Professor Albrecht Sonntag has a very interesting idea of a series of blogs on the elections that seem to be so important for the future of Europe. Through both his blog at ESSCA and the Ideas on Europe -blog, he has asked academics throughout Europe to mail him their responses to, as he calls them, his stupid French questions. The idea is wonderful. We cannot possibly know the intricacies that haunt each election. By accepting our naivite, and by daring to ask the 'stupid questions' to our friends abroad, we gain a greater understanding.

I have greatly enjoyed the contributions by the other authors, and I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for these blogs. Furthermore, the collaboration with professor Sonntag, sparring about the problems in our respective countries, has been a joy. I would like to thank him again for his help, his edits, and the great visuals he has added to my piece. You should have a look for the edited and improved version that has been published on his blog. For this personal blog, I have made use of my original submission.

What ever happened to the left?

Questions on the vital statistics of 'The Left' are rising everywhere in the Western World. At least in the Netherlands, it is too early to organise a wake. We may be well known for our liberal and permissive attitude to society (which is not the same as being tolerant, and is more marketing than truth), The Netherlands has never truly had a left wing revolution, silent or otherwise. In part due to verzuiling (a Dutch form of mild sectarianism along religious and class lines, sometimes called pillarisation) and the closely related poldermodel (a system of highly proceduralised consensus-building in government), the welfare state and the economy have always been pragmatically constructed.

Although it had been a long time since the days of verzuiling, the political spectrum had not meandered far from that structure. Any changes that occurred since the 80's have by-and-large been within the well-known system. New parties would form, but they would adhere to left-right spectrum (and until the 80's, the pillars). In fact, the most significant upstart that advocated system-change, D66, has quickly been encapsulated into the spectrum as the epitome of the middle of the road party. D66 is perhaps the most vivid example of the stolid Dutch political establishment that is reluctant to accept change it cannot qualify.

Pillars Toppled

That ended with Pim Fortuyn. A politician that now has an almost saint-like status in Dutch culture as the man who dared to speak out against the The Hague apparatchik. The governments before him had been very successful in fostering economic, social, environmental and cultural progress. The so-called Purple Cabinets (Paars I and II) were a mix of liberal and socialist parties, coming together to form progressive-centrist policies. None of the opposition parties could offer any real resistance. How could they? Purple policies were progressive enough for the liberals, social enough for the reds and in the time of secular liberalism, the Christian parties were out. Pim Fortuyn was the first person to find the cracks in this structure. Due to a rise of immigrants from the Middle East; guest workers brought in after WWII that weren't integrated into society; and the political elite that was enjoying its success too much, a perfect storm was formed. Thus, Fortuyn created a platform for the angry. His party (the LPF) couldn't be qualified along the lines of Dutch politics. It was right-wing in foreign and migration policies, but with redistributive policies only seen in the most socialist of programmes. Combined with the promise to let 'people who had business experience' run the government, it was the first succesful anti-establishment party. For 'The People', not just a pillar as with the socialist movement.

From 2001 onward, the traditional left-right divide started to fail as an analytical tool or even a useful form of expression. Yet, the system has never recovered from the idea that parties could exist outside of the status quo. In the wake of the rise and fall of the LPF, a number of contenders has risen, each with a mix of left-wing and right-wing policies. This is best exemplified by the successor of Pim Fortuyn, Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV). With an agenda filled with xenophobic screed and anti-elite policies, the well-spoken former liberal (a scion of former VVD parlementarian and EU Commissioner Bolkestein) torments both the liberal VVD, and the socialist SP and PvdA. These traditional parties are trying to adapt, incorporating stances heretofore unagreeable to them. The VVD becoming more repressive on law and order, the SP going back to its reactionary socialist roots, and the PvdA has yet to find a response.

So what has happened to 'The Left'?

The truth is that before Fortuyn the old system had led to the adoption of norms in all political parties that would be called 'Left Wing' in other countries. The large losses of the Socialist parties is largely due to the fact that they have not been able to find a new cause after most of their policies had been enacted by the 80's. Even the Christian Democrats advocate a highly organised welfare state, and with ChristenUnie there is even a (moderate) progressive faction. When the old system of Left-Right politics worked, coalitions would be created along familiar lines, even though that sometimes appeared arbitrary. With the crash of that old system of politics, there is no logical flag to rally round for opposition to Wilders and other populists, even though more values are shared. But in effect, almost all other parties condemn the PVV. And although the PVV is ahead in the polls, so are GroenLinks (Green Party with a liberal streak) and D66 (Progressive Liberals), polar opposites of Wilders.

The Left isn't dead. In the Netherlands, without ever really coming into power a lot of the traditionally left wing policies have become an integral part of the political culture. Even with the dissolution of the traditional demarkations by Fortuyn and Wilders, progressive and socialist thought and culture is everywhere in varying degrees. It just can't be pinned down in old taxonomy. The current anger at the so-called "Progressive Left Wing Elite" is therefore mostly a construct of the populists for people to rage against, based on the old convention of the well-to-do city dwellers that would vote Social Democrats, rather than something that actually exists. A more interesting set of questions in The Netherlands is therefore: How do we organise our system after the death of the Left-Right spectrum? Will verzuiling turn into sectarianism and identity politics?