war victims and military psychiatry after WWII in the Netherlands, and describes Dutch deployments from the late 1970s to the present. 'Who is the Dutch soldier' is asked to articulate the mental load on the individual soldier before, during, and after deployment. The narrative review of this paper allows one to review how the armed forces personnel is challenged in relation to their specific assignment and in what respect the psychological dimensions are addressed and met in the face of risk and adversity. Finally, some critical considerations for future veterans care programmes are raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant integration policies in the Netherlands have become increasingly restrictive over the past two decades. This development has been prompted chiefly by the strong politicization of the subject of integration and, as a consequence, a growing political interference with policymaking. Policy design and construction is predominantly carried out by policy officials in state bureaucracies. Some of these actors, however, have great difficulties with the restrictive turn in integration policies and the associated political discourse. Policy officials use the concept of professionalism to describe how they cope with the ambiguity between their personal convictions and the professional role they are expected to play. Thus, professionalism symbolizes cultural orientations, norms and values that are important in the bureaucratic organization. In this paper, we argue that the discourse of professionalism functions as a disciplinary logic that controls policy officials, but that simultaneously endows their work with meaning and creates a feeling of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use plans serve a dual function. On the one hand, they are programmes for future development, plans for action. On the other hand, they have a regulative function in relation to construction and land use. This paper investigates how the interplay between these functions is playing a role in the current debate about the new integrated Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) in the Netherlands. Initially, the government proposed abolishing local land-use plans and replacing them with a system of by-laws. However, this proposal did not survive the debate on this bill. This paper will shed light on the relationships between planning and regulation by analysing that debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing the educational situation of second-generation Turks in the Netherlands and Austria, the paper investigates the reasons behind the differential higher educational gains of the descendants of guest workers in the two countries. By relying on in-depth interviews with second-generation Turks, the paper illustrates how ethnic discrimination in the labour market lead to maintaining a ‘sojourn-perspective’ among Turks in the Austrian setting, who disapprove of long-term educational investments in favour of material resources enabling a potential return to Turkey. At the same time, the sojourn-orientation is giving way to a more long-term perspective in the case of the Netherlands, where Turkish families see investments in Dutch qualifications as worthwhile channels of upward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recent trend towards selective immigration policies is based on the racialization of certain categories of migrants into irretrievably unassimilable Others. In Europe, this trend has materialized largely through the application of integration requirements to the immigration of foreigners, the so-called "civic integration turn". Based on an analysis of parliamentary debates about civic integration policies in the Netherlands, this paper asks which migrants are considered likely or unlikely to integrate based on which presumed characteristics. We find that Dutch civic integration policies aim at barring "migrants with poor prospects". In sharp contrast with a long history of Dutch social policies, politicians deny state responsibility for migrants' emancipation based on a discursive racialization of these migrants as unassimilable. While class has hitherto been largely ignored in the literature on migration and the politics of belonging, we show that class, intersecting with culture and gender, is key in this process of racialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, the intense debate about multiculturalism and immigration has led to a questioning of the limits of criminal law on hate speech in the Netherlands. The freedom of expression/hate speech dilemma, with its delicate relationship between freedom of expression, non-discrimination and freedom of religion, has itself become a battle ground in public discourse about multiculturalism. This paper seeks to analyse how legal developments around hate speech bans in the Netherlands (in legislation, case law and prosecution policy) have interacted with sociopolitical changes in a multicultural society in the twenty-first century, and how hate speech bans have become politicised. It will show how developments in the Dutch ‘free speech v. hate speech’ debate have led to contestation over fundamental rights and the role of the judiciary versus the legislature, now that the judiciary is being called in to regulate a sensitive sociopolitical conflict. The paper also shows how since 9/11 there has been an ‘asymmetrical’ use of