The crisis unfolded as the tradition of consensus politics in the Netherlands is changing, and the Dutch are moving away from the center. The far-right Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, used to be seen as an extremist fringe, and now could become the biggest party in the country.
Edwin Bakker, an analyst with the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, says outgoing Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Christian Democrat Party may have set some kind of Dutch record in the past eight years.
“We’ve never seen a prime minister with four Cabinets and four governments falling, some within a couple of months, some within a few years,” Bakker said.
Read or listen to it all.
NPR–Dutch Political Uncertainty Boosts Far-Right Party
The crisis unfolded as the tradition of consensus politics in the Netherlands is changing, and the Dutch are moving away from the center. The far-right Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, used to be seen as an extremist fringe, and now could become the biggest party in the country.
Edwin Bakker, an analyst with the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, says outgoing Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Christian Democrat Party may have set some kind of Dutch record in the past eight years.
“We’ve never seen a prime minister with four Cabinets and four governments falling, some within a couple of months, some within a few years,” Bakker said.
Read or listen to it all.