What is the Dutch Political Structure?
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- Hi, welcome to Jovie's Home!
Today, I will try to explain the Dutch political structure. Please let me know if I misunderstood something!
References:
www.houseofrepresentatives.nl...
www.xpat.nl/moving-to-netherl...
www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/of...
www.netherlandsandyou.nl/abou...
www.government.nl/topics/parl...
www.government.nl/topics/cons...
www.amsterdam.info/netherland...
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Thank you, as always, to @goed.gedaan for his excellent editing.
PS - If you're wondering why my videos will always be in English, the answer is simple: more people in the world speak English than Dutch. I want this channel to be accessible and understandable for as many people as possible.
Hi! I filmed this video before the entire Dutch Cabinet resigned and left NL without a government. But I thought it was still worthwhile to post this video. Let me know if I misunderstood something or got something wrong in the video!! Enjoy!
You must have noticed by now that when the government resigns they don't actually leave. One or two ministers may, but most continue.
I thought you were posting this because of the current situation. Interesting. 🤔
Jovie's Home was predicting the future 😇
meneer grapenhuis of security who hammer social distance and mouth mask went to get married
no mask no social distance
we need trump some one like trump to slash taxes
What you call the government in this video, I'd call the Cabinet (de regering). The cabinet of ministers and cabinet secretaries (staatssecretarissen), a sort of junior minister who is not in charge of a full state department (ministerie), but who is put in charge of a specific subject.
The government = de overheid is both the king & cabinet (de regering) + the first and second chambers (comparable to the senate and the house of representatives).
alberto gorin. And turn your country into a slump?
You don't need to be elected to be called for a minister or staatssecretaris position. Candidates are broaght forward by the parties who will form the regering. Normaly these persoons are party members but van also be specialist in the subject of their departement. A professor or someone with merrits
I agree. You do not need to be elected as a member of the Tweede Kamer to become a Minister or Staatssecretaris.
@@bkooyman9846 So the Minister or Staatssecretaris are not counted in the 150 members of the Tweede Kamer?
@@JacobBax Right. The Ministers and Staatssecretarissen form the Kabinet. They are not Members of Parliament.
After growing up in the Netherlands where ministers are usually experts in their field, I find the British and Irish system hard to understand. You have cabinet reshuffles where ministers can move to totally unrelated departments. Our current minister for higher education and science was minister for health last year. The current minister for foreign affairs has also been minister for agriculture, defence and housing. The minister for enterprise, a GP by trade, has been minister for transport, health and social protection.
@@JacobBax No, and even if they are a member of de Tweede kamer a new person from the list of the party is brought in to fill the seat of the person that became a minister.
I like how you said to make everyone happy but not to happy. That sounds very Dutch.
I think we are too realistic to be too happy ;-)
I wanted to commend on this too. This is the Dutch 'poldermodel'. You have to agree, or at least to agree to disagree.
So no one is too happy, and no one is too unhappy.
Hi Jovie, here are some suggestions. The Dutch government system has 4 layers (together: de overheid):
- Central government (regering),. This one you largely discussed in this video. The Government = the King + the Cabinet. Unlike all other European monarchies, the Dutch King is still an official member of the Government (but with no real power). The Cabinet consists of the Prime Minister, two types of Ministers (minister ‘van’ (of) = head of department, minister ‘voor’ (for) = special task, e.g. trade) and State Secretaries (= deputy ministers). The Cabinet members are appointed by the King (no need to be elected in Parliament first, although most of them are. However, if they become a Minister, they give up their seat in Parliament, unlike in the UK). The Cabinet answers to the Parliament (Staten-Generaal = Eerste Kamer + Tweede Kamer). The Government and the Parliament together is the Dutch legislator. The Cabinet is advised by the State Council (Raad van State), which is officially presided by the King (but in practice by its chairman) and which also doubles as the Dutch top administrative court.
- Provincial governments (provincies).The head of the province is called the Commissioner of the King (Commissaris van de Koning; Governor in Limburg) appointed by the King. The province is run by appointed officials (Gedeputeerde Staten), which answer to elected representatives in the provincial parliament (Provinciale Staten). The representatives in the Provinciale Staten elect the members of the Eerste Kamer (aka the Senate).
- Local governments (gemeenten). The head of the local government is the mayor (burgemeester) appointed by the King. The gemeente is run by appointed officials (wethouders), which answer to elected representatives in the City Council (gemeenteraad). Non-Dutch residents may vote in the gemeenteraad elections.
- Water governments (waterschappen). The head of the water government is the Dike Count (dijkgraaf) or Water Count (watergraaf) appointed by the King. The waterschap is run by appointed officials (heemraden or hoogheemraden), who answer to elected representatives in the General Board. The waterschappen are the oldest form of democracy in The Netherlands. They are responsible for keeping your feet dry. 😉 Non-Dutch residents may vote in the waterschap elections.
Note: The officials appointed by the King (Commissaris van de Koning, the mayor and the counts) are non-political positions, acting as mediator and chair, but they can wield some real power when it comes to crisis management (e.g. the mayors enforce the Covid lockdown) and public security (e.g. mayors direct the police).
Well put, another thing on the appointments by the king, the king makes the formal appointment but this is always done based on the recommendations from the chosen representatives of the body involved. So mayor candidate is recommended by city council and so on.
The Eerste Kamer en Tweede Kamer together are called Staten-Generaal. So for those living near New York City.. Staaten Eylandt, now known as Staten Island, was named after the Staten-Generaal by Dutch settlers when New York was still a Dutch colony named Nieuw Nederland.
Nieuw Nederland? Wat dacht u van New Amsterdam.
But the Staten-Generaal in those days was something very different.
@@ronaldderooij1774, Correct Ronald, but New York was never called Nieuw Nederland.
@@ronaldderooij1774 Not that different. It was the national parliament of the old Dutch Republic, with representatives of the Provinces.
@@criticasterh8242 No. But there was a New Holland (Australia).
Hello Jovie nice to see you again. I missed you the last weeks. You explained pretty well. Mayby you can make a video about the elections we have in March.
To make things even more complicated, there is a difference between an informateur and a formateur. The first one is a person with a lot of political experience who tries to bring different parties together and form a coalition. The formateur is then the one who forms the government and becomes prime minister.
Frans Buijs In most cases the formateur becomes prime minister but it is not mandatory. E.g. The regering with prime minister den Uyl 1973-1977, formateur Burger.
Really cool video!! Thanks for explaining! I think a nice video would also be talking about the parties and what they fight for! I’ve been looking for information about it but haven’t found much.. thanks!
Luiza Goedert Both the local government she should make a video, let know how they function.
Always interesting. I live in Michigan and there is a local school named after Abraham Kuyper (famous former NL PM).
Hi Michael, you would be surprised about the influence that this Abraham Kuyper, his constituents and his tradition have had and still have on the development of both the Dutch ànd the American state doctrine, especially the non-federalist part of it...
