Er wordt onderzocht hoe de Nederlandse politieke historici Henk te Velde en Piet de Rooy in hun respectievelijke boeken 'Stijlen van Leiderschap: Persoon en politiek van Thorbecke tot Den Uyl' en ...Show moreEr wordt onderzocht hoe de Nederlandse politieke historici Henk te Velde en Piet de Rooy in hun respectievelijke boeken 'Stijlen van Leiderschap: Persoon en politiek van Thorbecke tot Den Uyl' en 'Ons stipje op de waereldkaart: De politieke cultuur van modern Nederland' tot een sterke waardering komen van de relevantie van Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer voor de Nederlandse politieke geschiedenis van ongeveer 1848 tot en met 1870. In deze beschouwing worden enkele publicaties van de negentiende-eeuwse politieke commentator Johannes Theodoor Buys in het tijdschrift 'De Gids' meegenomen. De analyse wordt geplaatst in het historiografische debat over het recente internationale verloop van de politieke geschiedschrijving.Show less
Edmund Burke received a lot of attention after publishing his Reflections on the Revolution in France. Not only in England he became famous for his criticism of the French Revolution, also in the...Show moreEdmund Burke received a lot of attention after publishing his Reflections on the Revolution in France. Not only in England he became famous for his criticism of the French Revolution, also in the whole of Europe he was soon regarded as the 'father of conservatism'. In this Thesis I investigate how Burke's influence was in the Netherlands. Beginning with the Dutch reception of his Reflections, published in 1790, I examined how his influence worked out in the nineteenth century. In European perspective, after several decades Burke’s image was changed from a conservative to a liberal, giving more emphasis on Burke’s efforts for a free market economy and a limited government. Was this the case in the Netherlands as well? This Thesis shows that in the Netherlands Burke’s image as conservative was far more durable. The antirevolutionary statesman Groen van Prinsterer did well in claiming Burke for his party. Liberal politicians and scientists like C.W. Opzoomer and Robert Fruin attempted to change this, but they didn’t succeed. Against the antirevolutionary context Groen van Prinsterer had Burke framed, the liberals were not able to frame Burke as a liberal statesman. As the successor of Groen van Prinsterer, Abraham Kuyper also was heavily influenced by Burke, especially in his first part of his career. Throughout his books and speeches, he transfers the ‘antirevolutionary’ Burke into the twentieth century, although Kuypers rely on Burke was much more thematic and instrumental than it was for Groen van Prinsterer.Show less
