Eighteenth-century colonial Suriname has been a plural society, divided by people’s race, status, religion and socioeconomic class. Similar to almost every other early modern state, Suriname did...Show moreEighteenth-century colonial Suriname has been a plural society, divided by people’s race, status, religion and socioeconomic class. Similar to almost every other early modern state, Suriname did not know any uniformly codified legal systems nor a constitution that enshrined the rights of its inhabitants. To the contrary, legislation was fragmented, hybrid and often arose impromptu. In addition, Suriname did not know any comprehensive criminal laws or procedure either. This thesis argues that, largely due to these legal lacunae, the colonial authorities could unabashedly treat different population groups on unequal legal and judicial footing. However, this thesis also stresses that several previously accepted assumptions with regard to colonial justice must be nuanced. It concludes that, despite the disparate and biased forms of treatment, colonial justice has been considerably more thorough than deemed before, even with regard to minority groups such as the enslaved and manumitted. There have been no signs that the Surinamese courts functioned as kangaroo courts; all suspects were offered a trial. In addition, verdicts of convicts did not come about arbitrarily but were rather based on jurisprudence. The authorities took into consideration the conclusiveness of the evidence and any aggravating or mitigating circumstances as well. As a result, punishments were much more varied than the merely horrendous corporal and capital punishments that have dominated historiography hitherto. Moreover, from the second half of the eighteenth century, several minority litigants started to search for justice on their own behalf. In the end, the colonial authorities did certainly not always adopt a one-dimensional stance in favour of white colonists at the expense of other population groups.Show less
Customary law in South Africa was transformed by its incorporation into the colonial and later Apartheid state. In this regard, the work of colonial administrators and scholars were important as...Show moreCustomary law in South Africa was transformed by its incorporation into the colonial and later Apartheid state. In this regard, the work of colonial administrators and scholars were important as their visions of idealised ‘tribal’ society and chiefly rule with despotic and patriarchal qualities were often largely reproduced in official state policy, and served to legitimate white minority rule. Literature on this subject has tended to either be situated within a national narrative, or largely focus on British policies of indirect rule. Tracing the career and thought of F.D. ‘Frits’ Holleman in the first half of the 20th Century, as he moved from judicial and scholarly appointments in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), to posts at Leiden University in the Netherlands and ultimately Stellenbosch University in South Africa, allows for a more explicitly global approach to the subject. It also demonstrates an insufficiently-acknowledged transfer of Dutch colonial expertise and experience from an established body of Indonesian adat law scholarship, originating at Leiden University, to an emerging field of customary law scholarship in the strongly Afrikaner Nationalist environment of Stellenbosch. While Holleman’s work on South African customary law was in some ways distinct from what he had worked on before, many of the concepts and characteristics he ascribed to African societies were straightforwardly transposed from his work on adat law, which stood within a tradition of scholarship that demonstrated both paternal/empathic concern for protecting non-Western law, and a strong essentialising impulse, leading to broad and enduring generalisations about supposedly ‘primitive’ societies. Beyond Holleman’s own trajectory, this study holds broader significance in the way it demonstrates the spread of theories of adat law far beyond their place of origin, and their influence on South African thinking about customary law. Moreover, the structural factors which allowed Holleman and his ideas to travel, suggest connections far deeper than a single individual; Holleman’s case has implications for how we think about the ongoing relationship between the Netherlands and South Africa, and indeed a triangular relationship between the Netherlands, Indonesia and South Africa. It may also offer a new lens with which to view the revival of traditionalist politics in both South Africa and Indonesia.Show less
In november 1946 sloten de Nederlands-Indische overheid en de door Soekarno uitgeroepen Republiek Indonesië het Akkoord van Linggadjati. Hierin spraken zij af om in het kader van de dekolonisatie...Show moreIn november 1946 sloten de Nederlands-Indische overheid en de door Soekarno uitgeroepen Republiek Indonesië het Akkoord van Linggadjati. Hierin spraken zij af om in het kader van de dekolonisatie Indonesië om te vormen naar een federatief verband. Deze federatie zou bestaan uit vier deelstaten: Sumatra, de Republiek, Borneo en Oost-Indonesië. De meest concrete uitvoering van het federale stelsel vond plaats in Oost-Indonesië. In de historische beschouwingen over de dekolonisatie is echter de meeste aandacht uitgegaan naar de interacties tussen de Nederlands-Indische overheid en de Republiek op Java. Vanwege de nauwe focus op de Republiek zijn de politieke processen binnen de deelstaat Oost-Indonesië nauwelijks onderzocht, waardoor de deelstaat Oost-Indonesië vaak beschouwd als niets meer dan sneer richting de Republiek, als troefkaart op de onderhandeltafel, of in het ergste geval als een Nederlandse marionettenstaat. Deze gangbare beschouwingen gaan echter voorbij aan de oprechte poging tot dekolonisatie in Oost-Indonesië. Door de focus te leggen op de Nederlandse bestuursambtenaren en hun Indonesische collega’s ter plaatse ontstaat een nieuw beeld over de werkzaamheden die verricht werden omtrent federalisering en dekolonisatie in de deelstaat Oost-Indonesië. De conclusie van dit onderzoek luidt dat tussen 1946 en 1949 Nederlandse bestuursambtenaren een nieuw politiek systeem poogden op te zetten waarin er daadwerkelijk sprake was van een oprechte poging tot dekolonisatie, en waarbij steeds meer bestuurstaken overgingen op het Indonesische bestuur.Show less