@@tjipjoustra4359 Agreed. I grew up in the North American version of the CGKN and went to its college, Calvin College. I had the opportunity to study Kuyper's Stone Lectures -- still a good read.
Talk about waterschappen (defence ageinst waster) as the oldest form of demcoracy in the Netherlands. They are our Founding Fathers.
JanJanRap Yes, that would be interesting
She'll probably teach a lot of Dutch folks a thing or two. I feel most Dutch people don't know too much about it themselves
Let's first do the gouvernemental stuff.
😜
Vandaar polderen, want daarin moest je ook iedereen meekrijgen
A boring part of the dutch democracy, but still true: the oldest form in Holland, then the Seven Provinces, and later the parts that they (de Hollanders c.s.) conquered (Staats-Brabant etc. ;)
Hi! I think you did a pretty good job explaining this. You focused on the Netherlands. However the Kingdom of the Netherlands includes six Caribbean islands. Three are constituent countries and three are special municipalities. The king is of course at the head of the whole kingdom. The government you talked about only rules on the European part plus three islands.
Very interesting video and well done making it understandable for everyone :)
The basis for it al? Polderen, the ultimate Dutch word describing basically every aspect of official life in the kingdom of NL
Hi, just one correction. The members of government (ministers / state secretaries) are appointed by the parties that form the government because they reached a coalition (most of the times a majority with 76 seats but not necessarily), and indeed these ministers and state secretaries can be from the Tweede Kamer (but they do not need to be). The government is accountable to the Tweede Kamer.
The ‘regering’ is the central government of our country and consists of the King and the ministers. The cabinet consists of ministers and state secretaries
The King is therefore not in the cabinet, and secretaries of state are not in the government.
Also we were once a republic, untill 1815
From 1806-1810 kingdom Holland, 1810-1813 part if the 1st French empire under Napoleon.
@@tonik6081 yeah but not necessarily out of free will, it helps to enforce ones point if 10000 sans cullotes are there with pointy bajonettes and loaded musketes😆
Great explanation.
There is a lot of talk during the meetings in the Tweede Kamer.
There is a lot of humor and cabaret in the conversations.
Often not even intended that way.
The oldest form of state is "Waterstaat". This is where people have worked together against the water. This state in a state is still alive and kicking in the Netherlands.
The third Branch of politics besides Legislative and Executive is the Judiciary branch. The Trias Politica, separation of powers, is no different than most democratic countries exercise around the world, including the US.....
Hi, Jovie, you did a very good job on explaining this.
Your knowlegde of The Neteherlands: you could be an Ambasador of The Netherland as others also stated.
Keep up the good work.
You don't have to have been elected into 2r kamer in order to become a minister. Can be anyone.
Thanks for making this!
Our pleasure!
Very helpful, thank you so much! If you could make a video about the local governments, how they function, whether there are voivodeships, how do the city halls function etc. - that would be unbelievably helpful as well!
Karolina musielak positive, I whis she could make a video of local government, let how they function.
Very interacting video. Some thing I knew and other things I didn't. S glad you made this video
Antje, Jovie's video's zijn altijd heel leuk en informatief, maar helaas heeft ze hier de plank volstrekt misgeslagen wat betreft onze regering, de overheid en de positie van de koning. Neem alsjeblieft de moeite om je op de juiste manier te laten informeren, desnoods via Wikipedia.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@wilmameijer437 Paar kleine foutjes hier en daar (die ik zelf ook kan maken, zie de post van Jeroen T. (dat kan ik toch allemaal niet onthouden man, ik moet gewoon naar mijn werk :) ) , maar toch echt NIET 'volstrekt de plank misgeslagen'. Het is mij niet helemaal duidelijk of je nu oprecht bent, of dat je fake news wil verspreiden.
In Canada, the government can fall due to losing a confidence vote (and every budget is automatically a confidence vote), leading to early elections. Is the NL fixed to every 4 years, or are there mechanisms for having the government fall before that?
Hi Jovie! I am a big fan who is an expat from the US. We moved to the Netherlands about five months ago. You asked for feedback on topics I would like to see covered in future videos, so I thought I would offer my two cents worth. Please do a video or two on the health care system here in the Netherlands. I would like to know more and have had a hard time navigating what services are covered by insurers, especially when it comes to preventative care. Yes, we can scour our plan and try to find it but remember all of this information is in Dutch. I really was taken aback by the amount we have to pay each month for health care here because many people outside of the country assume it's free. You did cover dental care not too long ago which was very informative. However, I think more information is needed for expats on things to take into consideration when choosing and paying for health care coverage. Thank you and Dan for your great RUclips channel and keep up the awesome work!
Jovie, with this video you have realy involved the Dutchies, I am proud how many well informed and respectful reactions came in. On an average we rate our political system very high and cherish our way of polderen. Personally I share that opinion. Although we could do much better, at least our system of checks and balances functions relatively well. Maybe a next video could try to explain that although the average American thinks we are a socialist country, we are definitely not and what being socialist entails.
i know this is off topic but i can't help myself, this color suits you so well Jovie! your sweater i mean...
Hi Jovie, I have a question that is not about this video. Some time ago you asked us to fill in a form about what we as your viewers think about your channel, what we want to see etc. Could you make a video about the results of that questionnaire?
I think your explanation was really good. Maybe some additions, the Eerste Kamer is the Senate. They approve or reject laws (as you said) by checking whether the proposed laws from the Tweede Kamer meet a number of constitutional requirements. At least that's the theory. Often party politics play a role as well. And regarding the coalition government, the largest party typically puts forward the prime minister. The real negotiations between the parties that want to form a coalition is done by the informateur (and prior to that by a verkenner to test the waters). When an agreement between the parties is reached, the prime minister to-be takes the role of the formateur and finalizes the process.
De Raad van State heeft in zijn advies al uitgezocht of de voorgestelde wet wel constitutioneel is en een regering die wil blijven regeren kan daar beter niet van afwijken, want doen ze dat wel dan kan door middel van een proces de wet alsnog ongrondwettelijk worden verklaard en worden verworpen
There are three powers in the Netherlands. Executive (King + Cabinet = Government), Lawgiving (Both chambers of Parliament) and Juridical (Judges of all levels).
These three are in fact independent powers, trias politica (Separation of powers).
The parliament is the highest power, it can send a government away and creates the laws that judges have to apply.
Members of the 2nd chamber are elected directly by the people, in equal representation, and on personal account.
On the ballot you see lists, usually political parties but they do not have to be.
To get elected you need to get more votes than the kiesdrempel (total votes / 150 seats)
Here the lists get important, the first on the list can pass down his/her surplus to the next one on the list until that one has enough (total/150) and the third one will get any surplus, etc.
After elections an informateur talks to all leaders in parliament to see which possible coalitions can be made, and which is the most likely.
Talks within the coalition will create an agreement for the next four years (regeerakkoord) and beyond. (Though they cannot force the next government to follow this course.)
