Introduction

ONE OF THE STORIES THAT JACQUES THOMASSEN IS KNOWN TO HAVE related more than once, and which is therefore probably of some significance, is about how his 1976 dissertation Kiezers en gekozenen in een representatieve demokratie was received. The dissertation reported on the first true representation study conducted in the Netherlands, consisting of surveys among the members of parliament as well as among a sample from the Dutch electorate. It was part of a larger, international research effort that involved researchers from the United States, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Many of these count among the top political scientists of the last decades.

The dissertation contained several remarkable results. Members of parliament appeared to have different policy views than their own voters. Notably, the representatives of left-wing parties were quite out of touch with their voters on law-and-order types of issues. The Dutch press showed a great interest in these results, and the dissertation promised to attract a great deal of coverage. Then a government-appointed committee published its long-expected report on the alleged corruption and bribing affair involving airplane construction firms and Prince Bernard, the Dutch prince consort. Within hours, the media attention shifted completely to the report, and attention for Thomassen’s dissertation dwindled.

The story shows how the results of meticulous, time-consuming empirical research do not easily make the headlines – the news of the day is more attractive for the mass media. At the same time, serious research is indispensable for understanding and appraising the developments in everyday politics. It provides the frames for understanding the news, and offers possibilities for comparing the events of here and today with those in other countries or in the past. Without an idea about the divergence of mass and elite opinions, how could one have understood the outburst of popular support for Prince Bernard at the annual ceremony of the opening of the parliamentary year in 1976?

Mass-elite relationships, in particular the democratic forms of these, and public opinion have been at the focus of Thomassen’s research since his earliest publications. The potential conflict between fundamental values of democracy is one of his constant concerns.