In 1846, 1848, en 1849 ondernam het Nederlands-Indisch gouvernement drie omvangrijke expedities naar het eiland Bali. Daarbij werd voor het eerst op grote schaal gebruikgemaakt van stoomschepen....Show moreIn 1846, 1848, en 1849 ondernam het Nederlands-Indisch gouvernement drie omvangrijke expedities naar het eiland Bali. Daarbij werd voor het eerst op grote schaal gebruikgemaakt van stoomschepen. Dit onderzoek richt zich op het maritieme element van de expedities, het nut van de stoomschepen daarbij en hoe dat doorgewerkt heeft in beeld en besluitvorming bij de marine. Dat laatste wordt onder meer gedaan aan de hand van een rapport van een commissie, onder leiding van Prins Hendrik, uit 1852. Hiermee wordt aangetoond dat de Bali-expedities en het gebruik van stoomschepen daarbij tot op zekere hoogte een scharnierpunt vormden voor de definitieve overstap van de Nederlandse marine van zeil naar stoom.Show less
For several decades in the twentieth century, the order of Friars Minor Capuchin was entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing and administrating Colombia's public education system. This...Show moreFor several decades in the twentieth century, the order of Friars Minor Capuchin was entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing and administrating Colombia's public education system. This thesis assesses their role as a nationalizing agent in the Colombian Amazon on the border with Brazil and Peru.Show less
Based on a corpus of intelligence documents in the archives of the Dutch West India Company, this study looks at the spread and impact of rumors during the revolt in Dutch Brazil in 1645 and the...Show moreBased on a corpus of intelligence documents in the archives of the Dutch West India Company, this study looks at the spread and impact of rumors during the revolt in Dutch Brazil in 1645 and the following nine years of war. This study traces the problems colonial administrators, soldiers, settlers and slaves faced in making grave decisions based on imperfect and potentially false information. The rumor-laden nature of Pernambuco's oral communication sphere, this thesis argues, contributed decisively to the outbreak of the revolt in 1645 and continued to have an impact on the course of the war, most notably in inciting people to switch sides.Show less
An investigation into the official, government-level reactions of neighbouring states to China's naval modernisation and the People's Liberation Army Navy's behaviour that this modernisation entails.
Verslag van een onderzoek naar de parallellen tussen de ideeën en acties van Van der Plas als bestuurder en als ontwikkelingswerker. Uit de vastgestelde parallellen wordt een mate van continuïteit...Show moreVerslag van een onderzoek naar de parallellen tussen de ideeën en acties van Van der Plas als bestuurder en als ontwikkelingswerker. Uit de vastgestelde parallellen wordt een mate van continuïteit vastgesteld tussen de gedachte achter de 'ethische politiek' en het ontwikkelingswerk van na 1950.Show less
This thesis provides an insight in how cross-cultural relations took place and how the VOC legal system functioned in the 17th century in a multi-cultural place like Cochin on the southwest coast...Show moreThis thesis provides an insight in how cross-cultural relations took place and how the VOC legal system functioned in the 17th century in a multi-cultural place like Cochin on the southwest coast of India. This is done through legal sources that are from fort Cochin. Of these legal sources the emphesis lies on cases between non-Europeans vs Europeans and non-Europeans vs non-Europeans.Show less
This thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William Dalrymple's "White Mughals" as a departure point and uses sources left behind by the mercenaries to test his hypothesis that these mercenaries generally acculturated into the societies of the post-Mughal successor states. However, through the analysis of these sources, this thesis argues that there was no acculturation to the degree Dalrymple argued present. Moreover, this thesis argues that there was an active segregation from Indians by most of the mercenaries, with an economic motive.Show less
This thesis defines slavery in eighteenth-century Cochin. By relying on courtcases and acts of transport, this thesis shows how slavery in eighteenth-century Cochin is connected with caste, VOC-law...Show moreThis thesis defines slavery in eighteenth-century Cochin. By relying on courtcases and acts of transport, this thesis shows how slavery in eighteenth-century Cochin is connected with caste, VOC-law and categorization, and local power structures.Show less
This thesis analyses the role of R2P in the justificatory speeches of American presidents Bush, Clinton and Obama through the case studies of Somalia 1992-1994 and Libya 2011.