Than the formateur is appointed who will compose a cabinet that is acceptable by the coalition that has been formed. Usually the leader of the biggest party in the coalition, and usually he/she will be the next Prime Minister. And the details of the agreement are worked out.
Once 'the King' coordinated this process, but anticipating on her abdication, Queen Beatrix transferred this task to the chairman (he/she) of the 2nd chamber, and the next King accepted this arrangement. (Though nowhere officially written down.)
The King installs the cabinet, and they take over from the previous.
Parliament can send a minister away, if they are not satisfied with his/her decisions. And the minister is replaced by the PM.
If parliament sends away the PM, the entire cabinet falls.
The biggest party doesn't have to be in a government, when the PvdA became the biggest CDA and VVD formed a coalition.
Biesheuvel was the leader of the ARP and PM though not leader of the biggest party in the coalition.
You can never combine a function in two or more powers at the same time, a minister cannot be in parliament, or a judge cannot be in government.
Hi Jovie, I really think it's great you take this so seriously. There are two things I would like to add: 1. De Tweede Kamer has the responsibility of oversight of the kabinet. Ministers en staatssecretarissen (Secretary of state and deputy ...). 2. Minister en staatssecretarissen are not elected officials (to De Tweede Kamer). They are appointed by the party's that form the majority (and later confirmed by the King). Like in this term: they are chosen by VVD, CDA, D66 en CU. Most of the time they are members of that party. We can't vote on who becomes our Prime Minister or other members of kabinet.
I'm interested to hear from you about your opinion of this multi party system opposed to the two party system you are familiar with.
Thanks for this! I am very interested in Dutch politics but find it very hard to find good, up to date information in English.
Selby Gunter that's true, is very hard to find the up to date information in English.
hey! maybe it's fun for a next video to discuss all the different parties that we have? i would be more than happy to help you with that!
I would like to see a more in-depth video about elections for the second chamber and an overview of the largest parties! That would be a good recap for Dutchies and expats in the run-up to the coming elections. Also, I'd try to provide English translations of Dutch terms for viewers who don't know Dutch.
maybe nice to explain for the people from the USA the difference between socialism system and social system. as most American think it is the same. (with this I mean how Europe is about social healthcare system), and that we pay high tax but also get a lot for it back. as you have know both systems
I can explain it when I have time. Maybe at the end of the week. I heard one thing that was incorrect so far: a minister or state secretary does not have to be a member of parliament. Also when explaining all of this the Trias Politica is an important tool. Same as the US there is a seperation of powers: Legislative, executive, judicial. Also the check that the Tweede Kamer does on government is sometimes considered another seperate power. Which is not formally corrrect, but does make clear how important it is to check the executive (/cabinet).
Quite accurate, if you found this all out by yourself, just by looking up stuff on the internet, than well done, congratulations. Where to continue from here? Well, as far as politics are concerned, I think it would be interesting to see your views on the electoral campaign that will soon be starting, for the parliamentary elections in march.
In the UK it’s a similar system but the ministers stay in Parliament and also our version of the eerste kamer (the House of Lords) is appointed by the queen here.
Minister or state-secretary positions are taken by parties based on how "big" or "important" they are. Prime minister always goes to the biggest party since they have first pick. The second most important position is of course minister of finance which is usually taken by second largest party. The rest of the positions will also be distributed in the negotiations amongst the coalition parties.
Before the formateur is appointed there is an informateur that is appointed by the 2de kamer. The informateur is assigned to find common ground between parties that could form a coalition. When a possible coalition is formed, the formateur will take over (mostly someone from the largest party who will become prime-minister). The formateur leeds the negotiations and makes sure the regeringsakkoord (a set of agreed policies) is drawn. If he/she fails, the process starts all over again.
Fun fact: up to about a decade ago the formateur and informateur were appointed by the king/queen, which was the last real political influence the royals had.
Another fun fact: it has only happened once (1891) that one party got more than 50% of the votes. This is now almost impossible because of the amount of participating parties.
By chosing the informateur the king is able to guide in what direction formation of a new cabinet should go. Some people say this is moment the king has most influence in government.
Yes, but as I said, he doesn’t have that power anymore since 2012. It’s the 2de kamer that appoints both the informateur and formateur now.
What you can do is using sites like Kieskompas, they are made to help the Dutch voters to distinguish their personal interests against the political choices. In the end you find 3 or less parties which have somewhat the same goal as you. The fun part is that mostly all "kieshulpen" differ (try to fill them in more than once) so you have to make a choice in the end but you have gotten more informed about the plans of a lot of Dutch political parties. And yet...not all plans will be fullfilled because most Dutch politics is based on compromises.
Hi. You did a good job 👏. The most funniest king in this world is our king , he was almost to cry when he was come back from holiday 😅 . Me and my family love ❤️ maxim our king and his family. I even have his photo with him in my vrachtwagen 😅. All the best to everyone en gefeliciteer voor jouw inhoud !!!
Please continue with the Raad van State (Council of State), Algemene Rekenkamer (Court of Audit) and the Ombudsman.
These make up, together with the Éérste and Tweede Kamer, the Hoge Colleges van Staat (High Council of State).
Poor Jovie...
Good to hear from you again! Maybe it is right to say that the King is responsible but not accountable (Fyi: they had barely arrived in Greece and decided to come back immediately, so no beach) And as for information on the political landscape it might be interesting to investigate municipal and provincial responsibilities and political structures.
Maybe I am wrong, but I thought Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister, was not the formateur. I thought the Formateur was an 'independent' person. And I remember some elections there were 3 informateurs needed, because they could get the job done.
What I was thinking today, do you think the US can ever change into a multiple party system? And if that is possible, what does it take?
The multiple party system, would be better in my opinion and keeps the hate and the big contrast out.
What do you think?
Hi Jovie I'm an expat and wanna know about best skincare and cosmetic products here in Netherlands. I find it difficult in choosing the best affordable ones. And you're doing a great job👍
Great video. What would be interesting from a historical perspective is that we once had what is called "verzuiling". It basically meant that we had only a few large parties and people were pretty loyal to vote for one particular party. E.g. Catholic Christians used to vote for the Catholic/christian party. Up to the 90s we still had these major blocks of Christian democrats (CDA), liberals (VVD) and social democrats (PvdA). What happened over the last decades was that people have become much less loyal/more critical and are more likely to switch parties between elections. This is called "ontzuiling". Also, there have been much more initiatives to form new parties. In the current election, we've had 3 out of 10 people who were still undecided up to 2 days before election and about 34 parties to choose from. Would be nice to compare that to the USA system where you have a 2 party system. Have a nice day Jovie!
I also feel the same need. I would love for robust material on Dutch politics in English to come up. Thank you very much for your compilation!!!
Maybe nice to add: when the coalition is negotiating, usually they negotiate which party will have what minister. For example D66 is usually not that big so they might get 1 minister, and because they're seeing themselves as the "education party", they would want the minister of education.
