Politics of Loss and Restoration

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Politics of Loss and Restoration

The development of historical discourse in national election manifestos of

the Dutch Christian Democratic Appeal (1989-2017)

Final thesis

Research Master in History (MA) Classical, Medieval and Early Modern Studies

University of Groningen

By

Yoram Hendrik Poot S2168464 15-08-2019 Words: 31349

Supervisor/first reader: dr. S. Couperus Second reader: prof. D. Rijser

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Abstract

Over the last few years, the appearance of historical references regarding Dutch cultural identity in a restorative political discourse of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) has caused public and scholarly confusion about the origin and meaning of these references and the restorative character of the CDA’s discourse. This thesis is aimed to provide more insight in the development and meaning of the presence of historical references regarding cultural identity in restorative political discourses of contemporary non-populist parties like the CDA. By using a discourse-historical approach, this thesis analyses all eight CDA national election manifestos in the period 1989-2017 for the presence and development of notions of cultural identity and accompanying historical references. Using the interpretative model of nostalgia by Tannock, this thesis concludes that the development of a cultural discourse of ‘Dutch-ness’ and the perception of a lapse in Dutch society lead to the development of historical references in a restorative political discourse. The Judaeo-Christian tradition and the Dutch trade nation are two important themes in this discourse, which are based on a longer genealogy.

Key words: belonging, cultural identity, collective memory, political discourse, social imaginary, nostalgia, memory wars, Christian democrats, populism.

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Preface

Students of history are all attracted to the study of the past for various reasons. For me personally, it is about discovering how people keep trying to make sense of their world in their ever changing societies. During my undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Groningen, I have had the opportunity to study collective identity formation ranging from the Ancient World to contemporary Europe. First century Greeks and twenty-first century Dutch citizens have a very different outlook to their world and understanding of their place in it. However, what they have common is their human need to belong to a group, and to feel connected to its past. In this thesis, the study of the pre-modern and modern world come together, by investigating how perceptions of a Dutch and European past are part of contemporary Dutch politics, in which the cultural identity of Dutch citizens is heavily debated. I want to thank dr. Stefan Couperus for walking along with me in writing this thesis. Without his support and our elaborate talks about the peculiarities of contemporary politics and the meaning of history, this thesis could not have been conducted. I also want to thank prof. Onno van Nijf for the opportunity to have worked as a research-assistant and teacher during my graduate studies. I also want express my gratitude towards prof. Raingard Esser, who teached me the first skills in history as my tutor during my undergraduate studies, and who supported me in exploring my way during my graduate studies. Lastly, I want to thank my family, for supporting my love for the study of history in the first place. Whether I will stay in academia or not, the study of history at the University of Groningen has provided me with knowledge, skills and inspiration to go my way in society.

Yoram Poot

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7 Men always praise (but not always reasonably) the ancient times,

and find fault with the present;

and they are such partisans of things past,

that they celebrate not only that age which has been recalled to their memory by known writers, but those also (being now old) which they remember having seen in their youth.

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1. Introduction

1.1 Setting the problem

‘On the way to the perfection of Dutch-ness, Dutch people lost something on the way that the elite did not saw anyway: their community, their identity, the feeling of home and to be secure. This was experienced as a deep tragedy. (…) Dutch culture is built on unity in diversity, not on the cultural relativism of the multicultural philosophy of progress. In this time of confusion it is necessary to restore that common historical and cultural consciousness. (…) The tradition that formed Europe over the course of centuries is a basis to deal with great changes. It is a weapon against confusion’1

At first sight, this passage filled with restorative notions might seem to be derived from a populist right-wing Dutch politician such as Wilders or Baudet. The passage laments the loss of Dutch identity, its sense of community and its centuries long cultural tradition, while its ‘elite’ is looking away. It may come as a surprise that these words were spoken by Sybrand Buma, the political leader of the Dutch Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), in a public lecture in 2017. At the time, the speech led to a wave of criticism in the Dutch media and also within the party itself: how was it possible that the leader of the Dutch Christian Democrats sounded like a right-wing populist, and gave a speech that was filled with historical discourse about a Dutch society that had been lost and in which the Enlightenment and societal progress were openly criticized?2 Also some Dutch scholars reacted to the content of the speech, arguing that Buma sounded indeed alike Wilders, but also that his type of societal view and the rewriting of history is becoming increasingly endemic across right-wing politicians.3

However, so far the scholarly focus has been very much restricted to this conservative societal view of the CDA. Research has shown that in the last few years, centre parties like the CDA have moved closer to populist right-wing parties with regard to the theme of cultural

1_{Quoted and translated from S. Buma,‘Verwarde tijden die om richting vragen’, HJ Schoo-lezing 2017, Elsevier} Weekblad (Diemen 2017).

2 ‘_{Sybrand Buma in HJ Schoo-lezing: 'Onze traditie en cultuur mogen we niet laten verwateren', in De}

Volkskrant, 4-9-2017; ‘Kritiek op Buma uit eigen partij: 'Kijk verder dan eigen cultuur en geschiedenis, en toon

inlevingsvermogen', in De Volkskrant, 9-10-2017, ‘CDA prominenten openen aanval op Buma’, in Elsevier, 13-8-2017, accessed online at 2-6-2019.

3 _{J.W. Duyvendak, T. de Waal, ‘Het eenmalig veroordelen van Buma’s Schoo-lezing is niet genoeg’, in De} Groene Amsterdammer, 23-9-2017, accessed online at 2-6-2019.

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9 identity.4 Also, the increasing conservative course of the CDA since the 1990s and its political agenda on cultural identity under the leadership of Balkenende since 2001 has been extensively discussed.5 However, the historical discourse that made the lecture of Buma all the more controversial and for which also his predecessor Balkenende was criticized, has caught much less scholarly attention. Some famous or much used historical references, such as Balkenende’s ‘VOC mentality’ and the notion of Judaeo-Christian tradition, have been the topic of scholarly

debates separately.6 But there has not been a comprehensive study on both the development and

the content of the historical discourse of the CDA altogether. The reason for this might be that restorative and historical discourse has been mostly associated with populist leaders such as Trump, Orban, Baudet and Wilders, who have been severely criticized in academia for their nationalist version and misrepresentation of history.7

According to van der Duin, the first decade of the 21st century also witnessed a ‘historization’ of Dutch society and politics in general.8_{Long established Dutch parties such as} the CDA, the labour party PvdA and the liberal VVD have all expressed their concern about feelings of ‘loss’ that people would experience with regard to the cultural identity Dutch citizens. However, little is known of the precise discourses in which references apppear.9 Much less scholarly attention has been paid to the development of historical discourse regarding cultural identity in this non-populist political spectrum in the last few decades, and also how

4_{See T, Abou-Chadi, ‘Niche party success and mainstream party policy shifts: How green and radical right parties} differ in their impact’, in British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 46, No. 22: 417-436; K.J. Han, ‘The impact of radical right-wing parties on the positions of mainstream parties regarding multiculturalism’, in West European

Politics, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2015: 557-576; M. Rooduijn, ‘De impact van populistisch radicaal-rechts’, in Sociologie,

Vol. 13, No. 1, 2015: 11-23; J. van Spanje, ‘Contagious parties: Anti-immigration parties and their impact on other parties’ immigration stances in contemporary Western Europe’, in Party Politics, Vol. 16, No. 5, 2010: 563-586. 5_{G. Voerman. ‘Inleiding’, in: G. Voerman (ed.), De conjunctuur van de macht: het christen democratisch appèl:} 1980-2010, Boom (Amsterdam 2011); D. Witteveen, ‘The rise of mainstream Nationalism and Xenophobia in

Dutch Politics, in Journal of Labor and Society, Vol. 20, No. 3, 2017: 373-378; F. Duncan, ‘A decade of Christian Democratic Decline: The Dilemmas of the CDU, ÖVP and CDA in the 1990s’, Government and Opposition, Vol. 41, No. 4, 2006: 475, 485.

6_{E. van den Hemel, ‘Proclaiming tradition: the ‘Judeo-Christian’ roots of Dutch society and the rise of} Conservative Nationalism’, in: R. Braidotti, B. Blaagaard, T. de Graauw, E. Midden (eds.), Transformations of

Religion and the Public Sphere, Palgrave Macmillan (New York 2014), 53-76; K. Beelen, A.M. Olieman, J. Kamps, Historical Event Search in Digital Heritage: Studying Commemorative Practices in Diachronic Corpora, CEUR Workshop Proceedings, University of Amsterdam (2017).

7_{R. Wodak, The Discursive Construction of National Identity, Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh 2005); M.} Minkenberg, Historical Legacies and the Radical Right in Post-Cold War Central and Eastern Europe, Ibidem-Verlag (Stuttgart 2010); C. Mudde, Populist radical right parties in Europe, Cambridge (2007); J. Rydgren, From

Tax Populism to Ethnic Nationalism: Radical Right-wing Populism in Sweden, Berghahn (Oxford 2006). 8_{P. van der Duin, ‘Against history: the role of history in current Dutch society’, in Foresight, Vol. 9, No. 6, 2007:} 11.

9_M._{Kremer, The Netherlands: from National Identity to Plural Identifications, Transatlantic Council on Migration} (2013).

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10 the content of the used historical references can be interpreted.10 Therefore, we can speak of a gap in the literature not only with regard to an integral view on historical discourse as part of the political discourse of the CDA, but also with regard to its presence in the political discourse of non-populist parties in general. With the observation that historical discourse has become part of a restorative political discourse of non-populist party like the CDA, this scholarly gap also highlights that we need a deeper understanding of the construction of historical discourses within political discourses in general.

Following the described gap in the literature, it is the aim of this thesis to better understand the development, use and content of the historical discourse with regard to cultural identity in the political discourse of the CDA. By conducting a case study on a non-populist party like the CDA, this thesis also aims to provide a better understanding of the development, use and content of historical discourses about cultural identity in political discourses in general.

1.2 Research frame and thesis questions

The thesis has three underlying goals. The first goal is to discern a conceptual, typological and explanatory framework from scholarly literature by which the emergence of historical references in political discourse can be explained and classified. This goal will be the focus of the first sub question of the thesis. The second goal with the corresponding second sub question, is to describe the development of historical references with regard to cultural identity in the political discourse of the CDA. The timeframe for this observation will be limited to the period 1989-2017. This is because an exploratory examination of the CDA election manifesto’s and scholarly literature indicates that cultural identity is not a topic of concern within the political

discourse of the CDA before the 1990s.11 Also, the beginning of the 1990s is generally seen as

the advent of concerns about cultural identity in the Dutch political landscape, including the

CDA.12 With regard to the use of sources, CDA national election manifestos will be used to

trace the development of historical references with regard to cultural identity. As will be further explained in the methodological chapter of this thesis, manifestos are a useful type of sources to trace a particular development in the political discourse of political parties because they can

10_{J.W. Duyvendak, The politics of Home: belonging and nostalgia in Western Europe and the United States} (Basingstoke, MacMillan 2011), pp. 98-99, 102.

11_{Voerman (2011).}

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11 be compared as similar sources through time and give an indication of the general ideas that the party wants to transmit to a wider audience.13

The third goal of the thesis with the corresponding third sub question, is to indicate and understand the content of the specific historical references throughout the observed timeframe. Here we make a distinction between the general perspective on the relation between the past and the present condition of Dutch society, and the dominant historical themes which reappear in election manifestos. A preliminary analysis of the CDA national election manifesto by the author indicates that the themes of the Dutch Judeao-Christian tradition and the Dutch trade nation are the two dominant themes which reappear in the political discourse of the CDA. Based on the described considerations, this thesis holds the following main question:

How can historical references to Dutch cultural identity in the national election manifestos of the Dutch CDA in the period 1989-2017 be interpreted?

The answer to this main question will be formed by providing insight in the following sub questions during the thesis:

1. How can the emergence of historical references regarding Dutch cultural identity as an important aspect of contemporary political discourse in western countries like the Netherlands be explained?

2. What is the development of the use of historical references regarding Dutch cultural identity in CDA national election manifestos in the period 1989-2019, and how can this development be explained?

3. How can the general content of the historical references about Dutch cultural identity and the dominant historical themes which are used in the CDA national election manifestos in the period 1989-2017 be interpreted?

1.3 Thesis operationalization

The thesis will start with describing a conceptual, typological and explanatory framework by which historical references with regard to cultural identity in political discourse can be interpreted. The conceptual framework as founded on scholarly literature, will illustrate the mechanism in which cultural identity, collective memory and political discourse containing

13_{R. Balasubramaniam, I, the Citizen: Unraveling the Power of Citizen Engagement, Cornell University Press} (Ithaca 2015), pp. 204-207.

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12 historical references are related to each other through the social imaginary. The aim of this conceptual framework is to show why historical references matter and are part of political discourses regarding cultural identity, thereby providing insight in sub question 1. The conceptual framework will show how historical references in political discourse influence people’s perception of their social imaginary and hence sense of cultural identity, and also how historical references in political discourse are themselves shaped by imagined constructions of cultural identity. The typological framework expounds the different forms in which historical references regarding cultural identity appear in political discourse, according to the scholarly literature. This classification will be used to indicate in which context the historical references regarding cultural identity in the election manifestos must be understood, thereby providing insight with regard to sub question 3. Lastly, the explanatory framework will describe the model by Tannock, which explains how and when historical references regarding cultural identity become part of a restorative political discourse. This model will be used to explain how and through which stages the political discourse of the CDA regarding cultural identity became restorative, thereby providing insight for both sub questions 2 and 3.

In the third chapter of the thesis the discourse historical approach by Wodak will be introduced as a qualitative method to analyse the national election manifestos of the CDA for their (implicit) notions about cultural identity and historical references. As will be further explained in the corresponding chapter, the discourse historical approach is useful for analysing the development of notions about cultural identity in political discourse because it is focused on revealing the coded language about cultural identity that is often present in political discourses, as well as the historical context in which this discourse is constructed.

In the fourth chapter of the thesis, all eight CDA national election manifestos of the period 1989-2017 will be analysed in a chronological order for their discourse about cultural identity and corresponding historical references, as well as for the particular forms of historical references which are used. Also, each manifesto will be contextualized by giving an overview of the political context and ideological debate of the CDA at that moment in time. While each paragraph of a manifesto contains an overview of the most important remarks about cultural identity and historical references, the complete discourse-historical analysis scheme of each manifesto can be seen in the appendices of this thesis. The fourth chapter is completed by a sub conclusion to provide an answer to sub question 2. This sub conclusion contains an overview of the development of the political discourse with regard to cultural identity and corresponding historical references in relation to the political and party ideological context. Also, this sub conclusion elaborates on which forms of historical references can be discerned in the political

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13 discourse of the CDA. Lastly, this sub conclusion will conclude which kind of restorative historical master narrative is developed in the CDA national election manifestos, and how Tannocks model can be used to explain the content and development of this master narrative.

The fifth chapter is focused on interpreting the content of the historical references and its dominant themes which appear in the national election manifestos of the CDA, in order to provide an answer to sub question 3. First of all, there will be a critical reflection on the CDA’s restorative historical discourse in light of its historical plausibility. Subsequently two dominant historical themes will be analysed that are present in the political discourse of the CDA: the Judaeo-Christian tradition of Dutch society, and Dutch society as a trade nation. Each theme will be analysed for its broader historical genealogy, the specific use by the CDA in its election manifestos, and the way that it is part of the general restorative historical discourse of the CDA. Lastly, this thesis will end with a conclusion. This includes a short summary of the thesis, the outcome for the main question, and the broader value of the thesis with regard to interpretation of historical discourse in political discourses.

1.4 Thesis hypothesis

This thesis will argue that the contemporary historical discourse about Dutch cultural identity in the political discourse of the CDA should be interpreted in light of the development of the CDA’s political discourse since 1994. Central to this interpretation is the notion that during the 1990s the CDA developed the idea of a societal lapse of communal feeling and collective identity in their political discourse. In the early 2000s the CDA responded to this perceived lapse by stressing the recovery of a typically Dutch collective identity and communal feeling which would have been lost in the past. This notion led to the emergence of historical references to this perceived Dutch past in the political discourse of the CDA, as an anchor and inspiration for its vision on contemporary society and its desired recovery.

1.4 Value of the thesis outcome

The value of this thesis lies in its ambition to provide a better understanding about the nature, role and content of historical discourse in the contemporary political discourse of (non-populist) political parties, specifically in contemporary Dutch society. The case of the CDA shows how nationalist historical discourse can also emerge in the political discourse of parties which are traditionally seen as belonging to the political middle-ground. And also how this historical

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14 discourse in non-populist parties can be developed in a gradual and often implicit way, which make its emergence less blatant than in the case of relatively new populist parties. The thesis therefore serves as an important warning that historical discourse and potentially the misuse and misrepresentation if history are not part of just the right-wing populist rhetoric, nor that this is a typical recent phenomenon. A political party like the CDA has partially developed the roots of its historical discourse years before the advent of the populist right-wing rhetoric since the 2000s. Also the content of its historical discourse can be placed in a much longer genealogy of beliefs about Dutch cultural identity. Lastly, this thesis shows that only through a careful critical discourse analysis it is possible to uncover the content and development of the often coded political language in which notions about cultural identity and presumptions about history are enclosed.

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2. Theoretical Framework

2.1 Introduction to the theoretical framework

The theoretical framework consists of three parts: a conceptual framework, a typological framework and an interpretative model. The conceptual framework provides insight in the question how historical references in political discourse are related to perceptions of cultural identity. This will be done by first defining what cultural identity is (2.2.1) and how cultural identity has also become a public concern with regard to the nation state (2.2.2). Subsequently, there will be an explanation why the perception of history is an important element of cultural identity, by expounding how collective memory is such an important element in the construction of cultural identity through the social imaginary (2.2.3). Next there will be an explanation of how this significance of history for cultural identity lead to its presence in political discourse (2.2.4.). Lastly, there will be graphical visualization of the conceptual model. The second part of the theoretical framework consists of a typological framework, which is aimed at discerning the various types of political discourse in which historical references are used. These types are used to interpret the context of historical references in the political discourse of the CDA. From the scholarly literature we can discern three of these types:

- Historical references as part of historical charters (2.3.2) - Historical references as part of a cultural script (2.3.3)

- Historical references as part of a political discourse of nostalgia (2.3.4)

The third part of the theoretical framework expounds the theoretical model by Tannock (2.4), to explain the development and content of restorative political discourse. This model will be used to interpret and explain the development and content of historical references in the restorative political discourse of the CDA. The last part of the theoretical framework will explain how its three described parts will be operationalized in the thesis (2.5).

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2.2 Conceptual framework

2.2.1 Definition of cultural identity

Identity is one of the most widely used yet discussed concepts in the humanities and social sciences. While identities are always expressed by persons individually, we distinguish between identities on an individual and a collective level. Personal identity refers to the way people see themselves as unique individuals, while social or collective identity refers to identities which are shaped in relation to other people with which people identify themselves. According to Eder, collective identities are social constructions which make use of psychological needs and motives for providing an answer to the question ‘whom do I belong to?’ or to the question ‘whom do we belong to?’14_{Cultural identity can be defined as a collective identity which refers} to membership of a particular cultural group. Gilbert describes this cultural identity as a wide-ranging identity which supposes to cover its participants whole way of life. While communities can hold a cultural identity, communal and cultural identity are not the same in the sense that communal identity can consist of different cultural identities at the same time.15

Cultural identity as classifying a ‘membership’ of a cultural group is not pregiven but the result of a social construct which is closely connected to the sociological concept of belonging. This entails that every human being has an emotional need to identify with and to be attached to particular groups and specific places, and to feel loyal and committed to these

groups and places.16 Apart from an emotional requirement, belonging also serves as a form of

social organization in the sense that it joins people together on the basis of shared meaning and informs their actions, for instance in the idea of belonging to a nation. In this way it functions as social glue that holds a society together.17 Remarks about a specific collective ‘cultural identity’ are therefore ways of assigning people to belong to a particular group.

14 _{K. Eder, ‘A theory of collective identity: making sense of the debate on a ‘European identity’, in European} Journal of Social Theory, Vol. 12, No. 4, 2009: 432.

15_{P. Gilbert, Cultural identity and political ethics, Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh 2010), pp. 3-5.} 16_{T. Beatley, Native to Nowhere: Sustaining Home and Community in a Global age, Island Press (Washington} D.C. 2004), pp. 2-3; N. Lovell, Locality and Belonging, Routledge (London 1998), p. 1; K.D. McBride, Collective

Dreams: political imagination and community, Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park 2005), p. 1;

D. Morley, K. Robbins, Spaces of identity: Global Media, Electronic Landscapes and. Cultural Boundaries, Routledge (London 1995), p. 433.

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2.2.1 Cultural identity as a public concern: cultural identity and the Nation

The tendency to categorize people according to their cultural identity: their culture, character and geographical location, goes back as far as antiquity, with the works of Herodotus, Strabo and Pliny the Younger. In Western Europe, this culture-criticism was further developed in the early modern period by scholars who worked in the tradition of Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558), and who tried to sort European cultural patterns in categories of ethnic stereotypes. Well into the Enlightenment these different national characters were presented as ethnographical phenomena, such as in Hume’s essay Of National Characters and in Montesqieus’s Esprit des lois.18

However, the close relation between a nation and its collective cultural identity was developed by eighteenth century philosophers who opposed the universalism of the Enlightenment. One of the first of these philosophers was Herder, whose ideas we can describe as a form of primordial cultural nationalism. Herder saw cultures as ‘contained wholes’. He described them as ‘extended families’, which represented one language, one culture, one people and ‘one national character’. He stated that the dilution and loss of coherence of these individual cultures had to be avoided at all cost.19 Fichte and Hegel subsequently further developed Herders notion of Volksgeist as the cultural blueprint of every nation. These philosophers inspired both intellectuals and political leaders in the rise of nationalistic thought and policy from the 19th century onwards.20

The influential 20th_{century political philosopher Isaiah Berlin followed Herder in the} notion that belonging was an essential human need, and which therefore could be exploited in politics. He stated that the need to belong and the desire for recognition were the two most powerful forces in the political domain. However, Berlin was weary of the polarising and destructive force that the politicization of belonging on the national level could have, pointing towards the destructive wars between nations.21 The nationalist perspective on cultural identity in the political discourses which fuelled both world wars and to which Berlin responded, led to a critical approach of scholars towards a nationalist versions of cultural identity. Initially after

18_{J. Leerssen, ‘Imagology: History and Method’, in: M. Beller and J. Leerssen (eds.), Imagology: The cultural} construction and literary representation of national characters, Rodopi (Amsterdam 2007), pp. 17-18.

19 _{B. Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory, Macmillan (Basingstoke} 2000), p. 71

20_{D.S. Chassé, Die politische Philosophie der Nation bei Kant, Herder, Fichte und Hegel, Universität Luzern} (2014).

21_{I. Berlin, The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and their History, ed. H. Hardy, Chatto and Windus (London} 1996), p. 256.

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18 the second world war, there was still a dominant primordial perspective on the cultural identity of nations, for instance in the works of Shills and Geertz.22 But this was soon was to be changed.

In philosophical circles, the Frankfurt School and Popper stressed the need to expose any ethnics myths, while the anthropologist Levi-Strauss pointed towards the specific language

and modes of communication by which culture was upheld.23 From the 1960s onwards, scholars

such as Anderson and Gellner now began to approach national notions of cultural identity as socially constructed rather than primordially given.24 In his influential work Imagined Communities, Anderson argued against the idea that cultural identity is primordial and can therefore be used to legitimate nationalist conceptions of communities. Instead, he declared that ideas of what people have in common and how they envision their communities, are constantly socially (re)constructed through discourses present in narratives and political speech.25

The deconstruction of the primordial perspective of the cultural identity of the nation and the end of the Cold War, led to the general believe among scholars, such as expressed by Habermas, that western societies would ultimately be moving towards containing plural and potentially cosmopolitan notions of cultural identity.26_{However, since the 1990s, the increasing} politicization of cultural identity has shown a diverging view. Kymlicka and Calhoun have argued that in the context of globalization and debates about the integration of migrants, nationalist perspectives on cultural identity are on the rise, both among public sentiments and in political discourse.27 This notion is also backed by empirical evidence.28 Scholars such as Duyvendak, Giddens and Rapport & Hawson have all argued that this renewed longing for a nationalist cultural identity is accompanied by nostalgic feelings of a return to a homogeneous, communal and locally rooted group, and that this longing has influenced political discourse since the 1990s.29

22_{See E. Shills, ‘Primordial, Personal, Sacred and Civil Ties: Some Particular Observations on the Relationships} of Sociological Research and Theory’, in The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1957: 130-145; C. Geertz., ‘The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States’, in: C. Geertz (ed.), Old Societies and New States, The Free Press (New York 1963), pp. 105-157.

23_{K. Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies, Routledge (London 1945); C. Levi-Strauss, Anthropologie} structurale, Plon (Paris 1958).

24_{E. Gellner, Nations and nationalisms, Basil Blackwell (Oxford 1983).} 25_{B. Anderson, Imagined Communities, Version (London 1983).}

26_{J. Habermas, Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality, Cambridge University Press} (Cambridge 1990).

27_{W. Kimlycka, Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship, Oxford University} Press (Oxford 2003); C. Calhoun, ‘Social solidarity as a problem for cosmopolitan democracy’, in: S.

Benhabib, I. Shapiro, D. Petranović (eds.), Identities, Affiliations, and Allegiances, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge 2007), pp. 285-302.

28_{See for example T.W. Smith, S. Kim., ‘National pride in comparative perspective: 1995-2004’, International} Journal of Public Opinion Research, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2006: 127–136.

29_{N.J. Rapport, A. Dawson, ‘Home and Movement: A Polemic’, in: , N. J. Rapport, A. Dawson (eds.), Migrants} of Identity: Perception of Home in a World of Movement, Berg (New York 1998), pp. 8-16; J.W. Duyvendak,

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19 This notion of the contemporary constructions of national cultural identity in political discourse is vital when approaching political sources such as the national election manifestos of the CDA. In times of globalization and migration debates, cultural identity has returned to the heart of political discourse, and popular perceptions of cultural identity are themselves constantly altered through political discourse. Therefore, when approaching the CDA national election manifestos, it is vital to understand the genealogy of the used cultural topoi and the context in which they are used to fully grasp the impact of these discourses to popular notions of cultural identity.

2.2.3 Why history matters for cultural identity: collective memory and the social imaginary

Now the relation between belonging and the public concern about the cultural identity of the nation is made clear, we turn to the explanation of why historical references are important in the construction of cultural identity, and hence for the construction of political discourse. First the concept of the social imaginary will be explained, and subsequently how the perception of collective memory influences ones perception of cultural identity through the social imaginary. The constructive nature of cultural identity as it was described by Anderson, signified a new approach from the 1970s onwards on how to interpret the relation between society and the individual. It was now argued that society was not an independent category that moved steadily along a certain trajectory, but that society was constituted on the very meaning that was given to its members each single day. A meaning which was constantly renegotiated and reconstructed. The nature and process of this construction of collective meaning was also theorized by scholars who were very much influenced by the work of nineteenth century sociologist Durkheim. He wrote about the common understanding that people hold about the societies in which they live. He made a distinction between the ‘collective consciousness’ of society and how these were articulated by ‘collective representations’ – specific discourses, values and norms - which functioned as the social glue of society.30 In the post-war period these two notions were developed into the notion of the ‘social imaginary’.

The politics of Home: belonging and nostalgia in Western Europe and the United States (Basingstoke,

MacMillan 2011);

30_{E. Durkheim, The division of labour in society, first edition 1893, trans. W. D. Halls, introd. L. A. Coser, Free} Press (New York 1997).

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20 Social imaginaries refer to the internal beliefs of people about their collective groups and its history. According to Steger and James, social imaginaries are the modes by which people make sense of their social and ultimately cultural identity.31 Castoriadis was one of the first to use the term in the 1970s to stress, just like Anderson, how each society in history is created by the very imageries that people hold of their society: its perceived history, its values and significant institutions.32 So perception of a groups past are seen as central elements to the social imaginaries in which perceptions of ones cultural identity are constituted.

The perception of history as a resource for the construction of collective and hence cultural identity in the present, was also developed in the post-war period. Central in this development was the conceptualization of collective memory. Individuals have imagined images and stories about their own past, which we know as memories. They give people sense of who they are, where they come from and which experiences shaped them as they are. The same goes for the relation between the identity of a group and what is seen as its past. While all members of a group have their own individual memories, they still construct what is seen as ‘social’ or ‘collective’ memories. The concept of collective memory was firstly theorized in the posthumous publications of Maurice Halbwachs in 1950, who argued that a group can have a

collective memory which is dependent on the situational context of that group in the present.33

Over the last few decades many scholars have worked on how collective memories shape social imaginaries and hence cultural identity, and how cultural identity on its turn shapes collective memory. Hobsbawm has stated that what is seen by society as a tradition is often a relatively

new phenomenon which has been imagined to serve a groups identity in the present.34 Besides

historical narratives, Nora pointed towards places of collective memories, so called Lieux de Mémoires. These sites serve as symbolic places for peoples imagined connection to the history of their group. Also here certain places become less important while others become more

important depending on present needs.35 In the last twenty years there has been an increased

attention for the role that collective memory plays in the construction of identity. Mälksoo argued that collective memory is ‘constitutive feature of any culture or social imaginary’ and that especially since the late 20th century, collective memory is ‘booming’.36 Hodgkin and

31_{M.B. