Search

The boisterous conviviality we know from Dutch genre painting of the 17th century expresses only one side - albeit an important one - of the culture of conversation in the Dutch "Golden Age". The author writes about what the ideal image and everyday life of conversation looked like in the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, the freest European country of the Baroque period. The picture of the multifaceted culture of communication in the Netherlands of the era can be shown by means of not only visual, but also rich literary material. Diaries, memoirs, correspondence, conduct manuals and, in many cases, literary works of the time show what rules governed free communication, what habitats were predominant in sociable conversation and what was permitted in it. However, it was not only great personalities of Dutch education such as Hugo Grotius or Constantijn Huygens Jr. who commented on the sociability of their time; impressive images of it were also provided by numerous foreigners who travelled to and admired the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

May 1940 marked a turning point in belligerent states' policies targeting foreign civilians in the Second World War. This study investigates the radicalization of restrictive measures enacted against so-called enemy aliens in the Dutch–German confrontation by linking developments in Europe with those in the colonial sphere. Mass civilian internment in the Dutch East Indies and German reprisals in the form of hostage-taking in the occupied Netherlands affected thousands of men, women and children. Their treatment is analysed in the broader context of the workings of wartime diplomacy and its guiding principle of reciprocity. The article shows that both Germany and the Netherlands made extensive use of the good offices of their respective protecting powers, Switzerland and Sweden. The international laws of war—although underdeveloped when it came to the protection of non-combatants—not only served as a yardstick to assess the treatment of civilians in enemy hands, but also formed a constant point of reference in a propaganda war in which each belligerent sought to justify its own restrictive policies while denouncing its opponent's. On the one hand, the legal category of nationality was employed by both state authorities and affected individuals in their attempts to define or deny enemy status. On the other hand, nationality proved a fragile concept surrounded by ambiguities and bound up with complex emotions of belonging and alienness—most strikingly at work in the colonial setting, where racial identities determined an individual's status in a social order vitally dependent on the construction of 'ethnic' boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign nationals are increasingly encountering the criminal justice institutions of many European countries. Yet, basic questions about how they are punished within these institutions, particularly at the early stages of case processing, remain unanswered. This article combines linked case information from arrest through sentencing with interviews of Dutch judges and prosecutors to fill this gap. Our findings reveal considerable unexplained citizenship disparities in multiple case outcomes. Compared to Dutch citizens arrested for the same crimes and with similar criminal records, foreign nationals are more likely to have their cases referred to court, to be detained, convicted, and imprisoned. The interviews identified several mechanisms that explicate these differences, including (i) annoyance when foreign nationals are perceived to be in the country for the purpose of committing crime; (ii) logistical issues when noncitizens do not have a permanent residence, and; (iii) undermining the need for reintegration because many defendants are unlikely to remain in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from medical research from high-income countries may not apply to low- and middle-income countries. Some expatriate physicians combine clinical duties with research. We present global health research conducted by Dutch medical doctors in Global Health and Tropical Medicine in low- and middle-income countries and explore the value of their research. We included all research conducted in the last 30 years by medical doctors in Global Health and Tropical Medicine in a low- and middle-income country, resulting in a PhD thesis. Articles and co-authors were found through Medline. More than half of the 18 identified PhD theses concerned maternal health and obstetrics, and the majority of the research was conducted in low-income countries, mostly in rural hospitals. Over 70 local co-authors were involved. Different aspects of these studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a social learning perspective, factors predicting seeking future international assignments and that are more or less under control of the human resource management department through training were examined. We tested our hypotheses on data from 745 Dutch peacekeepers. It appears that preparation, adventurism, and cultural empathy are important factors in willingness to expatriate again. Peacekeepers scoring high on self-efficacy are more willing to accept future international assignments than peacekeepers scoring low on self-efficacy. Further, the relationship between adventurism and seeking future international assignments is stronger for peacekeepers scoring high on self-effi cacy than for peacekeepers scoring low on self-effi cacy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact between expatriates and a local host--a specific type of peer mentoring--has been shown to result in benefits to adjustment, social support, and intercultural competence. This longitudinal study examines the role of the quality of this contact. Expatriates in the Netherlands were randomly divided into an experimental group (N = 33) in which 21 participants had developed high-quality contact with their host, and a control group (N = 32) that had no host. The results suggest the higher the quality of the contact, the more benefit the expatriate experienced. Moreover, expatriates with low-quality contact did not experience a detrimental effect. Theoretical and practical implications for mentoring in general, and peer mentoring of expatriates specifically, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schematically one can distinguish two traditions related to ethnic statistics in Europe. In France, Germany and most southern European countries, the dominant statistical categorisations merely distinguish individuals on the basis of their nationality. In contrast, most northern European countries have been producing data on the ethnic and/or foreign origin of their populations. Belgium is caught somewhere in between these two traditions. The French speaking part of Belgium tends to follow the French tradition of refusing ethnic categorisation, while the Flemish try to copy the Dutch model in distinguishing 'allochthones' and 'autochthones.' This contribution offers an analysis of the construction of ethnic categories as it has been undertaken in the Dutch context and (partially) imported in Belgium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the role of sending states in migrant transnationalism, with a particular focus on Turkish state influence on migrants in the Netherlands. According to the author, the influence of the sending state depends on the nature and purpose of its interaction with migrants abroad and can vary significantly over time. It is suggested that migrants' length of stay and political climates in Turkey and in host countries have played significant roles in Turkish government policy towards Turkish nationals abroad. Details on the regulation of remittances and Turkish government concerns over opposition groups' activities abroad are presented. Other topics include guestworkers, political parties, and the cultural education of Turkish children living abroad.

