Amsterdam’s Political Pillars of Diversity

Abstract

In Amsterdam political debates about cultural diversity and the integration of migrant minorities have a long history with unique developments. Almost half of its population is of non-Dutch origin, which proportionally represents one of the largest foreign populations in the European urban context. Integration policies elaborated in the Netherlands, with their own development in Amsterdam, have played a prominent role in the evolution of policies at the European level. Acknowledging the permanent character of immigration and identifying itself as a multicultural society, it was the first country to enact a policy of multiculturalism in the early 1980s. An exceptional tolerance in various areas of society has characterized the Netherlands since the seventeenth century, which made it an attractive place for religious minorities fleeing persecution from elsewhere in Europe. Most of these foreigners settled in the port city of Amsterdam, where the practice of “gedogen” – spaces for diversity and tolerance – was integrated in daily life and extended to newcomers. In Amsterdam, the attitude toward immigrants is inspired by the idea that each person should be “sovereign in his own domain” and may act freely, as long as he respects the rules of the host society and do not disturb the neighbors.

Amsterdam has been a world city for more than half a millennium, attracting immigrants from the Dutch provinces and from faraway foreign countries since the sixteenth century. Though local Amsterdammers often frowned upon them, immigrants’ hard labor, entrepreneurial drive and financial capital propelled urban economic progress. In retrospect, we know that immigrants and their offspring, despite the succession of exclusionary practices, eventually managed to become part of the mainstream.

Liza Nell & Jan Rath (2009)