By: Sam Volkers After the sharp fall during the 2017 national elections and the mediocre result during the 2021 national elections, the PvdA (the Labour Party) has been trying to get itself together again. The upcoming municipal elections will show if these efforts will prove to be successful. …

By: Sam Volkers Even though the Eurofederalist party Volt is a newcomer in Dutch politics, it has already been doing better than expected. After winning three seats in the Second Chamber during the 2021 election, for a large part thanks to students voting, the party has consistently been doing well…

By: Sam Volkers In the mind of most people, CDA is a party for old Protestants and Catholics living in small towns and villages, far away from cities like Amsterdam. However, a closer look would prove this stereotype wrong. In the coming municipal elections, CDA will be the party with…

By: Sam Volkers Ever since I started getting involved in politics, I noticed that if there is one political ideology that is most misunderstood it is christian-democracy and the political parties that adhere to it. Unlike liberalism and socialism/social-democracy, the ideas of christian-democracy are a great unknown to most people…

Note: This article was originally published on 22/02/2022 By Sam Volkers On March 16th 2022, all municipalities in the Netherlands will hold municipal elections. In Amsterdam, there is much to choose from, as 26 parties will be running in the elections. This diverse bunch of parties offer something for everyone…

Note: This article was first published by YOUvA Today on 8/02/2022. By Sam Volkers On March 16th 2022, all municipalities in the Netherlands will hold gemeenteraadsverkiezingen. But what are these strange-sounding “gemeenteraadsverkiezingen”. How can you vote for them? And why should you even care? …

By: Sam Volkers Intro In discussions about the future of the European Union, it seems that there is a lack of new ideas. Politicians either belong to the Europositive camp, favoring further integration and federalization, or in the hard Eurosceptic camp, favoring national sovereignty and leaving the EU. Other politicians…

Note: This article was originally published on 18/09/2021 on The Mallard’s website. The article is an edited version of my article “Neoliberalism: the ideology you have (probably) never heard of” for De Derde Dinsdag’s website. By Sam Volkers Introduction During the last 1.5 years, political pundits from all around the…

By Sam Volkers Introduction The Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a turning point in political and economic thinking in the West. Not only did we realize that neoliberalism and hyper-globalization are failed projects and that the state should step in more often to help solve problems in the economy, but…