The Constants of Dutch Foreign Policy

The Constants of Dutch Foreign Policy Peace, Profits and Principles is the catchy alliterative title of a book on Dutch foreign policy by Joris Voorhoeve, one-time parliamentary leader of the VVD 1986-90. Under these three headings he sought to analyse the major traditions of this foreign policy, which he defined as maritime commercialism neutralist abstentionism and internationalist idealism.

Others have objected to the concept of traditions in this respect, even arguing that the Dutch have insufficient historic sense for traditions. Such authors prefer to speak of tendencies, themes, or constants, and some of them have amended or enlarged Voorhoeves list. On closer inspection, however, the themes mentioned by other authors remain closely related to the clusters of attitudes mentioned by

Voorhoeve. There is also little disagreement concerning the origins of such tendencies or traditions. Both the size and geographical location of the country have left their imprint on the countrys external relations. The Dutch domestic market being quite small but ideally located to serve as a gateway to the European hinterland, the Netherlands came to rely on maritime trade. This has brought an Atlantic perspective to its foreign policy, sometimes bordering on anti-continentalism.

Already in the seventeenth century, Pieter de la Court, a Leyden merchant and political scientist, advocated creating a wide swathe of water to the cast of the province of Holland, to separate it from the European continent. As late as the 1950s the Dutch Foreign Office proclaimed The Netherlands cannot exist without Europe, but it is a continental

European nation neither in its history, nor in its character. Despite altercations with the British first, and despite irritation over American pressure to decolonise later, the Netherlands has continued to rely on these two extra-continental powers. This reliance is due partly to the importance of maritime trade, but also to the desire to have a countervailing power to the dominant state on the continent, be it

German or French. The significance of trade for the Dutch economy has also led to another of Voorhoeves traditions, neutralist abstentionism, a set of preferences described by others as economic pacifism it is a reluctance to accept changes in the status quo, or downright conservatism. The Dutch colonial empire could not be defended adequately, and was therefore best protected by a neutralist policy. The flow of commerce was best served by an opportunistic abstention

from European power politics. Any disturbance of the balance of power could be detrimental to trade, and was therefore deplored. The Netherlands has been described as a satisfied nation, quite happy with things as they are in the world. After 1945 the failure of neutralism as a security strategy was recognised by Dutch politicians and the public alike, and the joining of the Atlantic Alliance has been interpreted as an unequivocal abandonment of the neutralist tradition.

Other observers, however, maintain that NATO membership constitutes less of a break with tradition than it may seem at first sight. Now that the international status quo was no longer guaranteed by a Pax Britannica, the Dutch supported a Pax Americana. Both the old and the new situation in which the Dutch found themselves allowed them an afzijdigheid in afhankelijkheid aloofness in dependence membership in a

Western bloc, dominated by one superpower has permitted a continuation of traditional Dutch neutrality within a new framework and has relieved them of the need to develop an ambitious foreign policy of their own. It was the perception of a renewed emphasis on neutralism in the 1970s that led Walter Laqueur to his diagnosis of Hollanditis as a second Dutch disease. The third constant in Dutch foreign policy, internationalist idealism in the words of

Voorhoeve, is often attributed to the Calvinist church minister in every Dutchman, rather than to the merchant in him. Especially when this idealism transforms the Dutch government into a Dutch uncle, wagging an admonishing finger at other nations, the relation with Galvinist moralism is too obvious to miss. The same can be said of another manifestation of internationalist idealism, the emphasis on international law. Article 90 of the

Constitution even charges the government with the promotion of the development of the international rule of law. Such legalism is not entirely alien to Galvinist culture. Often, however, minister and merchant went hand in hand. Dutch attempts to codify international relations are sometimes perceived as symptoms of Dutch conservatism, of its clinging to the status quo.

Moreover, ever since Grotius, the content of international law has rarely failed to serve the Dutch interest in free trade and open sea passages. The Dutch interest in neutralist abstention from power politics is easily disguised as moralism. In this chapter we shall take a closer look at these three clusters of supposedly constant foreign policy preferences by examining the Dutch role in three international organisations.