hate speech bans, to protect the majority against radical minorities, and examines what this implies in terms of the ‘militant democracy’ idea. Asymmetry is also apparent in the way freedom of speech functions in public debate, where many use the free speech argument rhetorically as the right to ‘say what they think’, but do not necessarily grant the same right to their adversaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on desire in the problematization of immigrant integration in Canada, the UK and Netherlands. I argue that the immigrant’s affective orientation towards society became viewed as the source of these problems, and not the communities or societies orientation towards them. The integration exam becomes a suitable solution because it solves multiple problems at once. The exam works as the mechanism through which desire is manufactured by making tangible the object of desire in the first place and by making society itself more exclusive. I turn to the implementation of the exam content to explore of what this might mean for the kinds of citizens that the exams produce, arguing that they primarily work to produce unstable citizens, rather than more ‘affected’ citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the different ways in which the EU dimension was contextualised in domestic politics in the 2005 Constitutional Treaty referendums in Spain, France and The Netherlands. It suggests that an ideationally based type of contextualisation dominated the Spanish referendum, in sharp contrast with the materially based mode that was dominant in France and The Netherlands. Variations in the ways in which the EU dimension was structured in domestic politics are largely accounted for by the interplay between the presence of an explicit anti-European agenda and government popularity. The paper shows that in Spain a popular government managed to keep control of the referendum debates, preventing anti-EU campaigners from gaining control of the debate and turning its focus from a symbolic pro-European discourse to materially based anti-European matters. By contrast, increasingly unpopular governments in France and The Netherlands were unable to keep the debate focused away from potential sources of material discontent. By focusing on the modes the EU dimension is framed in domestic politics, the paper aims at making a contribution to the literature on European referendums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police integrity is an important subject for both police theory and practice. This paper presents the results of survey research on the perceptions of police officers in the Netherlands and the USA on two specific aspects of integrity. First, their views on the seriousness of types of integrity violations and, second, the willingness to report deviant behavior (and to break the so-called 'wall of silence'), are examined. The Dutch police appeared in their response to be stricter in norms and values ('awareness') and more willing to report colleagues for violations ('alertness') than their American counterparts. These perceptions of seriousness have, however, changed in the Netherlands and an attempt is made to explain those changing perceptions and also the changes in the willingness to report (based on 47 in-depth interviews with police officers). This paper has led to a provisional model that will be tested in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1946 and 1948 Dutch authorities planned to deport all 25,000 Germans from the Netherlands. This article is based on an analysis of parliamentary debates and newspaper reports. It offers a new explanation for why these deportations were stopped. A concerted effort from the press, clergy and charitable organisations provided arguments to change policies, however the Minister of Justice did not defend changes in policy by copying any of these arguments. He phrased his policy in terms of success: policies had been fine-tuned, not fundamentally changed. Within a relatively short period (between 1945 and 1948) the discourse changed from revenge to pity. Papers pointed out that if the Dutch continued to deport all Germans they were no better than the Gestapo. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper studies to what extent participating in days for national commemoration and celebration is associated with feelings of national belonging, and to what extent this is comparable across generations and ethnic groups. Utilizing data from a national survey (N = 4,505), three major national days in the Netherlands are examined. We find that whereas participation in Queen's Day is associated with national belonging for all generations, for Remembrance Day this holds only for the generation born between 1945 and 1955, and for Liberation Day for the generations born after 1955. Moreover, for citizens with a non-Western origin, participating in national days is associated with national belonging more strongly than for citizens with a native Dutch or other Western background. These findings highlight the importance of paying attention to potential group differences in the association between participation in national days and feelings of national belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When in-vitro fertilization (IVF) was introduced in the 1970s, doctors were criticized for not properly informing prospective users about its possible risks and