I'm not sure if the minister should be an elected Kamerlid though, I thought they could also be external, but I'm not 100% sure. If I recall correctly, especially the LPF (a new party that grew too fast for it's own good) got a lot of newbies, which led to interesting situations. But please, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Minister can be anyone as long as the Tweede Kamer approves them
Yes, the LPF definitely was an interesting political adventure.
Hi Jovie, In the Netherlands we vote on a party and not on a person. The party decides the order of their list, so who is first, second and so further. But you can vote for example number 20 on the list. When there are enough people doing so that member has enough "voorkeursstemmen" and is voted.
But in general the party decides. The only exception for members of de tweede kamer to be there whitout a party is if someone is a member of the tweede kamer and steps out of his party, he has the right to stay as a member whitout party.
You can vote for a person of the party, you call it a "voorkeurstem".
On the voting ballet, the parties have no box that you can check, only the candidates do. You can also enter an election and be elected as an individual without a political party, only no tries to do this.
You always vote a person and that person has a personal mandate without "last of ruggespraak", but a vote for a person on a voting list counts also for the whole list. They make up for candidates on the list with too little votes for one seat. If all full seats are given the remaining votes are distributed over all the parties, so your vote is always counted :)
No, this is incorrect. We elect persons, not parties. That's why you can stay in parliament if you leave your party.
Read the book from Arlie Russell Hochschild - Strangers In Their Own Land
You almost got it right when you were wondering if you could run as individual. Theoretically, you can; practically it won't work, because of the list system. Voting for parliament works on a list system, where parties (I'll get to individuals in a bit) submit a list of candidates. After all the votes are tallied, the total vote is divided by 150, giving the number of votes for a single seat. These seats are then apportioned to the lists based on their vote share.
Normally, people vote #1 on the list, de 'lijsttrekker' (list leader), and the excess votes cascade down the list until all the seats are apportioned. If someone lower down on the list, who would normally not make it into parliament by this process, gets enough votes for at least one quarter seat, that person is moved up in preference (so, a party gets enough total votes for 10 seats, but #15 on the list got enough votes for a quarter seat, #15 gets promoted to #10). There's some math on how to handle the final fractional seats, but I'll not go into that.
Now, theoretically an individual could run, but they're still expected to provide a list of candidates to the electoral commission. If it really is an individual, then they'll be running a single candidate on the list, and any votes over the fraction needed for that single seat get discarded for that party and enter the pool for calculation of fractional seats.
A minister can even be a person who has specific skills (for example military or financial). They make him a member of a party if he wasn’t already. There were ministers in the past that were universitie professors and were asked to be minister because of there skills on something specific
I think it is important to note that Dutch people always vote for a person, not a party. So most people choose a party (yes, if you run as an individual you still have to form a party, check PVV from Wilders, that is a party of only one person and nobody can become a member) and than vote for the top of the list of candidates. But they can vote for someone else on that list to, that is called a preferential vote ("voorkeursstem"). So some people vote for the first women/PoC/etc on the list because they want that kind of representation in government.
The party decides the order of the candidates and if they win X seats, the top X people will be elected. But sometimes it puts people who are a bit difficult/contrary on a position that is way lower than the number of seats they expect to win, we call that an unelectable ("onverkiesbare") position. But if that person is popular they can get enough votes (25% of the number of seats the party wins in that election for the tweede kamer) they have to be seated for that party.
The last term you will encounter coming elections is a 'listpusher' (lijstduwer), someone popular who wants to promote the party but does not want to become a member of parliament. So they are put at the bottom of the list and their function is to promote the party.
Hi Jovie, I 'm dutch and I enjoy your videos. I find your prrspective interesting on dutch culture. In your upcoming 'inburgering' you need to know more about the history of the Netherlands. Maybe you can talk about that in upcoming videos, and don't be afraid to show the good, the bad and the ugly. Bye
@4:45 "Each province has their own local government"
Yes, but those provincial governments are also elected by the people through periodic elections ("Provinciale Statenverkiezingen") (As are the officials that govern a city/group of cities "gemeentelijke verkiezingen"). So in that way the members of the "1e kamer" are indirectly elected by the people. It's kindof similar in that way to the American election style with electors being voted for by the people who do the actual voting for the president and not the people voting directly.
I would like to hear you explore famous Dutch people from history until today.
Can you do a video about the Dutch royal family I find them fascinating. Do you find the people in the Netherlands like having a monarchy and do they like them in general?
I am curious what you think of the political situation in the USA at this moment.....
Be very thankful you are not in the States right now!
We WILL get this current C.F. under control, but it is very disheartening as an American to see our Nation so torn. We can only hope those who were persuaded into violence will wake up before it is too late!!!
For a non American a great sense of relief that the biggest US Presidential idiot is now out of office. A thoroughly dangerous and deluded man. Trump is/was the worst US President ever elected to office. The Americans need to alter their system to make it easier to remove a person who is/was clearly unfit to be President.
I sometimes about that on TikTok and instagram.
With only 2 parties it's a kind of bi-polar politics in the USA. The other is allways the enemy. The 2 parties don't correspond with the number of political opinions. In my opinion a few more parties will give more stability and continuity in the USA.
Francine and all Dutch/world people: Watch the USA with great concern. You may view all the important tenants of your Dutch democracy (and with it prosperity), tenants like free speech, free and fair elections, property rights, civil rights, trading rights, contractual obligation enforcement, judicial rights as historically stemming from 3000 year old Greek philosophers and things like Magna Carta and you would be correct. But if you look at the proliferation of those rights, the plight to make them universal, spread across the globe, you'll find that much of that is because of the promoting of those rights by the USA. Those rights are very fragile, we can easily loose them almost over night (look at Hitler's Germany or Hitler's Holland in 1942. What will happen if those rights diminish in BIG USA? You take comfort and think that, for example, China taking over the port of Rotterdam can never happen? Take a good, good look around you at what's happening in the world right now, as you're being told when you can leave your house and not, which businesses are ALLOWED to be open and which ones your government declares as losers. Is it your business that your grand father started? You're being told to wear (a totally ineffective) diaper over your mouth as you go around and about living your life.
Big bad loud mouth and inelegant Donald Trump, he's so so so bad, I get it, I watch fake news as well. When 5, 10, 15 years ago the criticism of the US was that they start wars every week all over the world, Donald Trump did not start a single war in his 4 years (no American President has done that in 75 years).
Two weeks ago US elected congressmen (several of them) went on the floor and read articles from our constitution, our laws that were developed over 250 years of democracy. They read them verbatim, exact quotes of our laws.
The reading of our laws by lawmakers is now being considered ""treason"", acts of insertion. American law makers who are paid by China are calling for persecutions and removal from office of those congressmen.
That is not about Donald Trump, being bribed and bought off by China has nothing to do with Donald Trump, it is about a world dominance.
When will the day come that you're being told in Holland that you may not start a business? For good reasons of course! Sensible reasons...of course! Like, because the business has Co2 emissions. Oh oh, oops! so sorry. Can't have Co2 emissions in Holland, it ruins the world! Co2 emissions in China? Yes, that's fine.
