Nitrogen crisis: The result of the institutional failure of parliament

The nitrogen crisis could have been prevented. Parliament, through their inaction, failed to hold the government accountable, to consult to find better solutions and to build support for their legislation in society. According to Joes de Natris, who is writing this article in a personal capacity, it has failed to carry out its constitutional duty....

Helft gemeenten maximeert lokale lastenstijging, maar daar merkt de burger weinig van

Gemeenten beslissen zelf of ze extra belastinggeld ophalen om bijvoorbeeld een zwembad of bibliotheek open te kunnen houden. Veel collegeakkoorden sluiten deze mogelijkheid echter bij voorbaat uit: zij leggen vast dat de lastenstijging beperkt blijft tot een inflatiecorrectie. Toch stijgen de lasten in deze gemeenten niet minder dan in andere gemeenten. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek...

Meebesturen gemeente kost partij stemmen – maar de ene meer dan de andere

SP zwaar gestraft; CU en SGP winnen juist als ze wethouders leveren Politieke partijen die wethouders leveren om een gemeente te besturen verliezen gemiddeld 5 procent van hun raadszetels wanneer er opnieuw verkiezingen zijn. Het zetelverlies hangt onder meer af van de partij en van het aantal partijen in het college. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek...

The Corona Kremlinologists

For the time this corona crisis persists, my blogging activity will be posted on: https://thecoronakremlinologists.wordpress.com A co-authored blog aiming to bring more diversity of perspectives, transparency and open debate to the corona crisis.

The Perishing Political Party and Political Personality Paradox

Groningen, a.d. X Kal. Nov. MMDCCLXXII A.U.C., Throughout the West we see political parties are in decline. Fewer voters trust them to do the right thing, they attract fewer members, they attract less involvement overall, and fewer people show up at election time to support one or the other party. This is part of a...

Zambia travel report 2: Some notes on the economy

There are five things I noticed about the Zambian economy from just looking around outside and talking to people. To start, labour productivity here is low. There are many tiny shops, often selling very similar products, right besides each other, being quite empty most of the time. Similarly, in many restaurants and bars there is...

Zambia travel report 1: Kenneth Kaunda and patriotism

Lusaka, a.d. VIII Id. Mai. MMDCCLXXII, To attend the wedding of two friends of mine, I have travelled to Zambia. In these short travel reports I'll give updates on the fascinating political economic things I encounter here. To start, former president Kenneth 'super-Ken' Kaunda and patriotism in Zambia. Flying in from Johannesburg, it was announced...

Book review: W. Rostow – The Dynamics of Soviet Society

Groningen, a.d. VI Non. Mai. MMDCCLXXII A.U.C., This 246 pages long book gives a short introduction to the (dys)functioning of Soviet society up and to 1952, as seen from the viewpoint of the American historian Rostow in 1954. Peculiarly, he was not an expert on this topic, he wrote the book based on conversations and...

"It is the historian who has decided for his own reasons that Caesar's crossing of that petty stream, the Rubicon, is a fact of history, whereas the crossing of the Rubicon by millions of other people before or since interests nobody at all. The fact that you arrived in this building half an hour ago...

Laat gemeenteraden de Provinciale Staten benoemen.

Door de koppeling van de Provinciale Statenverkiezingen en de Eerste Kamer overschaduwen de thema's die nationaal spelen de provinciale thema's zo langzamerhand volledig. Sinds de Statenverkiezingen van maart 2019 is het bestaande systeem duidelijk failliet. Een goede oplossing is om de gemeenteraden de Provinciale Staten te laten benoemen: https://www.binnenlandsbestuur.nl/gemeenteraden-ps