limited success rates as well as for medicalizing fertility problems. Nowadays, many fertility clinics are seeking to improve their accountability to stakeholders through patient-centred practices. Based on an ethnographic study of a Dutch fertility clinic, outspoken in its aims to provide patient-centred medicine and to empower clients, this paper addresses how patient-centred medicine affects couples’ decision-making to use IVF and related reproductive technologies. The author contends that while patient-centred practices facilitate informed decision-making and support couples emotionally, they may also have unintended disciplining and normalizing effects. The information and support provided, the trust couples have in clinic staff, the ongoing visualization of conception mediated by medical technology – all can be seen as practices that strengthen lay people's ‘medical gaze’ in how they come to view their bodies, fertility problems and possible solutions. These unintended effects are labelled ‘the ambiguity of patient-centeredness’ as they (may) interfere with processes of autonomous decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the ownership structure of professional health care franchises contributes to the achievement of positive results with franchising for the franchisor, the franchisee, professional service provider, and clients. We conducted a comparative embedded case study with three health care franchises in the Netherlands using data from 101 interviews, observations, and document analyses. We show that different ownership structures at the system-level (i.e., plural form, pure franchise, cooperative franchise) and the unit-level (i.e., stand-alone versus fractional, active versus passive, single versus multi-unit) have different effects as perceived by franchisors, franchisees, and professionals. Moreover, we reveal how this variation in experienced effects can be explained by differences in dynamics in regard to management, decision making, control, steering, support, interests, learning, and adaptation. Based on these analyses, we develop new typologies of ownership structures and show how combinations of system-level and unit-level structures can have mutually weakening or strengthening effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explain the high scores of 15-year-old native pupils in The Netherlands and Flanders by comparing them with the scores of pupils in countries with the same highly stratified educational system: Wallonia, the German Länder, the Swiss German cantons, and Austria. We use the data from the Programme for International Pupil Assessment (PISA) 2006 together with the specific PISA data of Germany and Switzerland. We apply a multilevel model that takes into account the individual-, curriculum-, and system-level features in these highly stratified educational systems. The high scores of the Dutch pupils can be explained by the size of The Netherlands' vocational sector. The high Flemish scores can be partly explained by the high curriculum mobility. Central exit exams are not a good explanation of the high Dutch scores. Despite being limited to highly stratified systems, we still find educational policies and arrangements to have significant effects on the educational performance of pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Moving towards a more sustainable adaptation process requires closer integration of policies related to the environment. An important actor in this is the local government. This paper examines to what extend adaptation is currently being integrated into Dutch local policies, and what the role is of a municipality's size, risk and experience in the encountered manifestations of adaptation. First, it was determined that adaptations taking place only anticipate currently perceivable weather extremes – mostly increasing precipitation. Second, it was determined that the realisation of further adaptations is hindered by a strongly sectoral divided reality. Adaptation is now heavily dominated by the water department, while spatial planning and the environment are only limitedly involved. Finally, it was observed that the contextual factor size proved to most important for horizontal policy integration, whereas the contextual factor extreme-weather experience was the most definite for the realisation of adaptations. We conclude that a more sustainable adaptation should first tackle the sectoral divides which requires administrative efforts, for example, professional training. These would preferably be initiated from a vertical direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses reforms in postgraduate education in geography in the Netherlands in the context of Europeanization and globalization. Europeanization and globalization have resulted in challenges as well as opportunities for students and universities. In terms of internationalization, Europeanization and the global economic crisis have opposite effects. Although Europeanization has resulted in an increased international orientation of postgraduate students in geography, the global economic crisis and the resulting cuts in the university and students' budgets hamper other aspects of the internationalization of postgraduate education in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Comparing USA and Dutch experiences, this paper seeks to determine whether the demolition of public or social housing