A large part of the Dutch population believes that political decision-making in the Netherlands is too slow, there is too much regulation, red tape, bureaucracy and so on. But what does this political decision-making in the Netherlands actually entail? In this article we discuss what the concepts of the rule of law and democracy mean.
Rule of law and democracy
First of all, we will look at how our constitutional state and the constitutional state in general work before we proceed with decision-making.
Independent state
An independent state is characterized by three elements:
- There must be a fixed territory or territory.
- There must be a population living on the territory.
- Some form of authority must be exercised.
Rule of law
In a constitutional state, citizens have legal protection, which means that the government cannot simply do everything it deems necessary, but must take into account the rights of the citizens, the most important rights of which are laid down in the constitution. Since 1983, classical and social fundamental rights have been included in the constitution.
Dictatorship
Dictatorships are unfortunately still present in our contemporary world. A dictatorship is a state in which power is in the hands of either a small group of people or 1 person. In this case, the police, army and judiciary are completely in the hands of the ruler(s), making objective control by parliament impossible. The result is that the government can run its course virtually unchecked.
Democracy
A democracy is a state in which power is nominally in the hands of the people. The word democracy is derived from the Latin word demos, which means people. In general, the citizens of the state elect representatives (people’s representatives) who govern the country in the name of the people. This is called representative democracy.
Fundamental rights
The most important fundamental rights of citizens are laid down in the constitution. Fundamental rights can be divided into classical and social fundamental rights. The government guarantees classical fundamental rights, while the government must provide for social fundamental rights to the best of its ability.
Examples of Classical fundamental rights:
- Suffrage
- The right to equal treatment
- Freedom of the press, radio, television and film
- Right of association, assembly and speech
- Freedom of religion or belief
- Freedom of education
- Right to inviolability of the body and respect for privacy
Examples of Fundamental Social Rights:
- Employment opportunities
- Environment
- Living space
- Education
- Right to legal assistance
- Social Security
- Public health
- Social and cultural development
An important item is the fact that a citizen can go to court if his or her rights are violated, including when the government is the cause of this. In a constitutional state, politicians are bound by the decisions of the judge, the judiciary is independent.
Choosing in the Netherlands
All parties in the Netherlands have an election manifesto. This is essential because it allows them to win voters for their party. This contains the party’s most important plans and guidelines. Parties only express a number of their ideas in the election manifesto, in the hope that this will win them over. It is important that as a voter you look beyond the ideas that are only intended to attract votes. The first person on the list of candidates from whom you can choose when voting is the party leader. This is, as it were, the face of the party during the election campaign.
To attract more attention to politics and the elections, there are more politically tinted programs on radio and TV during the election period. There are also additional broadcasts of so-called political discussion programs (political debates ). The various parties try to win over the so-called floating voters through this extra airtime. This is a voter who does not vote for the same party every time, or who still has doubts about his or her final choice. Cabinet formation will start
after the elections . For this purpose, a formateur is appointed who supervises the progress of the formation. The formation can take a long time, depending on whether the parties that want to form the cabinet can agree with each other. Often the largest party, the winner of the elections, takes the lead and enters into discussions with other parties to gain a majority in the second chamber. To get other parties to participate, all these parties will have to make commitments and do things. have to cross off their ‘wish list’ (i.e. concessions).
Different types of suffrage
There are different types of suffrage. Over the years, some things have changed in our voting rights.
Three types of voting rights:
- Census suffrage (1814, citizens who paid a certain amount of tax were given influence on government, the king’s power was limited)
- Active suffrage (1922, All Dutch citizens aged 18 and over were given the right to vote)
- Passive suffrage (1922, All Dutch citizens aged 18 and over could be elected)
Electoral systems
There are two different types of electoral systems: the proportional electoral system and the district system.
The proportional electoral system:
All votes cast are distributed among the available number of seats. The calculation is based on the electoral quota, the number of votes needed for 1 seat. A number of countries use the electoral threshold, a minimum percentage of votes to share in the seats (to prevent too many small parties).
The district system:
A country is divided into districts (areas). If a candidate receives the majority of votes in a certain area, he or she is delegated to the national board.