How has that worked in the past? Well, it's been, sort of, okay because, after all, if things really get too crazy, should some evil regime, an over bearing China come after, very small, precious, democratic, world do-er of good Netherland, it won't get too crazy because there's always the USA, right? Right!
How often have I heard my beloved mother tell people the story, the story of when she was a 12 year old Dutch girl in Ede, Gelderland, after 4 years of hunger, on May 5, 1945, the American tanks rolled into her street with friendly smiling and cheering American soldiers, tossing Hundreds and Hundreds of chocolate bars to the Dutch people on the sides of the street as they reigned Holland free from the Germans, not to occupy and take over Holland, no, to hand Holland back to Queen Wilhelmina!
Go ahead Europeans, be smart, smug and make fun of America. Criticize the US all you want to, every day, because the day that your own country is in severe trouble at the hand of evil regimes, we Americans, love your free and democratic nation and we'll be there to help you and free you, regardless of how much fun you make of us. And we'll be there, not as "doctors in Khaki clothing" in worthless UN trucks, we'll be doing the dirty work.
You don't need to be an elected official to become a minister. The coalition appoints ministers, and as they are part of the tweede kamer, they like to choose among themselves. It's not a requirement though, and we have had many ministers and state secretaries that hadn't been part of the Tweede Kamer.
Hi Jovie. Je weet nu al meer dan de meeste nederlanders :). Goede video! Ga zo door. Next step zou kunnen zijn 'Provinciale staten, Waterschappen en gemeentes. Ps: Je kan niet zomaar als 'independer' mee doen aan verkiezingen. Je móet een partij vormen en deze moet ook nog een minimale steun behalen (handtekeningen) om op de kieslijst te kunnen komen.
Ps: Eerste en tweede kamer zijn volgens mij redelijk vergelijkbaar met jullie House en Senate. De eerste kamer heet officieel ook 'Senaat'. De idee erachter is dat de eerste kamer bestaat uit wijze mensen die wetten beoordelen op inhoud en haalbaarheid, los van de politieke waan van de dag.
You made one mistake Jovie. After the elections (2nd Chamber) the INformateur is meeting with political parties to see what the possibilities for a coalition are. When they come to an agreement the FORMATEUR forms the cabinet.
The ministers and state-secretarisses are not chosen principally out of the 2e-Kamer. They may come from everywhere. It is the Formateur who chooses them and they are presented by the coalition parties. In practice a lot of them are members of the 2e-Kamer, but the most important selection criteria are expertise, political standpoints, etc. Even the prime-minister may be from outside the Parliament. It happens in the past, although not desirable.
I love this information! As you say, it is not easily available (or understandable), but I will definitely be part of what a real "Dutchie" would know (BTW, have you asked Daan? I'd imagine they learn about the political system and structure at school). Maybe you could check out the curriculum and figure out what a native Netherlander would know.
To help others understand the role of the monarch in a Parliamentary Monarchy, you can compare it to that of the British or Spanish monarchs (I don't really know about the others). And regarding the kamers, one seems to be political, and the other more technocratic - but that's just what I understand from your video.
The eerste kamer is alsof called de Senaat (senate).
In fact, in the Netherlands you don't have to be in parlement in order to become a Minister or Staatssecretaris.
And whenever a member of the parlement becomes Minister or Staatssecretaris, he or she has to resign from the parlement, and needs to be replaced by another member of that party.
At elections we have to distinguish between passive and active right of election. Active is the right to elect, passive is the right to be elected. For the 2e Kamer every Dutch citizen older than 18 have the active right. Passive right is sometimes limited, like for inhabitants of the Dutch Caribbean, and prisoners.
You can be a candidate as individual by registering a list with candidates (can be only one)
If it is the first time you need the backing of 30 voters within a voting district. There are 20 districts, but if you can get enough voters in one, that is enough, but for a nation wide exposure you need 600 signatures. There is a deposit for the first time of €11250,-
Well, the way I remember it, it does not matter whether its your first time, but whether you have already a seat in the current parliament,,not exactly the same thing.
@@ThW5 You are right, btw: the deposit is reimbursed if you get 75% of the nescessary votes for a seat (kiesdeler)
Jovie? Did you ever did a video on the many world changing inventions that came from The Netherlands?
She did
Hi Jovi,
Good to see you really researched our political system! IMO there are a few aspects I would consider to be significant; We have PROPORTIONAL representation. We have one person one vote and everybody over 18 is invited to vote. We have [too] many political parties. After the election all votes are counted. Seats are allocated PROPORTIONALLY = MORE VOTES = MORE SEATS IN PARLIAMENT. e.g. 10.000.000 voters voted for 150 seats. A seat requires 66.667 votes [10.000.000/150] To form a government you need 75+1 members of parliament to approve... This means after elections the various parties are consulted by the King and Parliament to see which coalitions are feasible. This can take up quite some time. Next these coalition-partners work to agree on a 'regeerakkoord' a set of agreements on various policies and topics. This is then presented to the King and parliament.
Subsequently these coalition partners are asked to provide various officials for various positions ministers, staatssecretarissen etc. This who get what position can be a bit of a 'MMA-cagefight' [politically speaking]. These people may or may not be a member of these political parties. Some are asked for their 'technical / topical expertise' most are professional politicians. The King swear in all these members of government.
Then over the course of 4 years de regering will try to accomplish the things they put in the regeerakkoord = which has 76 or more member-support from the tweede kamer.
Topics that are not in the regeerakkoord e.g. how to deal with a crisis like COVID etc. etc. will be debated in the regering and the tweede kamer. The regering will outline their ideas and seek a majority support.
The role of the tweede kamer is to probe, investigate and check the regering. They can, if they feel government is making serious mistakes / a mess append, amend, create new policy or laws or vote for the resignation of officials or the entire government. Biggest 'sin'== resign NOW = misinforming the tweede kamer. Bad info = unable to check and balance the government; that is why this is such a no-no.
The role of the eerste kamer is more one of contemplation. They tend to look at laws 'from a [political] distance and check if the laws approved by the tweede kamer meet criteria of 'decent quality governance'.
This system applies to local government also [gemeenteraad [local city councils are elected] and so are provincies. Mayors are shortlisted by parties, interviewed by city-council and approved by city council and sworn in by the King. The mayor [regardless of political background] is explicitly expected to play a neutral role in political issues. The mayor is also responsible for e.g. law & order = police, and is the connection between local, regional and national parts of government.
Justice is independent of the government! Judges are independent and appointed for life as are prosecutors on all levels. Politicians make laws. Government executes laws ans policies, Judges will assess if government or individuals break these laws.
Good luck / gefeliciteerd with your inburgering.
Willem
Oke.... do you live in the rand stad?