results in negative spillover effects, i.e. the shift of crime and other social problems to nearby neighbourhoods, as a result of residential relocation patterns. Notwithstanding fundamental contextual differences, existing research shows that many relocatees do recluster in low-income areas not much better than the public or social housing sites they moved from. Furthermore, USA and Dutch research highlights concern among public officials, politicians and community activists that this clustering is resulting in higher crime, increased neighbourhood dissatisfaction (among existing residents), more conflicts between residents, lower school test scores, etc. Few researchers have, however, been able to go beyond correlations and establish cause–effect relations between the in-movement of public/social housing relocatees and increased social problems. Attempts to identify a statistical threshold for clustering, beyond which negative effects occur, have not been successful. Nevertheless, existing evidence regarding negative spillover effects is compelling enough to warrant expanded and improved monitoring of both relocation and neighbourhood change patterns and to initiate programmes to address the concerns of residents in destination areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares rental housing tools in the US, Britain and the Netherlands in order to determine the best strategy for enhancing rental housing accessibility. In doing so, the authors employ a 'tools approach' of governance paradigm, based on the work of Salamon's The Tools of Governance (2002). Rental housing tools are called housing vouchers in the US, housing benefits in Britain and housing allowances in the Netherlands. Overall, it was found that Britain and the Netherlands can learn from the US on means and ways of designing more efficient and fiscally responsible housing vouchers, benefits, and allowances (VBAs). The US, in turn, can learn from Britain and the Netherlands on means and needs of achieving higher equity and effectiveness. This analysis contributes in a meaningful way by addressing the missing middle link between policies and programs - namely, the tools perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial planning is increasingly regarded as an important instrument to reduce flood consequences. Nevertheless, there are very few studies that show why local planning authorities do or do not systematically use spatial planning in advance to mitigate flood risks. This paper explores flood reduction strategies in local planning practices in the Netherlands. It also explores why spatial planning was or was not used to reduce flood consequences. The arguments for the use or non-use of planning mainly referred to requirements from other governmental bodies and the perceived role and the related responsibility of local planning authorities, previous disaster experience, and previous experience with spatial planning for flood risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1945, the Western world has recorded a sharp increase in Marian apparitions and messages, which in terms of frequency, content, structure and representation differ from those of previous centuries. The often oppositional content is actively disseminated by traditionalist and fundamentalist Catholics and devotees, and generates cults and shrines which turn away from or disassociate themselves from the Catholic Church. On the basis of two related and much discussed cases, Amsterdam's cultus of The Lady of All Nations and the devotion to the Queen of Peace at Medjugorje, this paper investigates the manner in which these two Marian interventions are articulated and interpreted by the visionaries, and how these interventions relate to the ideological wars which have dominated ecclesiastical politics, and the politics of the Christian world, since the Second World War. When the Roman Catholic Church fails to get such processes of religious divergence under control, it appears that because of the success of some of these cults the ecclesiastical hierarchy ultimately finds itself forced, willingly or not, to join in or converge with the heterodox and previously rejected opinions. In this way the Church increases the significance of conservative and traditionalist thought and practice within its faith community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period since the early 1990s has seen a marked shift in the terms of Dutch European discourse, as dramatically highlighted by the country's 'No' vote in its 2005 referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty. The present paper examines the trajectory of this discursive shift, suggesting that a traditional 'federalist' referential has been replaced by an elite discourse focused primarily on defining the 'limits of Europe' in intersecting substantive and geographical terms. A general framework for the understanding of national discourses of European integration is first set out, highlighting the key role played by national elites as mediators between the European and the national political systems. The Dutch case is then examined against this background, chronicling the general terms of the 'critical turn' in national European discourse, the 2005 referendum campaign, post-referendum party positioning and discussions surrounding the 2007 Reform Treaty. Despite the persistence of strong, underlying support for Dutch EU membership, it is finally argued that The Netherlands has not (as yet) found a stable, cohesive national narrative of its 'fit' and 'place' in the contemporary (post-enlargement) project of European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second trimester abortion has been legal in the Netherlands since 1984. Factors influencing second trimester abortion in the Netherlands may be different from those that play a role in first trimester abortions. This is important for professionals in counselling and education. In this paper national registration data are used to complement data from a small, qualitative, exploratory file study conducted in three clinics, on the factors associated with second trimester abortions. In 2006, 6.6% of all abortions registered in the National Abortion Registry took place after 12 weeks of gestation. In the qualitative data, relationship problems with the partner were mentioned more frequently as the main reason for second trimester abortions than for first trimester abortions. Factors associated with delay in obtaining an abortion were young age, inability to recognise pregnancy, ambivalence towards the pregnancy, having to travel to the Netherlands for abortion and to a lesser extent being an immigrant from specific countries. Information should be provided for young women and women from specific immigrant groups on early awareness of pregnancy, contraception and reduction of fear about seeking abortion and sexuality education should be provided. Aux Pays-Bas, l'avortement du deuxième trimestre est légal depuis 1984. Les facteurs qui l'influencent dans ce pays peuvent différer de ceux qui jouent un rôle dans l'avortement du premier trimestre. Cette distinction est importante pour les conseillers et les éducateurs. Dans cet article, les données de l'enregistrement national complètent les résultats d'une petite étude qualitative et exploratoire menée dans trois dispensaires sur les facteurs associés aux avortements du deuxième trimestre. En 2006, 6,6% des avortements recensés dans le registre national des avortements avaient eu lieu après 12 semaines de gestation. Dans les données qualitatives, les problèmes de relation avec le partenaire étaient mentionnés plus fréquemment comme principale raison de l'avortement du deuxième trimestre que du premier trimestre. Les facteurs associés au retard pour obtenir un avortement étaient le jeune âge, l'incapacité à déceler la grossesse, l'ambivalence à l'égard de la grossesse, l'obligation de se rendre aux Pays-Bas pour y avorter et, dans une moindre mesure, la qualité d'immigrante originaire de certains pays. Les jeunes femmes et les femmes issues de certains groupes d'immigrants doivent être informées des signes précoces de la grossesse et de la contraception ; il faut réduire leurs craintes de demander un avortement et dispenser une éducation sexuelle. Desde 1984, el aborto en el segundo trimestre es legal en los Países Bajos, donde los factores que influyen en éste pueden ser diferentes a aquellos relacionados con el aborto en el primer trimestre. Esto es importante para los profesionales en consejería y enseñanza. En este artículo se utilizan datos del registro nacional para complementar los datos de un pequeño estudio exploratorio cualitativo, realizado en tres clínicas, sobre los factores asociados con el aborto en el segundo trimestre. En 2006, el 6.6% de todos los abortos registrados en el Registro Nacional de Abortos ocurrieron después de 12 semanas de gestación. En los datos cualitativos, los problemas en la relación de pareja fueron mencionados como el motivo principal para tener un aborto en el segundo trimestre, con más frecuencia que para el aborto en el primer trimestre. Los factores asociados con la demora en obtener un aborto fueron: temprana edad, incapacidad de reconocer el embarazo, ambivalencia hacia el embarazo, tener que viajar a los Países Bajos para tener un aborto y, en menor medida, ser inmigrante de determinado país. Las mujeres jóvenes y mujeres de determinados grupos de inmigrantes deben recibir información sobre el reconocimiento temprano del embarazo, la anticoncepción y la reducción del temor de buscar servicios de aborto y educación sexual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises the empirical results of a study on the scale, nature and outcome of corruption cases in The Netherlands. It turns out that the number of convictions for corruption offences in The Netherlands has remained very stable in recent decades. Research into the nature of corruption leads to the conclusion that civil servants who are found to be susceptible to corruption tend not to be low-profile officials, but rather personalities with a reputation in the civil service organisation for being noticeable, colourful and astute 'fixers'. They frequently possess or demand the freedom to arrange matters on their own and are known as thorough and enterprising people. The research material further shows that the briber and the bribed usually know each other well before the violation of integrity occurs. This is not confined to business or instrumental relationships, because an element of friendship or affection is regularly involved. Something that plays a role in this setting is that trust is pivotal to prolonged corruption relationships. Research into the outcome of corruption cases leads to the conclusion that criminal prosecutions, once instituted, result, in nine out of ten instances, in a criminal conviction. Although suspects are sometimes acquitted on certain counts, complete acquittals are rare. The punishment most frequently handed down is a community service order. Combinations with other punishments occur regularly, with a custodial sentence or fine often being suspended. An average of five civil servants and three bribers actually end up behind bars each year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that time-geography can make a contribution to contemporary ‘rematerialized’ geographies, because the interconnections among social processes, human corporeality and inanimate material artefacts within the landscape were among Hägerstrand's central concerns. Time-geography needs none the less to be extended in several ways to make it more reconcilable with current thinking about materiality in geography. The possibility of combining Hägerstrand's framework with notions from (post) actor-network approaches is therefore explored. It is suggested that concepts and notions from the latter may contribute to the advancement of the conceptualization of action at a distance and agency in general in time-geography, as well as the incorporation of the immaterial realm into space—time diagrams. The resulting materially heterogeneous time-geography is a framework for studying the spacing and timing of different material entities that is sensitive to the role of artefacts and their local connectedness with other material forms. Some of its elements are illustrated briefly through an empirical study of the roles played by a few mundane artefacts in working parents ‘coping with child-care responsibilities on working days. The case study suggest that these artefacts not only enable goal fulfilment and routinization but also result in further spacing and timing practices, and can introduce uncertainty and novelty to existing orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early modern period Scotland and the Netherlands had a close relationship. Trade, religion and shared cultural traditions tied the two countries together, and goods, people and ideas travelled freely across the North Sea. That the Netherlands was the senior partner in this relationship is well known. This paper presents an overview of the religious and academic climate in the Netherlands and the appeal of the Netherlands to Scots as background to the 17th century Scottish-Dutch exchange when the Blaeu Atlas was produced. It also looks at the different connections between the two countries - trade, religion, military and, especially, educational links - which effectively provided the infrastructure and mechanics for this exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of the 1970s the under-representation of women in geography has been questioned in several publications. Most articles refer to the situation in English-speaking countries. This paper examines the vertical and horizontal gender segregation in human geography departments in Dutch universities. In spite of several policy measures to promote equal opportunity, women form only 19 per cent of all human geography faculty. In the conclusion, consequences and dilemmas related to gender representation and segregation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making on transport infrastructure projects in the Netherlands has been facing a remarkable wind of change in recent years. In the 1990s, academics and practitioners in policy analysis, public policy and planning all claimed that the traditional policy analysis methods were obsolete, yet they have experienced a sudden resurgence since 2000 in the form of OEEI (Overview of Economic Effects of Infrastructure), a refined application of cost-benefit analysis (CBA). This paper delves into why this new version of CBA has become so politically successful despite predictions made to the contrary. In addition, it focuses on whether this resurgence may lead to 'econocracy' (conceptual hegemony by economists and their ideologies and methods over other approaches), and, if so, how this can be prevented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, numerous ICT-related investigation powers have been introduced or extended. Have these shifted the balance between criminal investigation and privacy? Do governments allow more privacy infringements for the sake of law enforcement than they used to do? As a first step towards answering these questions, this paper presents the results of a case study of communications interception law in the Netherlands. The study offers a historical analysis of the introduction and changes in Dutch law regarding powers to investigate post, telegraphy, telephony, telecommunications, oral communications and traffic data in the period 1838- 2002. The case study shows that the balance between criminal investigation and privacy in Dutch law has shifted somewhat towards law enforcement, particularly in 2000, but privacy is not altogether discarded. Still, privacy does not appear to operate on a par with law enforcement: it seems a secondary rather than a primary factor in legislative practice. Governments and parliaments should pay more attention to substantiating the need for extending investigation powers, if they want to retain a semblance of truth when they speak of the "balance' between criminal investigation and privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]