This paper investigates the causal relationship between neighbourhood characteristics and the popularity of the political party 'Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV)' during the municipal elections in The Hague on March 3^rd 2010. The party, founded and led by Geert Wilders, also operates on the national level and can be characterized as anti-immigration and anti-establishment. During the municipal elections, it received support in different types of neighbourhoods, such as white working class areas from the early and mid 20^th century, postwar housing estates, and brand new suburban neighbourhood on the city's periphery. Our analyses point to several neighbourhood characteristics which prove decisive in explaining PVV support. These characteristics are: the presence of older autochthonous Dutch (55 years and older), the presence of autochthonous families with children, a balanced mix between native Dutch and non-Western immigrant residents, and few high income households. These findings support the theoretical explanation of anxiety and insecurity among lower middle classes in an age of globalisation, crises and state retreat. In addition, they also point to dissatisfaction among older and less-mobile residents of rapidly changing inner-city neighbourhoods, who are become more socially isolated as their local social networks are diminishing. The paper concludes with a reflection on current urban policies which are unable to tackle dissatisfaction.

At the start of the century, the organisational fields belonging to the public employment service and social security, which previously were strictly institutionally separated with their rules and norms, have been brought under one umbrella or network structure in the Netherlands. We discuss how within this structure adaptive and reflexive forms of governance enhance information feedback and simultaneous learning processes both at the top and in the execution level of social security. Based upon document study, interviews and a case study of a sectoral experiment on integral service provision, we illustrate which learning elements occurred in bridging the planning and control cycle of New Public Management at the top with the horizontal mutual adjustment between organisations at decentral level.

In this article, the use of interactive features on the websites of Dutch local (branches of) political parties during the campaign for the 2010 local elections is investigated. We distinguish between features that are directed to increase political discussion and those that are used for political mobilisation. A content analysis of 1403 party websites demonstrates that websites of the social-liberal party D66 are the most interactive, followed by the Socialist Party. Furthermore, for elections in larger municipalities, more interactivity is used on the parties’ websites. Overall, the use of both types of interactive features is rather limited. Finally, a positive association between interactivity and election results, while controlling for previous elections and national trends, is established. These results point to the importance of (online) political campaigning in the context of local elections.

In this article we address two questions considering the Flemish regional elections of June 2009. First we determine whether this campaign can be called a negative campaign and what amount of negativity it contained. Second, we want to know what the consequences of negativity were on voter preferences. Our research, based on a newspaper analysis, shows that the campaign contained an average amount of negative campaign messages compared to campaigns in other political systems (United States, the Netherlands and Denmark). We calculated effects on voter preferences by means of the PartiRep Belgian Voter Survey of 2009, a survey with a unique three wave panel design. The results demonstrate that negative campaigning seems to have been effective in 2009. Parties with negative campaigns attracted more attention from voters and also seemed to gain during the campaign. Personal attacks on opponents, on the other hand, did not have an effect on the electoral appeal of a party. Incumbent parties even lost votes when they launched personal attacks. The results suggest that, in the Flemish context, an attack on the opponent’s program or governmental record can be effective, but that personal attacks are not rewarded by the voters.

During the last decades, election campaigns in Western Europe have undergone major changes. In response to an altered electoral market, political parties have started to campaign more offensively, making use of campaign tactics such as negative campaigning. Negative campaigning strongly conflicts with the political culture of consensus and cooperation that is inherent to many West European political systems, especially in the Netherlands, in which coalition building has always been a necessity. Taking the Netherlands as a case-in-point, this article demonstrates that even in a consensual multiparty system like the Dutch one negative campaigning is on the rise. Indeed, by exploring the last four election campaigns this study demonstrates that negative campaigning is part-and-parcel of the Dutch electoral politics ever since 2002.

Populist parties are often associated with extremism. However, the term ‘extremism’ is usually ill-defined and value-laden. Conceptual analysis will help to define populism as well as extremism in a more precise and value-neutral sense. Empirical analysis of the programmes of six Dutch and three Flemish parties suggests that populism does not entail extremism, even if it can be combined with it. The Centre Party and Centre Democrats as well as the Socialist Party and the Flemish Bloc may have displayed extremist as well as populist tendencies at some point. Yet the (more or less) populist parties Liveable Netherlands (Leefbaar Nederland), the List Pim Fortuyn, the Freedom Party, the movement Proud of the Netherlands (Trots op Nederland) and the List Dedecker should not be considered extremist.

Compulsory voting was abolished in the Netherlands in 1970 without a thorough debate about the likely consequences. On several occasions, I have recommended its retention in countries that have it and its introduction in countries that do not have it. Compulsory voting has a positive effect on turnout and is a guarantee for equal electoral participation by different groups in society. However, the debate is far from closed. In particular, the relationship between compulsory voting and type of democracy (majoritarian vs consensus democracy, majoritarian vs proportional electoral systems) requires further research.