It is through its active involvement in a large number of international organisations that the Netherlands tries to rise above the status of a small country in terms of territory the country ranks 117th in the world, in terms of population 40th, in terms of GNP 14th, but in terms of membership in international organisations it ranks second in the world. The three most important ones are also most suited to a discussion of the three constants in the foreign

policy of the country NATO peace, the EC profits and the UN principles. NATO The Dutch decision to join the Atlantic Alliance was opposed only by the Communist party, and has never been seriously questioned. The original support for NATO should be understood against the backdrop of, on the one hand, gratitude for the American effort to liberate the Netherlands in 1945 and for

Marshall Plan aid for rebuilding the ruined Dutch economy, tempered only marginally by anger over American pressure to end the successful military actions against Indonesian insurgents and, on the other hand, of growing anxiety over Soviet imperialism, fuelled particularly by the Communist take-over in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Perhaps the Dutch embraced

NATO membership because it allowed them to continue as a naval power by compensating for the loss of the colonies . Despite later criticisms of the participation in NATO by the then dictatorial regimes of Portugal and Greece, despite opposition to American involvement in Indo-China and Latin America, and even despite misgivings over

NATOs nuclear strategy, public support for NATO membership has never wavered. The percentage in favour of leaving the Alliance has never exceeded 20 per cent, and no major party has ever advocated withdrawal from NATO, not even a French, partial, one. Especially during the first decades of the Alliance, the Netherlands acted as a particularly staunch ally and a loyal supporter of

US leadership in the Alliance. The Dutch share in NATOs defence expenditures has always been relatively high compared with that of other smaller member states such as Belgium, Turkey, Greece, Denmark, or Norway. The Dutch were among the 15 countries that joined the USA in the Korean War a UN mission de iure, a US mission de facto. In 1957 the Netherlands wasted no time in becoming the first

European ally to accept American nuclear missiles on its territory. While other member states demanded a say in the engagement of such weaponry dual key, the Dutch would have been happy to leave this responsibility entirely to the US government. Another quarrel with the Americans about Dutch colonialism, this time about the Dutch Indonesian conflict over

Papua New Guinea in 1961 2, did little to weaken the Dutch enthusiasm for the Atlantic Alliance. The long-serving Foreign Secretary, Joseph Luns 1956 71 stead-fastly refused to convey the protests of the Dutch Parliament over American intervention in Vietnam to Washington. As we shall discuss in the following section, the

Dutch government always objected to plans for European rather than Atlantic defence arrangements, and served almost as an American proxy in the EC. One author even struggled to find a distinction between the Dutch role of faithful ally and that of a vassal or satellite state the submission of .the Dutch to American leadership, he suggests, was not imposed, but voluntary.

With the retirement of Luns as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1971, the Dutch role as Americas small but staunch ally abruptly came to an end. Over strong objections by the USA, the Dutch government supported acceptance of the Peoples Republic of China as a member of the UN in 1971. Lunss successors as Foreign Secretary had fewer misgivings about decrying

US overt and covert involvement in Latin America, and particularly in Vietnam. One of them, Max van der Stoel, took pride in labelling the Netherlands a critical ally. In 1975 the Dutch even targeted Cuba as one of the countries on which to concentrate its development aid. Within NATO the change in Dutch policy is evidenced by an increased emphasis on arms control negotiations,

and in particular on reduction of nuclear weapons. The proposed deployment in 1977-8 of the neutron bomb, or the enhanced radiation, reduced blast weapon as it was called officially, met with strong public opposition in the Netherlands. More than 1.2 million citizens signed petitions against the neutron bomb, which probably contributed to the vote in the Dutch Parliament not to accept the proposals by the

Carter administration. The episode of the neutron bomb is important, because the issue a bomb that kills people, but saves property served to mobilise a large portion of the population into what became known as the peace movement a loose coalition of Left-wing political parties, trade unions, fringe groups, and individuals, dominated by two organisations linked to the churches in the Netherlands, the Catholic Pax Christi and the ecumenical

Interchurch Peace Council IKV. The fact that President Carter eventually decided to shelve plans for the production and the deployment of the neutron bomb was interpreted by the peace movement as a victory, and reinforced its resolve. Only one year later, in December 1979, NATO took its so-called dual-track decision the pursuit of multilateral arms reduction coupled to the modernisation of the

Alliances long-range theatre nuclear weapons. As part of the deployment of 572 new nuclear delivery systems, the Dutch were to accept the stationing of 48 cruise and Pershing II missiles on Dutch territory. The Dutch government made formal reservations to these plans in what became known as the Dutch footnote to the protocol of the NATO meeting. Despite these reservations the government narrowly escaped a vote of no confidence in

the following parliamentary debate. Actually, the Dutch footnote was the first step of what was to become one of the classic examples of depoliticisation in Dutch politics. Domestic opposition to the cruise missiles was fierce. More and more people rallied around IKVs slogan, Rid the world of nuclear weapons starting with the Netherlands surveys showed that more than half the population agreed with the catch phrase.

In 1981 about 40 people participated in a demonstration against the missiles in Amsterdam the following year 550000 people marched through The Hague in a similar demonstration and in 1983 3.2 million Dutch citizens petitioned the government to reject NATOs nuclear modernisation. Of the major parties, the

Labour Party was adamantly opposed to the missiles but one third of its voters favoured accepting the weapons on Dutch territory and made its position a major plank in its platform. The Liberal Party welcomed the NATO plans but one third of its voters rejected the missiles, and the CDA was divided. For the Christian Democrats the issue was particularly threatening we have already mentioned the involvement of the churches in the peace movement.

The Dutch Reformed Church had already rejected the use of nuclear weapons as un-Christian in 1962. Moreover, the NATO decision came at a particularly awkward moment for the Christian Democrats. The CDA had only just been formed and had not really amalgamated yet. A group ofMPs and party activists, especially from the former ARP, feared correctly, as it later turned out that the new party would shift to the right.

They opposed the formation of a governing coalition with the VVD in 1977, and they now used the issue of the cruise missiles to strengthen their position within the party. Following its reservations in the Dutch footnote, the government sought to depoliticise the issue by postponing a decision each year it announced to its NATO partners that a decision would be taken next year.

Eventually, in 1984, this position became untenable within the Alliance. Prime Minister Lubbers then came up with one of the most ingenious depoliticisation ploys in the history of consociationalism a final decision to accept the American missiles was to be postponed one more year. If, by 1 November 1985, the Soviets had not increased the number of their

SS-20 missiles, the Dutch would refuse to accept the missiles, whereas an increase in the number of Soviet missiles would lead to automatic acceptance of the cruise and Pershing II missiles. In practice this clever manoeuvre shifted responsibility for Dutch foreign policy to the Kremlin After a year the Soviets appeared to have added to the number of their missiles, and without any significant protest

it was decided to accept the American weapons. Shortly thereafter Gorbachev and Reagan reached an arms reduction agreement, making the Netherlands the only NATO country that had accepted the Pershing II and cruise missiles, but where they never arrived. The Dutch opposition to the neutron bomb, and the subsequent reluctance to accept their share of the

cruise missiles, have led to the diagnosis of Hollanditis, a supposedly contagious Dutch disease. Laqueur and others have speculated about a re-emergence of the tradition of neutralist abstentionism, now that both gratitude for American aid and fear of Soviet expansionism have waned. Such a diagnosis can be valid only if it is accepted that the penchant for neutralism disappeared when the Netherlands joined the

Atlantic Alliance. Neutralism can then be said to have been pushed to the background by the exceptional circumstances of the first post-war decades. Now that things are returning to normal, the Dutch return to neutralism. If, on the other hand, we agree with the view that NATO only provided the security umbrella under which the Dutch could continue to foster their aloofness from power politics, the

Dutch misgivings about nuclear weapons cannot be interpreted in this way. In this respect it is interesting to note that, whilst the percentage of the population agreeing that NATO contributes to detente in Europe dropped from 65 in 1968 to 39 in 1978, the proportion of the population in favour of continued membership of NATO did not decrease significantly. Most observers disagree with the Hollanditis diagnosis, whether they think that neutralism was abandoned

when the Dutch joined NATO or not. There are three major counter-arguments to the Hollanditis thesis. Some argue that the shift from staunch to critical, or even reluctant, ally should not be interpreted as a sign of neutralist abstentionism, but as a development towards a less submissive attitude, and a more activist role of the Dutch government in international affairs. If there is a return to old traditions at all, the

Dutch opposition to NATOs nuclear deterrent fits in with the moralist or idealist orientation of Dutch foreign policy. That is why the churches are involved that is why opposition to the missiles was closely related to a stronger emphasis on human rights and development aid see below. One author even speculates that the changes in foreign policy are caused by post-colonial guilt, felt in particular by Social Democratic Cabinet Ministers .

