Presentation

Organizers:

Date:

October 21, 2024

Time:

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Fee:

FREE Entrance

Location:

Room A, University of Aruba & Online via Zoom

Democracy in the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Aruba Institute for Good Governance & Leadership

Introduction:

In this lecture, Wouter Veenendaal will discuss his research on politics and democracy in small islands, and will present his current research agenda on democratic representation in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Description:

What are the characteristics of politics and democracy on small islands, and how does democracy function in the Kingdom of the Netherlands? These two questions will be at the heart of this public lecture by Wouter Veenendaal. He will first provide an overview of the nature of politics in small islands, based on his extensive research in small (island) states around the world, including Malta, Seychelles, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Vanuatu, and the Caribbean islands in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This part of the lecture will show how and why small islands are characterized by person-driven politics, polarization, patron-client networks, and a tendency towards power concentration. The lecture will discuss the implications of these findings for the functioning of Aruban politics.

The second part of the lecture focuses on democracy in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Attention is paid to the contentious structure of the Kingdom, which consists of four autonomous and equivalent countries, of which one is however politically superior to the others. The lecture will discuss the consequences of this structure for the quality of democratic representation in the Kingdom, paying specific attention to the inadequate democratic representation of the Caribbean islands in the Kingdom.

Speaker:

Wouter Veenendaalis Professor by Special Appointment in Kingdom Affairs and Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at Leiden University, the Netherlands. His research examines the effects of population size on politics and democracy, with a specific focus on politics in small (island) states and territories. He has conducted research in small island settings around the world, including the six Caribbean islands that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In the context of his Professor Chair, he studies the nature and quality of democratic representation on the Caribbean islands in the Kingdom, and at the broader Kingdom level.

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