The concept of ’negative sanctions’ has for many years been employed in political science. The author describes the way in which the concept has been operationalized by R. E. Agger, D. Goldrich and... Show moreThe concept of ’negative sanctions’ has for many years been employed in political science. The author describes the way in which the concept has been operationalized by R. E. Agger, D. Goldrich and B. E. Swanson in the Rulers and the Ruled and by J. F. Medler in Negative Sanctions: Their Perception and their Impact in the Political System. Since the author’s main interest centers on reasons for political apathy, special attention is paid to the subjective aspect of the problem: do citizens expect to be sanctioned for political activities? Some of the problems of adapting the questions used in American research to measure sanction-perceptions, to the Dutch situation, are discussed. Sanction expectations were, in the author’s research, tied to a special kind of political activity namely expressing one’s opinion in public on an issue salient at the time: Republic or Monarchy. Sanctions included reprisals expected from governmental authorities. One fourth of the Amsterdam respondents expected to be registered by the B.V.D. (the Dutch F.B.I.), if they openly expressed a preference for the Republic. Fifteen percent thought that a preference for the Republic would make it harder to get governmental financial support. Eight percent thought they would get trouble with the police. Other expectations with regard to economic and social sanctions, as well as with regard to positive sanctions, are presented. Show less
In a reaction to ’The Implications of Proportional Representation with Eighteen Districts’ by R. Verboom {Acta Politica III: 2 Jan. 1968, p. 118-131), the author defends his proposal to divide the... Show moreIn a reaction to ’The Implications of Proportional Representation with Eighteen Districts’ by R. Verboom {Acta Politica III: 2 Jan. 1968, p. 118-131), the author defends his proposal to divide the country into rather large districts, with a system of proportional representation and the possibility of combined party lists. This would facilitate the formation of two large political groups, which could offer real alternatives to the voters at the polls. The winning group would form the new cabinet, which would represent the will of the majority of the voters. Thus there would be no need for a directly elected prime minister as proposed by ’Democrats ’66’. Show less
It is argued that the forthcoming formation of a ’National Institute for Peace Problems’ in the Netherlands necessitates research which will undoubtedly be applied research since it has a clear... Show moreIt is argued that the forthcoming formation of a ’National Institute for Peace Problems’ in the Netherlands necessitates research which will undoubtedly be applied research since it has a clear relation to a particular value of worldwide significance; the value of peace. However, the author fears that the prevailing method of teaching international relations at Dutch universities concerns itself predominantly, if not exclusively, with the teaching of so-called pure science. In this context the recent public lecture of Dr. P. R. Baehr at the University of Amsterdam, on ’Teaching and Research in International Relations’ is discussed. The new institute will inevitably suffer from the above-mentioned contradictory situation, as it obviously needs the support of the universities. With a view to avoiding the isolation of the institute, the author makes a plea for the reconsideration of the present situation. In criticizing the position taken by Dr. Baehr the author emphasizes the need for the effectuation of research and teaching on an applied basis. In the opinion of the author, research and teaching on an applied basis would be of multiple utility as compared with the pure basis. Finally, the author advocates the convocation of a — preferably international — conference in the Netherlands in order to discuss certain items, some of which have already been put forward by the Norwegian peace-researcher, Dr. J. Galtung; 1) Is peace-research to be considered a value-oriented field of inquiry built around the value of peace? 2) Is this field of inquiry an applied field of research, and is its task then to present what will generally seem like ’policy implication’? 3) Will the science of international relations on the one hand, and peace-research on the other, converge into one science that could presumably best be called ’irenology’ ? 4) If the preceding question must be answered negatively, what will be the position allotted to these branches of science in research and teaching at the universities? In a rejoinder Dr. Baehr defends his earlier standpoint and rejects the proposed international conference, as he feels that there should be scope for both methods of scientific approach. Show less
The data on which this analysis is based were assembled by Dr. A. Hoogerwerf; I a random sample of 912 persons in Delft was used. The authors investigated the influence of several variables on the... Show moreThe data on which this analysis is based were assembled by Dr. A. Hoogerwerf; I a random sample of 912 persons in Delft was used. The authors investigated the influence of several variables on the independent i variable of social-political-progressiveness (spp). A matrix of correlations between fifteen items of the original questionnaire was computed; eight items which were highly related to each other were found. These items were used as indicators for social-political-progressiveness by summing the answers of each respondent on every item. On these scores an analysis of variance was carried out with five independent variables; religion, age, income, level of education, and sex. The following findings were obtained; — Religion had a significant influence on spp-scores; respondents who do not have any specific religion tend to be more progressive than others. Furthermore, Catholics tend to be more progressive than Protestants and Dutch-Reformed. — It was also shown that both the level of education and income had significant influences on spp-scores; the higher the income or the educational level, the lower the progressiveness-score. — The variables age and sex did not have significant influences on spp-scores. — The five variables included in the design explained 32% of the total variance in the spp-scores. Of the remaining 68% about 27% can be explained in terms 2 of error-variance. This means that about 41% of the total variance in spp-score.I has to be explained by factors which are not included in the design. Show less
The boundaries of municipalities in the Netherlands can only be altered by act of parliament. The article describes the decision-making process which resulted in the Bijlmermeerpolder being... Show moreThe boundaries of municipalities in the Netherlands can only be altered by act of parliament. The article describes the decision-making process which resulted in the Bijlmermeerpolder being provisionally added to the municipality of Amsterdam. Up till then, this polder had constituted part of a municipality near Amsterdam and was planned as a new residential area for about a 100,000 people. The problem was, should this project be realized as the responsibility of the Amsterdam city-government or as that of the authorities of a new municipality to be founded in die Bijlmermeerpolder. The city-government held the opinion that only the first solution could render satisfactory results and therefore campaigned for annexation. It was argued that only Amsterdam was technically and administratively equipped for this task. 1 he Minister of the Interior took the second view; he considered it in favour of local democracy to found a new and relatively small municipality. . The local authorities and pressure groups in Amsterdam and some directly interested municipalities tried to influence parliament and the parliamentary parties during the years of discussion on the repeatedly modified bill. The authors regard the administrative arrangement of an expending metropolitan area as a political problem, since the entire area is the scene of the economic, social and cultural life of the residents, whereas they are politically relevant in only part of it, namely the municipality they happen to live in. This problem was hardly touched upon in the discussion on the Bijlmermeerpolder. The dimension in the largest parliamentary group has contributed to the focusing of attention on technical and managerial matters. The decision which was finally reached may be considered as a specimen o incremental or marginal decision-making. Show less