Maybee do some provincial videos
Can you do a video about the "watching TV" culture in the USA vs the Netherlands? What Im particularly interested in is what you think are the main differences when it comes to the kind of shows/programmes that are on TV. What do you prefer? And perhaps a personal funny question: Why do Americans hang their TV above the fireplace, very high up the wall. Don't you get bad neck pains from constantly looking up?
Maybe I missed this, but regarding the Eerste kamer; The members of the Eerste kamer are chosen indirectly by the dutch people. Every four years we get to vote in the provincial elections, making up the provincial equivalent to the Tweede kamer, the Provinciale staten. These elected officials are who eventually elect the members of the Eerste kamer.
So the people do choose the Eerste kamer, but indirectly.
I'm sure any other questions or corrections will be brought up by others in the comments, but I was a maatschappijleer (civics) teacher in a previous life, so I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Hey Jovie, I've watched a lot of your videos and I think you're awesome. I was wondering if you could help me with a question. I'm trying to become a Dutch citizen via my father. I was born before 1985 and my father was/I is Dutch at the time of my birth. What documentation would I need to provide to prove all this and/or what documentation does the IND need from me?
Hi! I'm working on getting my citizenship right now! I try to put as much useful information in my videos as possible. Unfortunately there just isn't time to personally help with all the requests I get. There are some great resources out there, facebook groups for expats in the Netherlands, etc. I hope you will find what you need!
Anthony considering this quote
'Were you born before 1 January 1985?
You are a Dutch citizen by law if your father was a Dutch citizen at the time of your birth. It does not matter whether you were born in the Netherlands or abroad.'
The IND website has a 'contact' label at their site, perhaps you can use it for your question. Since you're born before 1985 and your father is Dutch I guess they need some paperwork as proof and there shouldn't be a problem to have a Dutch paper to make it official (because like it or not you are allready Dutch).
It is a bit more complicated than Theo suggests, it is obvious that you were Dutch at birth, but unlike US-citizenship, NL-citizenship can be lost easily free of charge, even if you don't want it to happen. That is, assuming your father was legally your father at birth, you have not voluntarily gotten any other other non-birth nationality, you have not served in the military of any enemy of the Kingdom or of its allies, the question becomes have you been living outside the Kingdom of the Netherlands and outside the European Union for 10 years, with a double nationality? If that is the case you probably lost your Dutch citizenship. In short, the data you provided allow sets of circumstances in which you are just a Dutch guy, who did not know that, or sets of circumstances in which you are Dutch guy who lost his Dutch citizenship, it all depends on your other nationalities and the countries (and some other circumstances)you have been living in. Please contact the IND to ask them while providing them with more details, this all can become a bit complicated, and is not resembling Jovie's situation much.
@@JoviesHome No worries - you're becoming the authority over there so I thought I'd reach out.
@@xXTheoLinuxXx I've spoken to IND in the Netherlands and I've spoken to my local Dutch Embassy in Canada and apparently, I'm lacking a few documents. I need to confirm/prove he was Dutch until I was 18 years old. Once I have that, I can acquire a document from the local Embassy and apply right online.
There are some small errors in your understanding. For example, the ministers or state secretaries do not have to come from the Tweede Kamer but are pointed/requested by the coalition parties which are elected.
Never the less, I think the first thing you might need to dive into is the Trias Politica versus Checks and Balances. In the USA you might find systems much more applying to Checks and Balances, wherein the Netherlands is moving far more to Trias Politica. Also, the code de Napoleon versus Common Law is a major difference. Both cause a different approach and explain a lot. This without one is better than the other, it has just different parts being strong.
I personally tend to hate politics, talking your way around something and not given clear answers is something that infuriates me so much. I'd love to see a video where you compare the USA and NL ways of doing things and your opinions on them. That, and what you think about what I mentioned first, 'politician talk', talking in circles etc. I noticed a lot/just about all the American politicians do it, but I'm not 'active' enough in the Dutch Politics to really know if all of ours do it, too. Do you have any things you wish the USA would adopt from the NL ways of doing things? Politics wise? Thanks for the video, Jovie, I enjoy learning about these differences!
How is a member of the Dutch government able to divide his/her role as both an executive and a legislator? Are members of the government required to function full time just like any other legislator AND at the same time be responsible for his/her ministry?
Easy, there are not legislators. If a minister rise frome the parliament he/she will give his seat in parliament back to the party.
Interesting that the dutch retains the two chamber system. In Denmark we got rid of it i the 1950s and just kept the lower chamber ("tweede kammer"). Isn´t there a risk in the first chamber being representatively scewed in favour of the countryside vs. the big cities? Or are the 75 members allotted by the population of each provins? In the latter case why even have it then?
In Netherlands the first chamber (the senate) is a reflection of the provincial elections. With is held 2 years after the general election, it can be a shift in the power base of the coalition partners. If they lose the majority in the senate they need to start negotiating with non coalition party`s to pass laws in the senate. This can hijack the provisional elections by making it more about the senate than about the provisional state parliaments.
The senate it self is a left over from Belgian, when they were still a part of the Netherlands. The belgians nobles want a house of lords in the Dutch parliament system
And a bit like in the US, where you can lose the popular vote and still become president, in Holland, you can lose the elections in the sense that you lose votes and still become part of the government as long as you are able to form a coalition. A famous example is from the 1970s, when the PvdA (socialist) became the biggest party but still ended up in the opposition because negotiations led to nothing and VVD and CDA (liberal and Christian democrat) did manage to form a coalition.
Still more people voted for the coalition parties combined, though. That is the point: you need more than 75 seats to form a majority government.
For a couple of minutes I though you had not grasped the concept, but @9:45 you recovered nicely.
So basically for the 2e kamer we vote for one of many parties (although formally we choose a person) . Each party gets a number of seats in de 2e kamer based on the amount of votes they got. The largest party suggests a formateur to the king (As always he can only say yes) The formateur seeks a majority in de 2e kamer by selecting other parties that he feels have enough common ground and they negotiate the "regeerakkoord" and the assignment of minister positions.
The ruling parties are also called the "kabinet" The other parties are the "opposition". On each law the entire 2e kamer will cast votes. On topics that are not in the regeerakkoord parties can even seek a opportunistic majority with parties from the opposition. (This hardly ever happens)
Also the opposition can try to pass a law and may get a majority by finding support inside parties from the cabinet. (Also rarely happens)
The 1e kamer is elected by the provinciale staten (which is totally weird because no one cares about provinciale staten, but people do care about the 1e kamer) The 1e kamer can only reject a law if it conflicts with other laws, is ambiguous or if proper procedures are not followed.
The king (as always) can only say yes to all laws that pass the 1e kamer. All laws are finalised by his signature.
Our laws are way more specific than laws in England or the US. Therefore the importance of the judges and jurisprudence is far less.
Fun fact: In the past the Belgian king resigned for one day so he did not have to approve a law (I believe it was about abortion)
Actually we usually vote for the party's program, vote for number one on a party's list, if he get's more than the votes he needs to get a seat, the extra votes go to number two...etc.. some people do get votes specially given to them, so if they are last in the list, they stil get voted if the got enough votes..
