The conservative embrace of progressive values
On the intellectual origins of the swing to the right in Dutch politicsThe observation that the century has been a major break in the Dutch political culture is now regarded as the Death Eaters of the public debate. A country that nurtured an image as a beacon of tolerance and progressivism developed in short time at the European forefront of the political resurgence of nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment.
The meteoric rise and dramatic assassination of Pim Fortuyn 2002 led to a stunning electoral victory of his party, de Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF). Out of nowhere it became the second party in the country, Seventeen percent of the vote, in what has generally come to be known as the Fortuyn revolt. Since then, his identity, immigration and law and order, the dominant themes of the public debate. It was the start of the Dutch culture wars, a battleground in which conservative advocates of stricter immigration- integration and crossed swords with prudent progressives.
The question in this book is how central understood this shift can
are defined in ideology.