It is also argued that the more critical posture of the Dutch government within the Alliance should not be explained in terms of Dutch foreign policy traditions. If they are traditions at all, they arc traditions of the foreign policy elite, not of the general public. More than other policy areas, foreign policy has always been in the hands of a small, close-knit establishment. In general, foreign policy was not the subject of conflicts

between the political parties, with few notable exceptions such as rows over a Dutch embassy at the Holy See in the 1920s. Foreign policy-making was also not embedded in a neo-corporatist network of interest groups and advisory councils. In many respects foreign policy making was the last remnant of a nineteenth-century style in politics elitist and non-partisan. This changed abruptly in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Foreign policy-making did not escape this change. As a result of politicisation and polarisation the political parties, and in particular the Labour Party, developed and emphasized their own partisan proposals for the Netherlands external relations. In the population at large action groups became more vocal and visible, and some of them sought to change the countrys foreign policy.

Popular disenchantment with the Dutch role as Americas staunch ally is thought to have resulted from factors such as the coming of age of a new generation that had not itself experienced the Second World War, the revulsion arising from the widely televised atrocities of the Vietnam war, and exasperation with the ongoing arms race. It is this domesticisation of foreign policy that is often held responsible for the change in

Dutch foreign policy. Support for this view can be found in the fact that the return from politicisation and polarisation to the original rules of the game, was followed by a less deviant position of the Netherlands within NATO. It can also be argued, however, that the removal of the nuclear missiles from the international agenda made such a return to the mainstream of NATO possible, and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact since

Gorbachev came to power in 1985 may even have brought the mainstream of NATO closer to the Dutch position. The position of the Netherlands within the Alliance in the late 1980s and early 1990s is best illustrated by the opposition, on the one hand, to President Reagans Strategic Defense Initiative, and the reversal, on the other hand, of an earlier decision to scrap the nuclear capabilities

of the F-16 jet-fighters and Orion anti-submarine planes. Both these counter-arguments accept that a change in Dutch foreign policy has taken place, but disagree with interpreting the change as a return to neutralist abstentionism. However, the strongest argument against the Hollanditis diagnosis comes from those observers who argue that, in practice, the changes in the foreign

policy of the Dutch government have been only marginal. They argue that, pressured by domestic critique of NATOs nuclear strategy, the Dutch government paid lip service to the ideal of nuclear disarmament, while continuing its support of NATO. Perhaps the only difference with other member states was the impact of public opinion on the Dutch government. But if this resulted in the official rhetoric being neutralist,

so the argument goes, the reality was not so affected. Voorhoeve, for one, does not concur with the popular description of Dutch security policy after 1970 as that of a critical or reluctant ally. Himself a member of the opposition at the time, he writes of the Cabinet that is held most responsible for the changes in the countrys foreign policy

They left not only staunch NATO supporters, but also the disarmament lobby highly dissatisfied. By steering in-between these extremes, the Den-Uyl Government had simply changed the country from a super-loyal into a normal ally. In support of this analysis he points to the cuts in the Dutch defence budget in the mid-1970s which have often been used as evidence of

Hollanditis. Whilst such cuts may have been important in absolute terms, they were not greater than in many other NATO countries. On the contrary, the relative contribution of the Dutch to NATOs defence expenditure increased slightly during the 1970s, whereas that of countries such as the US or the UK decreased at the time. European Integration The Dutch have the reputation of being enthusiastic subscribers to the ideal of an integrated

Europe. The practice of European integration, however, is not always as wholeheartedly embraced the Netherlands has been one of the slowest member states in implementing measures under the single market. But Europe is not an issue on the political agenda no major political party questions EC membership, and surveys consistently show higher than average popular support for European unification in the Netherlands. From the Dutch point of view the

EC has fulfilled its two main promises. It has been almost too successful in cementing Germany not only militarily through NATO but also economically into Western alliances, and the Dutch are now wary of a French German directorate within the Community. The second promise, of fostering Dutch economic growth by demolishing obstacles to trade two-thirds of

Dutch industrial exports is to other member states, has also been a success, and the Netherlands has, until 1992, always been a net earner from the EC. Interestingly enough, the Dutch had to overcome initial hesitations before developing their pro-Europe attitude. When the European Coal and Steel Community was set up, the Dutch objected to a supranational authority, whereas supranationality was later to become one of the

characteristic Dutch desires in Brussels. Another source of hesitation was even more curious fear by all major parties except the KVP, of a papist Europe. This fear even had an impact on the composition of the 1952-6 Cabinet. In Chapter 2 we noted that in 1952 the portfolio of Foreign Affairs fell to the KVP, but that the other parties balked at the prospect of all the