It's similar to the swedish system. We don't have two chambers but otherwise. We have 7 parties and they need 4% of the votes to get in.
Regering is the same word and meaning in swedish.
Thank you Jovie. ❤️
Thank you!
Try Waterschappen, we dont understand how and why ourselfs
I was able to vote in the Waterschap election a year or two ago. I didn't think this should be politicised, so I voted for the people who seemed least like politicians and most like engineers/scientists.
For a country where half the country should be under water (at least at spring tide)waterschappen are actually more important than most Dutch people realise.
The conflict is between buildings and agriculture. The reduce inclination you should have a high watertabel, for farming you want a lower watertabel. Dropping the watertabel is devastating to old buildings build on wooden poles. Not voting for a high watertabel when living in the center of Amsterdam, Delft or Utrecht might just cost you 50.000 euro's on repairs to your home.
@@vogel2280 Very true. Most people have no idea of the great importance of waterschappen
@@vogel2280 But the thing is, most people are not farmers, and I feel most people have absolutely no clue about ground water levels, and as a result will reason with: None of them will completely flood the area, so I don't know which one to choose.
Word to look up: Kiesdrempel. This will give you more insight in spinoffs out of groups, and how to start a political party in the 2e kamer.
First of all, you did a great job, congrats! There are quite a few intracacies that you overlooked however: the comment section is full of great examples.
So my real question, 2 years after this video, is: looking back at this one, what have you learned in the meantime? And, dare I ask, what are your views and opinions, your criticism? You've lived here long enough to have assimilated some Dutch directness. ;)
The elections of Parliament members in almost all representative chambers in the Netherlands goes via lists of candidates. In general they are set up by political parties, but anyone or any organisation may present a list of candidates for election. You could send in a list with only one candidate, but that would be very foolish. Because when your one-candidate list gets so many votes that it has the right to send more then one member, one member it will be and a lot of votes are spoiled. The spoiled votes will be assigned pro ratio to the other candidate-lists.
Hi Jovie, it is not uncommon for a minister to also be electable for the tweede kamer. Or for a minister to have been a member of Parliament before. This is however not a requirement. If a person was electable for the tweede kamer and becomes a minster the seat goes to the next person on the kieslijst.
During the coalition talks a important topic is also what party will get to supply the ministers and staatssecretarissen for what departments. Especially for smaller parties within the coalition it is important to secure positions with which they can play to their base. Often they will have people in mind for key positions that are also important for the party's future as being a minister makes a person a lot more visible than most members of Parliament. But sometimes outsiders are picked.
For instance Ronald Plasterk was a scientist who became a minister without being elected to the tweede kamer. Jan-Kees (Yankees) de Jager was an IT Exec and became a staatssecretaris. I believe this happens in the US sometimes also. They can ask who they think is suited.
Even the prime-minister doesn't have to be elected to be tweede kamer. You will often see that the number one on the list, the lijsttrekker, will also become the prime-minister if the party becomes the largest party and is able to form a coalition. However this is also not necessarily the case. A couple of years back the lijsttrekker for the PvdA announced that no matter the outcome he would stay in the kamer and be the leader of his party in there (fractievoorzitter). So people wondered, well who will become prime-minister if you become the largest party. So they talked about that for a bit, took a look within the party to see who would be suitable and they came up with someone for that position. I think it was Job Cohen. But they didn't become the largest party so it didn't matter that much.
Jovie, it could be nice to figure out the differences between all our parties. There are so many parties, left and richt wings.
That's difficult enough for us Dutch nationals...
You explained it better than the maatschappijleer-book did to me 7 years ago 🤣. Sorry I'm not a good dutchie.
1:04 You began the first instance of the word "regering" with a nice rolling r. In your defense, though, in parts of our country, people pronounce the r similar to how you do most of the time.
3:07 A friend of mine told us about a political party he wanted to see gain traction. Perhaps he was also a member, but he doesn't live in The Netherlands anymore.
The eerste kamer is elected in an indirect way. The people choose the members of de provinciale staten, who in their turn elect the members of de eerste kamer.
So, elected yes, but indirectly
Good analysis, but you have one big flaw. The parties that make up the "coalition" to form the government can nominate party members for the role of minister or secretary. They don't have to be elected in the Tweede or Eerste Kamer but are people most suited according to the coalition parties to be minister or secretary.
The King in the Netherlands is similar to the British constitutional monarch in that the Monarch “reigns” but the government “rules”. The Monarch essentially does as he or she is told by cabinet. Or in more poetic terms, the Monarch speaks through his ministers and is therefore answerable through his ministers. In other words, whatever the government does, the King agrees with because in matters of state his voice is spoken by the Prime Minister and cabinet. It’s like a puppet. The puppet is the king but the hands controlling the puppet changes depending on which government is in power.
No , you do not need to be an MP to become a Minister or Staatssecretaris, about half of them will be, however. About half of them will come from outside.
- other point the official names will be Eerste/Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal.
- the Eerste Kamer is elected by the parlements of the Provinces (Provinciale Staten) Members of de Eerste Kamer are parttime politicians.
- De regering is the executive branche of the administration, De Eerste Kamer, Tweede Kamer and regering form the legislative branch of the administration.
(the regering is part as it can refuse to send legislation which is approved by the Tweede Kamer to the Eerste Kamer for the final verdict. So, we do not have a clean "trias politica" )
- most interesting part is that the NL basically does not have a district system. If you have are listed on the ballot and get as a list about 0.7% of the votes nation wide, you get 1 seat in the Tweede Kamer and are represented. That is the reason why we have a dozen or so parties in parliament. We needed 4 to get a majority to create a government, however in the mean time they lost their majority. Which was not a big deal as the government just sought for each law an extra party to it through parliament. (This was actually true for both Kamers. )
Hi Jovie, The government is the King and the ministers. The cabinet is the ministers and state secretaries. The election of the Senate is called multi-stage election.
When in the constitution the king is named, it is almost yalways intended to be the governement. Only when it is clear it is about the person of the king then it is not the governement. So when it is about ministerial responsability the king is the person, but when it is about decisions by the king it is the governement
You could perhaps also read the comments on Dutch and American politics of your fellow countryman James Kennedy in the Trouw newspaper. He is professor in Dutch history (!) at Amsterdam University.
The architecture of political powers is roughly (i.e not perfectly) based on the "trias politica" principles that defines a separation of powers. Since Charles de Montesquieu and John Locke came up with their versions of this idea, it has evolved differently in different nation states.
The idea was to separate (1) legislature - creation of laws - from (2) executive that governs by law and from (3) judiciary that judges in legal proceedings or court cases based on the given law.
This separation is "horizontal" and its purpose is to avoid usurpation of power and it should make different forms of corruption and foul play more difficult.
In our version there are a couple grey areas that never had a hard separation or do not have it anymore. An example is a type of law directly managed by the executive power. These are "frame" laws that can have details filled in by de "regering" (cabinet, ministers).
