INTRODUCTION

The literature on Dutch party manifestos is sparse (Lipschits 1977, 1981; De Bruyn 1971). In this chapter we make a first attempt to compare them systematically, as distinct from analysing them impressionistically (De Bruyn 1971) or using them in an ad hoc manner – for example, to provide a basis for ordering the political parties of the Netherlands on a left–right dimension (Lipschits 1969; De Swaan 1973). Only one author has used methods similar to ours, contrasting the 1948 and 1963 election manifestos of the KVP, PvdA, VVD and ARP to see whether the parties have become more alike (Hoogerwerf 1963, 1964, 1965).

There are a number of reasons for this apparent lack of interest. In the first place it is difficult to make a distinction between election manifestos and other manifestos or platforms. Hoogerwerf argued; ‘In the Netherlands a distinction is made between a party's election programme (listing among other things its objectives for a four-year parliamentary period), its constitution (containing the main principles of the party), its general political programme (its objectives for a period longer than four years), its provincial programme and its municipal programme’ (Hoogerwerf 1964, p. 163). This may be so, but it is far from easy to distinguish clearly. All political parties have constitutions, and these are mentioned as such, but the line between election programmes and general political programmes has not always been clear. Moreover, some of the programmes are cited as ‘urgency programmes’.