Foreign Secretaries in the EC being Catholics. As a compromise a non-partisan Minister of Foreign Affairs, the banker Beyen, was appointed, in addition to whom the Catholic diplomat Joseph Luns became minister without portfolio, with the right to call himself Foreign Secretary when abroad. When asked why the Netherlands had two Ministers of Foreign Affairs, his stock reply was that, the

Netherlands being such a small country, the rest of the world was too large an area to be covered by just one minister. Ironically, it was the Catholic Luns who turned out to be a staunch Atlanticist, and it was Beyen who became one of the founding fathers of the Community. The latter succeeded, together with Belgiums

Foreign Secretary, Spaak, in laying the foundations of the EC Treaty after attempts at a European Defence Community and a European Political Community had foundered in 1954. Once these initial hesitations were overcome, two important obstacles to European integration remained a fear of domination by one or more of the larger member states, and an

emphasis on Atlantic cooperation in the areas of defence and foreign policy. Because of these reservations it has been argued that the Dutch Foreign Office sought to model Europe as a greater Holland. The fear of a directorate of larger countries, France, or a Franco-German coalition, made the Dutch into proponents of widening the

Community by including more countries, but it was primarily translated into proposals to strengthen the ECs supranational institutions, the Commission and the European Parliament. Countries such as the Netherlands, it is felt, are too small to exert influence in an intergovernmental power game. Supranational bodies, on the other hand, are likely to pursue pan-European interests, and such interests are deemed more compatible with

Dutch interests than are specific French or German interests. Thus supranationalism became a preoccupation of the Dutch within Europe, from the near unanimous motion in the Second Chamber to transfer powers to supranationalist institutions in 1948, to the conflict in 1991 between the Netherlands as temporary chairman of the

EC and the British government about supranationalist tendencies in a Dutch draft for the Maastricht treaty. The Dutch insistence, since 1964, on a directly elected European Parliament with real powers should also be interpreted in this light. Officially, the Dutch have always worried about the European democratic deficit decision-making increasingly shifts to

Brussels, where it is outside the purview of national parliaments. This gap in democratic accountability should be filled by a competent European Parliament. The introduction of direct elections to the European Parliament, first held in 1979, was celebrated as a Dutch victory for democracy. Turnout for these elections was low everywhere, but it was particularly

disappointing in the Netherlands. This has not helped much in giving the supranational Parliament democratic legitimacy, but the low turnout has only strengthened the resolve of the Dutch government to push for more powers for the European Parliament, claiming that the low turnout is caused by a reluctance to vote for a third-rate legislature. It is difficult- to ascertain to what degree this concern for

European democracy is real, or whether it merely serves as a flag of convenience under which to strengthen the supranational character of the Community in defence of Dutch national interests. Whatever explanation is the correct one, it should be emphasized that the campaign for supranationalism has always taken second place to the Atlantic orientation in Dutch European policy. It is in the interest of

Dutch trade that the Netherlands has always attempted to prevent the development of a fortress Europe by welcoming the accession of new member states, and by objecting to European protectionism. Yet, within that framework, the Atlantic orientation has always been given precedence. Dutch Atlanticism is evidenced by a reluctance to extend

European cooperation to defence and foreign policy, and by its support of British applications for membership of the Community. The Dutch attitude is epitomised by Foreign Secretary Lunss finest hour his no to De Gaulles aspirations in 1961-2. In 1960 the French President announced his proposals for a

European Political Union, which included taking over some of NATOs military responsibilities, and in which European institutions would be firmly controlled by intergovernmental bodies. The circumstance that France was the only nuclear power within the Europe of the original six member states, and De Gaulles suggestion that the new political unions secretariat be located in Paris, provided sufficient fuel for fear of a

Gaullist Europe. This anxiety, the lack of supranational elements in the proposal, and the challenge to Americas leadership of the Alliance by the formation of a French-led European defence bloc within NATO, all ran counter to established Dutch foreign policy precepts. Irritation over the plans mounted when De Gaulle secured German and Italian support on the eve of the 1961 meeting where the proposals were

to be discussed. All other member states, except the Netherlands, agreed to underwrite the French plans. Much to the surprise of Europes two most venerable statesmen, De Gaulle and Adenauer, their proposal was thwarted by a Minister of Foreign Affairs not even a head of state or government from a small country.