Often overlooked in the separation of powers, or fuzziness in it, is the "Raad van State" (council of state). This is presided by the monarch with assistance of spouse and successor and with a bunch of respected people this council advise the cabinet. But this council has a department that is the highest appeals court in administrative law and this tight relation with the council branch of the government (government in the narrow sense) raises the illusion of partiality.
If you followed the Dutch news, you'll be aware of the "Toeslagenaffaire" - a collective failure of the political system over a couple years to run a specific IRS thing properly and protect the citizen against flaws of government and its civil servant employees.
In political science, the term "Fourth Power" is often used to reference civil servants, and in the Netherlands these servants do not have a political appointment related to a party. It is felt that the 4th power provides stability and generally has very good leaders, but in the "Toeslagenaffaire" we see the potentially shady side. I guess, righting the wrongs that have been done through arrogance, ignorance, inability of politicians to cut through the crap of an organization that thinks it is great and never wrong, will cost more than a billion, in this small country. Did I mention "group think"?
As Jovie explained, election works through direct vote by citizens choosing the members of parliament in the Tweede Kamer (2nd chamber - compare "house" in the US). In our multi-party system, the election result must be negotiated into a coalition and in recent decades, to facilitate this process, a so called "informateur" is appointed - this informer or consultant tests the waters. This leads to options and preferences, and terms and conditions for a coalition to be attempted to form. The outlines and directives from the information gathering phase, is handed to a "formateur" who's role is to form a coalition government with parties that can participate in a government coalition with the largest party. Generally a coalition is formed around the biggest party in the 2nd chamber. The monarch plays a role in appointing the informateur and formateur
The "Eerste Kamer" (first chamber - compare senate) is chosen by provincial government/parliaments - that is indirectly from voters that chose these provincial powers. Note that "state" and "province" provide a vertical separation of powers. The provincial elections are at another moment. The 1st chamber's role is to review proposed legislature by 2nd chamber and cabinet. As the 1st chamber has another electoral source it has different power proportions between parties. The general attitude in the 1st chamber is to try not to govern, but provide more of a quality control. They can neither propose laws, nor amend proposals. The 1st chamber's mission includes monitoring of the cabinet, budgeting, etc.
If we look at the overall architecture of the Dutch system, I feel the roles of 1st chamber and the "council of state" might overlap, and the "department" (bestuursrecht) as supreme court for administrative law, has no place in the council. The idea of the consulting part of the "council" is excellent, in my opinion and the approve/reject role of the 1st chamber is very thin. In recent decades, the architecture of the law system has been unnecessarily distorted frequently and it feels like this was accepted somewhere between council and 1st chamber.
What is very important, is the nature of the legal system. The Netherlands has principle-based laws. There will be a fraction that has more of a "positivist" character, though. But, the general basis is "principles". This means laws can be shorter and loopholes are less likely. But, judges need to interpret. There are no jury trials at all, ever. Judges have gone through elaborate and in-depth training and work experience and coaching, and peer review provides a generally balanced result. Jurisprudence plays an important role as it reflects interpretation by judges of case situations relative to principles. And there are three appeal court levels.
The Netherlands does not have "universal law" AFAIK, so you cannot be convicted in the Netherlands for a crime in Dutch law that you committed abroad as foreign national in a jurisdiction where you did not commit a crime in that system's law. War crimes are run through the international court, in this sense, not the Dutch.
In some countries laws can only be amended. This means that, for example, the UK is still stuck with Dane Law that some lawyer, citizen or prosecutor might come up with. It means that nothing can be deleted. So an amendment might turn a law around, but the old text remains. The Dutch system does not amend. If a paragraph is not understood well, one way or another, it can be changed. Absence of amendments and principle based means the Dutch parliament does not have to brag to reporters that they wrote 10,000 pages of health care law (IIRC that is what a US house member said several years ago).
Interpretation is very important in principle based law (in any legal system) and can become so important that parties want to go back to the "Handelingen" the "acts, dealings or negotiations of parliament's 2nd chamber" so as to verify the intentions with a law or paragraph therein. Especially when new laws replace old ones, this may happen more.
The state has a newspaper that publishes new laws and changes.
To be elected to the Tweede Kamer, you must be a member of a political party. The members who get the most votes are admitted to the Tweede Kamer. Sometimes a member of one party can be unhappy with the politics of his party and leave the faction. Many parliamentarians remain in the Tweede Kamer and form a one-person faction.
That is one reason why we have so many political parties with only a few representatives in the Tweede Kamer.
You should do a video about "Waterschappen" (Water Boards). The Netherlands is the only country in the world that has a gouvernment system for water and watermanagement. It uses it's own elections. It uses borders of Rain Catchment Area's rather than Provincial or Municipality borders, because we are the only country in the world that actually understands that water doesn't react to human made borders.
Every citizen over 18 may vote and you do not have to register for it, like in the US. You will automatically get your polling card in the (snail) mail; with that and an official ID (passport, drivers license) you present yourself at the polling station. There is talk about voting by mail now, because of Covid. Exception to this is when you live abroad; then you have to register and can vote by mail.
In the formation the parties make a joint program and which party gets which posts in the government. Each party decides which person they want to be minister, although they are interviewed by the prime minister. But the PM can not refuse them or sack them only the tweede kamer can send a minister of government away. The PM is the chairman but not the boss of the government. This power is only for the tweede kamer.
This is pretty much the same as in Canada. Constitutional Monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II now has a lesser role than before, mostly as a figurehead.
@@_alex_407 She (or the Governor General on her behalf) does, but it's usual for her to approve whatever is proposed. Jovie said this is the case in the Netherlands as well. I read that 1945 was the las time that Royal assent was not given for something. So it's basically just a ceremonial rubber stamping.
About running as an individual: in theory, that is possible, but it would be very hard. To be able to get on a voting list in any given district (not the same thing as a province), you need 30 co-signers to endorse you. There are 18 districts in total, so to fully participate would take 540+ signatures. Participating in fewer than 18 districts is possible, but in that case you will not be granted any designated broadcasting time on public television ("Zendtijd voor Politieke Partijen").
Then, you need to pay some sort of "bail" (12000 euros or so, iirc), which will be returned to you only if you manage to get enough votes (probably between 60k and 70k, depending on turnout) for a seat in the 2e kamer.
And of course, you will need people to do leg work for your campaign, but that is a practical problem, not a procedural one.
For smaller parties, the "30 signatures in each districts or no free TV ad" can be a harsh rule, by the way, since the Dutch Antilles are a district. Finding 30 people there who support your niche program that is often mostly aimed at mainland issues can be a major hassle.
Pim Fortuyn did it.
@@Conclusius68 He founded a party: the LPF. There where multiple candidates.
@@gstar1084 That's because he found multiple candidates for his own party (Lijst Pim Fortuyn) after his breakup with Leefbaar Nederland.