How we do things here : moral communities, Integration, and toleration in the Netherlands:competing interpretations of liberalism in parliamentary practice, 2000-2013

Abstract

This subject of this thesis is toleration in the Netherlands after 2000. It presents an analysis of a number of parliamentary debates that have bearing on the treatment of religious and cultural diversity in the Netherlands and on the integration of newcomers to Dutch society. It focuses on parliamentary debates since 2000 because of reports of diminishing tolerance and increasing assimilationism in the Netherlands post-2000. The question this research attempts to answer is how parliament conceives of the place and role of __moral communities__, i.e. ethnic, religious, or cultural communities, in the Netherlands. It specifically aims to determine to which degree and on what grounds moral communities are regarded as having the liberty to remain distinct from Dutch society and to what extent and on what grounds their members are required to integrate or assimilate. To that end liberal political philosophy, i.e. political philosophy investigating the grounds, form, and scope of individual liberty, is applied as an analytical tool in this research.