Wie denkt aan de Stoomvaart Maatschappij ‘Nederland’ en de Rotterdamse Lloyd, ziet meestal de grote mailboten voor zich die voeren op de lijndienst tussen Nederland en Indië. Dat de tropenschepen...Show moreWie denkt aan de Stoomvaart Maatschappij ‘Nederland’ en de Rotterdamse Lloyd, ziet meestal de grote mailboten voor zich die voeren op de lijndienst tussen Nederland en Indië. Dat de tropenschepen eveneens voor zeecruises werden ingezet, is een veel minder bekend gegeven. Dit werkstuk onderzoekt deze plezierreizen, die beide koloniale rederijen zowel binnen als buiten de lijndienst organiseerden. Het uitgangspunt van het onderzoek is de vraag waarom de SMN en de RL zeecruises aanboden in de periode van 1870-1940.Show less
This thesis investigates the impact of fascist ideas and practices on anticolonial nationalism in late colonial Indonesia (primarily 1935-42). Focusing on the example of Partai Indonesia Raya ...Show moreThis thesis investigates the impact of fascist ideas and practices on anticolonial nationalism in late colonial Indonesia (primarily 1935-42). Focusing on the example of Partai Indonesia Raya (Parindra) and its youth organization Surya Wirawan, it aims at bringing together disparate historiographies on fascism, anticolonial nationalism, and Indonesian intellectual history. Moreover, it traces the first 'birth pangs' of Indonesian paramilitarism back to the late colonial period, thus arguing against the commonly held view explaining the militarization of Indonesian politics merely as an effect of the Japanese occupation (1942-45). Therefore, this thesis uncovers traces of a 'homegrown' tradition of paramilitarism that drew a considerable part of its inspiration from fascist role models. For the purpose of this study, fascism is applied as a heuristic tool to ask hitherto avoided questions about organizations like Parindra that have long been labeled as 'cooperative' nationalist parties. In doing so, this thesis considers Indonesia as one of the countless (emerging) nations that were receptive to the global fascist hype in the 1930s.Show less
In de 17e en 18e eeuw voerde de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie handel op de Malabarkust. De belangrijkste reden waarom ze in dit gebied handel dreven was de grote hoeveelheid peper van...Show moreIn de 17e en 18e eeuw voerde de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie handel op de Malabarkust. De belangrijkste reden waarom ze in dit gebied handel dreven was de grote hoeveelheid peper van hoogwaardige kwaliteit waar deze organisatie een monopoliepositie over probeerde te verkrijgen. Om dit streven te bewerkstelligen was het voor de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie noodzakelijk om goede relaties te onderhouden met de vier grote rijken in dit gebied (en met name het rijk Cochin) en de grote hoeveelheid kleinere rijken in dit gebied. De heersers van deze rijken hadden echter vaak een ander idee over hun relatie met de Compagnie waardoor er vaak onderlinge verschillen waren tussen de verschillende partijen. Op de problematiek in dit gebied worden theorieen zoals de theatre state, segmented state en de patrimonial state op los gelaten waardoor er een beter beeld naar voren komt van de verschillen in optiek van de verschillende partijen.Show less
This thesis focuses on an informal collective of individuals known as the ‘Rijkens group’. It offers new insights in the influence this group has had on the international developments of the West...Show moreThis thesis focuses on an informal collective of individuals known as the ‘Rijkens group’. It offers new insights in the influence this group has had on the international developments of the West New Guinea dispute, thereby strongly challenging current historiographical consensus. This topic is approached from a New Diplomatic History perspective and focuses in almost equal parts on private archives, governmental archives and secondary literature. It showcases the value of expanding the notion of ‘diplomacy’ to also include non-state actors and therefore is able to present a more complete image of the exchanges between, and influences on, the countries involved in the dispute. Ultimately this thesis is able to conclude that the group was of large influence on the views and undertakings of the different governments involved in the dispute. This is accompanied by the group’s influence on Dutch domestic press coverage of the West New Guinea dispute. Such coverage turned out to be much more representative of the group’s opinion on the matter than that of the actual larger public.Show less
