An Ever-Elusive Union: The Anomalous Failures of the  Dutch Christian Left from 1968 to the Present

The Christian left in the Netherlands has yet to produce an electorally viable party capable of winning a national election. Despite the promising political start of the Politieke Partij Radikalen in 1968, no party on the Christian left has had parliamentary representation in the Tweede Kamer since 1991. The aim of this thesis is to discern which factors bear culpability for preventing the emergence of an electorally potent party on the Christian left over the past 50 years. Two case studies from the Netherlands and one comparative case study from Italy have been conducted with that objective in mind. Through analyzing existing academic scholarship and party manifestos, five overarching factors that have undermined the Christian left have been identified: the legacies of pillarization, consociational governance, the secularization of Dutch society, social conservatism in Orthodox Protestant Communities, and the ideological distance of the Christian left’s representatives from the...Show moreThe Christian left in the Netherlands has yet to produce an electorally viable party capable of winning a national election. Despite the promising political start of the Politieke Partij Radikalen in 1968, no party on the Christian left has had parliamentary representation in the Tweede Kamer since 1991. The aim of this thesis is to discern which factors bear culpability for preventing the emergence of an electorally potent party on the Christian left over the past 50 years. Two case studies from the Netherlands and one comparative case study from Italy have been conducted with that objective in mind. Through analyzing existing academic scholarship and party manifestos, five overarching factors that have undermined the Christian left have been identified: the legacies of pillarization, consociational governance, the secularization of Dutch society, social conservatism in Orthodox Protestant Communities, and the ideological distance of the Christian left’s representatives from the political center.Show less

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An Ever-Elusive Union: The Anomalous Failures of the Dutch Christian Left from 1968 to the Present