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After accommodation? Inclusion and exclusion of emancipation interests in Dutch ‘democratic corporatism’

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Abstract

One form of accommodating historically marginalised social groups is through ‘democratic corporatism’, in which government to some degree formalises emancipation interests’ representation within policy processes. This article compares the corporatist trajectories of the emancipation interests of women and gays/lesbians in the Netherlands to examine why women’s interests became excluded from and gay/lesbian interests remained included in corporatist policy processes. Existing studies have failed to explain why changes in corporatism differently affect incorporated organisations across policy arenas. This article examines the role of the level of formalisation of corporatist relations, and by extension the ability of incorporated organisations to combine top-down and bottom-up resources, in leading to exclusion from or continued inclusion in corporatist policy processes. The findings highlight the importance for incorporated emancipation interests of the ability to combine top-down and bottom-up resources to manoeuvre changes in corporatism and successfully maintain their inclusion in corporatist policy processes.

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Notes

  1. For more information on the role government can play as mediator between employers’ and employees’ organisations, see Hemerijck and Visser (2000) and Woldendorp and Delsen (2008).

  2. In practice, some individuals, particularly lesbian women, bridged between both organised interests. The organised interests of both gays/lesbians and women are nonetheless treated separately in this article, as their incorporation was structured separately by government actors.

  3. Protestants, Catholics, socialists, and liberals.

  4. For further reading on pillarization, see: Andeweg and Irwin (2002).

  5. Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties.

  6. ‘COC’ is an acronym that originally stood for ‘Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum’ or ‘Centre for Culture and Relaxation’ in English. That name was in use from 1948 and was the official name of the organisation from 1949 until 1964 (Warmerdam and Koenders 1987). Homosexuality was deliberately absent from the name, which was reflective of the organisation’s initially closeted orientation.

  7. Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis.

  8. Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport.

  9. The Lubbers I Cabinet governed from 4 November 1982 to 14 July 1986.

  10. Christen-Democratisch Appèl.

  11. Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie.

  12. Ministerie van Welzijn, Volksgezondheid en Cultuur.

  13. In line with Outshoorn, ‘staatssecretaris’ was translated as, ‘state secretary, the Dutch equivalent of a junior minister’ (1995, p. 169).

  14. The Lubbers II Cabinet governed from 14 July 1986 to 7 November 1989.

  15. The Lubbers III Cabinet governed from 7 November 1989 to 22 August 1994.

  16. The Den Uyl Cabinet governed from 11 May 1973 until 18 December 1977.

  17. Partij van de Arbeid.

  18. Ministerie van Cultuur, Recreatie en Maatschappelijk Werk.

  19. For further reading see: Outshoorn and Swiebel (1998).

  20. The Tweede Kamer is the Second House of the Dutch Parliament and will subsequently be referred to as ‘TK’.

  21. The Van Agt I Cabinet governed from 19 December 1977 until 11 September 1981.

  22. The Van Agt II Cabinet governed from 11 September 1981 to 29 May 1982.

  23. Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid.

  24. Commissie de Jong.

  25. Woestijnwet.

  26. The Kok II Cabinet governed from 3 August 1998 to 21 July 2002.

  27. Aidsfonds.

  28. Internationaal Informatiecentrum en Archief voor de Vrouwenbeweging.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the staff of the archives IHLIA LGBT Heritage, Atria, the International Institute of Social History, and the Dutch National Archive for being particularly helpful in assisting with the collection of documents analysed in this article. I would also like to thank the program group Political Sociology of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam for funding the PhD research of which this article is a part. I am grateful to the anonymous reviewer, Conny Roggeband, Joke Swiebel, Jan Willem Duyvendak, Christian Bröer, Ben Radcliff, Serena Cruz, Floris Vermeulen, Joost Berkhout, Natalie Welfens, Kelly Kollman, Jeroen Romeijn, and Steve Russell for providing comments on an earlier version of this article.

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  1. Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 15718, 1001 NE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Robert J. Davidson

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Davidson, R.J. After accommodation? Inclusion and exclusion of emancipation interests in Dutch ‘democratic corporatism’. Acta Polit 56, 163–180 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-020-00153-9

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