Luns demanded that the political union should not affect NATO, and that it-should develop supranational institutions. He was willing to drop these conditions, however, provided that the UK was included. This last element, which became known as the Dutch prealable Anglais, is interesting since it shows that for the

Netherlands Atlanticism took priority over supranationalism. Because of Britains special relationship with the USA, its accession to the Community would provide the Dutch with a powerful ally in promoting an Atlantic orientation within the EG. At the same time it was well known that the British were, and still are excessively wary of transferring

some of their national sovereignty to a supranational organisation. The Dutch could not hope to get support for their plans in that direction from British membership of the Community. After the inconclusive 1961 summit the Dutch were gradually forced to accept compromise proposals, and they might have lost their struggle had not De Gaulle snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by rejecting the compromises, reverting to

his original plan, and vetoing British membership. In 1962 the Netherlands, now joined by Belgium, once again and this time definitely vetoed the proposals. It is only in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the Atlantic orientation seems gradually to have been pushed into the background. The causes of this change - it is still little more than a shift in emphasis are to be found on both

sides of the Atlantic. The USA is perceived to be less focused on Europe than it was in the past. In the 1970s there were already growing doubts about the American guarantee of European security, and subsequently there were calls to develop a European defence option within the context of the Western European Union WEU. Now that the Soviet threat has collapsed, the

USA need no longer give priority to Europes defence. A new, more globally-oriented, USA foreign policy is reflected in President Bushs new world order. In economic terms, the US is forced more and more to look westward. This Pacific economic orientation of the USA has also weakened Americas cross-Atlantic ties.

At the same time, the international situation has changed for the Dutch, too. The Europe of the Six has become the Europe of the Twelve. From the Dutch point of view the most important of the new member states has been the UK. There is less need for an Atlantic reservation to European integration now that the Community includes a large extra-continental power to counter-balance

Franco-German aspirations. The Dutch are also less opposed to European political cooperation because they have learned from the 1973 Arab oil embargo that it can be risky to stand alone. Before 1973 the Netherlands had a strongly pro-Israel reputation, perhaps not always warranted by its actual policies. The Arab countries took particular offence at the

Dutch adherence to the English version of resolution 242 of the UN Security Council, calling for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories, rather than the occupied territories mentioned in some other versions. When war broke out in the Middle East in 1973, the Dutch government unequivocally condemned the Arab countries, just as it had done in 1967. It refused to join the other

EC member states in a common reaction because of the more pro-Arab attitude of the French in particular. For these reasons, in October 1973, the Arab countries imposed an oil embargo not only on the USA, but also on the Netherlands. The embargo of the Netherlands was even kept in place four months longer than that of the

USA. Despite panicky reactions at first - car-free Sundays were declared to save oil - the economic effect of the embargo was insignificant because oil was diverted from other EC countries to the Netherlands, despite their irritation over the Dutch obstinacy. The political effect has been more important. Not only have the Dutch distanced themselves more and more from

Israel, but they have also come to see the advantages of a common European foreign policy. Now that the renewed momentum of European integration has spilled over into closer military cooperation within the WEU, and in renewed proposals for a European Political Union, the Dutch take a less deviant stance than they did in the 1960s.

Yet, when the Netherlands took over the EC presidency in July 1991, it attempted to redraft the existing Luxemburg proposal for the treaty to establish a European Political Union to include more supranationalist elements, and to allow a common security policy only as a complement to NATO, much to the annoyance of several other member states. Apparently the traditional reservations have not yet been completely abandoned.

UN In the past the third constant of Dutch foreign policy, internationalist idealism primarily took the form of the promotion of international law. More recently it has also surfaced in foreign policy statements and documents in the form of role-conceptions such as example and developer protecting human rights abroad and providing aid to developing countries. These activities are pursued primarily, but not exclusively, within the context of the

UN. The peace-keeping missions of that organisation have also been supported either financially or militarily as most recently in what was formerly Yugoslavia, but that has not been the most conspicuous Dutch contribution to the UN. As a result of its historical links to the Boers in South Africa, the Netherlands voted in 1961 against expelling the country from the UN for its policy of apartheid, but subsequently the

Dutch have become ever more critical of South Africa. Since 1963 the Netherlands has complied with a non-mandatory embargo on military supplies to South Africa, and as a temporary member of the Security Council from 1983 to 1985 it took the initiative for a resolution boycotting weapons made in South Africa. The Dutch have also offered financial assistance to victims of apartheid.

The Netherlands has similarly sought to put pressure on South Africa through the EC. It is not only in South Africa that the Netherlands has supported the cause of human rights. The Dutch have always advocated the appointment of a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In terms of governmental policy, this support is to a degree

symbolized in the person of the Foreign Secretary, Max van der Stoel 1973-7, 1981 2. Streets have been named after him in Greece and Eastern Europe because of his support for democrats and dissidents when these countries were still ruled autocratically. In the absence of objective and quantifiable indicators it is, however, difficult to gauge the importance of human rights in

Dutch foreign policy compared with that of other countries. The Dutch preoccupation with development aid lends itself more readily to cross-national comparisons. Whether out of a sense of guilt about its colonial past, or as a modern extension of the churches missionary work, the Dutch attitude towards developing countries borders on tiers-mondisme. The importance of development aid is probably the one aspect of foreign policy on which all major parties

are most in agreement. Political disagreement is largely confined to which criteria should be used to select countries for bilateral aid. Constant among these criteria are the degree of poverty, the degree to which the indigenous government puts in an effort of its own, and the existence of an historic responsibility i.e to former colonies such as Indonesia and Surinam. More controversial are criteria such as respect for human rights especially when it conflicts with

the historic responsibility for former colonies turned dictatorial, or the degree to which Dutch exporting companies can profit from the aid. In 1992 such conflicting criteria led to an ironic episode in which the Indonesian government retaliated against Dutch criticism of its human rights record by suddenly announcing that it would no longer accept Dutch development assistance.

Bilateral aid is not the only element in the Dutch development program. Multilateral aid constitutes about one third of the total outlays for development assistance and, officially, is preferred to bilateral aid. The Dutch minister without portfolio in charge of these matters is therefore called the Minister for Development Cooperation, rather than Development Aid. For the same reason the Netherlands is an active defender of

Third World interests within various UN organisations in this field. As chairman of a UN commission, the Dutch Nobel prize-winning economist, Tinbergen, was instrumental in setting as a target for the 1970s that all rich countries spend at least 0.7 per cent of their national income on development aid. Only Sweden and the Netherlands met this target before the 1975 deadline.

In absolute terms, the Netherlands spends as much on development aid as the UK. Too much should not be made of the idealism in Dutch foreign policy. It is striking that references to Dutch vital national interests are extremely rare in documents and debates devoted to the countrys foreign policy. However, this should not be mistaken for political altruism.

Interests and ideals are often compatible, or the ideals are formulated as aims that are as vague as they are pious, leaving sufficient leeway for an interpretation that does no harm to national interests. When interests and ideals do clash, it is fair to say that, generally speaking, the Dutch merchant carries more weight than the Galvinist minister. The example of how the Netherlands adjusted its Middle

East policy after the 1973 oil embargo has already been mentioned. On the other hand, the idealism is more than mere rhetoric. In 1976 the government refused to give export guarantees for the sale of nuclear reactor parts to South Africa in 1981 the government narrowly escaped being censured for its rejection of an oil boycott of that country. Most significantly, development aid, now at over 1.5 per cent of the national income,

is the only chapter of the governments budget that has escaped unscathed in budget cutbacks until the early 1990s. Foreign Policy Constants Re-examined We began this chapter with Voorhoeves list of three clusters of traditions or tendencies in the foreign policy of the Netherlands maritime commercialism, neutralist abstentionism, and internationalist idealism. Together these three themes cover so wide a range of policies that it has been argued that anything

the Dutch Foreign Office does can always be construed as evidence of at least one of the three traditions. If one avoids that particular pitfall, however, these tendencies provide a useful framework for an analysis of developments in Dutch foreign policy. They can still be detected in the Dutch position in the international arena. If the neutralist attitude has been forsaken, it was already abandoned when the Dutch joined the Atlantic Alliance in 1949, but the abstention from international

power politics remained. With the benefit of hindsight we were also able to conclude that it is at least an exaggeration to interpret the somewhat less submissive attitude vis-a-vis the USA in the 1970s as a return to neutralism. The emphasis on internationalist idealism received a new impetus from the domestication of Dutch foreign policy since the 1960s, and was broadened to include the protection of human rights and development cooperation.

The only potential change lies in an incipient decline of the Atlantic orientation, but it is more a gradual even reluctant adaptation to changing international circumstances i.e weakening American interest in Europe, and a renewed momentum of European integration than a conscious change of course. The Dutch may have too little sense of history to maintain traditions, but they are also too conservative

to throw them overboard.