Purpose - Most of the fast-growing literature on business expatriates has focused on organizational expatriates (OEs) who have been assigned by their parent companies to the foreign location. However, there is much less research on self-initiated expatriates (SIE), who themselves have decided to expatriate to work abroad. The purpose of this paper is to provide knowledge on this under-researched group of expatriates. Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire was directed electronically towards SIE academics in universities in the Nordic countries and in The Netherlands. Findings - The current study examines marital status, gender and work outcomes of SIEs, and specifically whether there is a moderating effect of gender. Results showed, as expected, a positive association between being married and work effectiveness as well as with work performance but, surprisingly, there was no moderating effect of gender on these positive relationships. Practical implications - Results indicate that organizations recruiting SIEs in the host country location may want to prefer married expatriates over their unmarried counterparts in the anticipation for them to achieve better work outcomes. However, there should be no distinguishing between men or women in the recruitment process. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the understanding of the similarities and differences between OEs and SIEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study examined whether contact with a local host in the Netherlands positively impacts on the adjustment and performance of 'Western' expatriates with English or French as their first language. Thirty-one expatriates were put in contact with a Dutch host with whom they would have regular contact over nine months; another 30 similar expatriates would have no contact with a host. After a five-month period of contact with a host, there was a positive impact on interaction adjustment. The results also indicated that expatriates who valued the contact highly derived more benefit from it. Contact with a host seems to be especially worthwhile for expatriates who have to deal with host nationals on a daily basis. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the results of a validation study of the Dutch and Norwegian versions of the Illegal Aliens (IA) Scale are discussed. The main objective is to evaluate the usefulness of the Three‐Step Test‐Interview (TSTI) as a pre‐testing method in a validation study. The TSTI is a new technique specifically developed to detect problems with self‐completion questionnaires. The study’s aims were twofold: (1) to evaluate the usefulness of the TSTI for detecting problems regarding attitude measurement; and (2) to identify potential problems with the IA Scale. The IA Scale is a Likert‐type attitude scale consisting of 20 parallel interval items. Its main purpose is for large comparative sample studies of political and ideological attitudes, for example between subgroups within populations or between countries. The TSTI procedure appeared to be very productive in terms of the number and kind of problems that were found regarding the Dutch and Norwegian versions of the IA Scale. It is concluded that the TSTI is useful as a diagnostic tool in validation studies of instruments that are aimed at measuring attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National immigration controls are no longer carried out solely by specialised ‘gate-keepers’ at external borders. Internal controls have partly shifted to human service workers who have to fence off public services in practice. Little attention in the field of migration studies has gone to the relationship between formal policies and practices of implementation. Based on interviews with human service workers before and after the enactment of the Linking Act in the Netherlands in 1998, which aimed at excluding illegal or undocumented immigrants from public services, the essay examines the tensions between different levels of policy making. These tensions are particularly visible in an era of ‘shifting down’ immigration controls. At the local level concrete dilemmas come to the fore. Norms and ideologies of professionals sometimes lead them to make decisions that contradict the aim of the official policy. A comparison between different sectors suggests that sectors with a high level of professionalisation are most likely to transform policy goals during the process of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the development in the instruments being used by the Netherlands to regulate immigration. Legal status of aliens in the past and present Dutch social security system; Implication of international non-discrimination policies on the country' s decision to exclude aliens from receiving certain categories of social security benefits; Details of the country's policy for aliens' benefits.

This article contains the results of research concerning parliamentary debate about voting rights for foreign residents in the Netherlands (1970-1996) using a discourse analytical framework. Due to the characteristics of the Dutch political field, a large majority of the political actors has to be willing and able to combine political interests and ideological narratives into one story line propagating franchise for foreign residents in order to grant voting rights to nonnationals. It is claimed that the success and failure of policy changes regarding the political participation of nonnationals is foremost determined by the extent of the discursive affinity of argumentative clusters used by parties of the "center-right" with the (leftist) discourse which propagates enfranchisement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the cultural-identity implications of the South Holland Cultural Consul and Regional Centres for Foreigners' exhibition initiative "Het Klimaat" (The Climate), which consists of 30 exhibitions by 70 foreign visual artists who live and work in the Netherlands from May to June 1991. Discussed are the profile of foreign artists in the Netherlands, the Dutch attitude to foreigners and contrasting views on Western and non-Western art.

Reports that Dutch Health Minister Els Borst has warned doctors and hospitals that it is unacceptable to refuse medical care to illegal immigrants. Account about a Dutch law which restricts illegal immigrants' social rights; Information on the case of the Polish illegal immigrant that provoked Borst's comment.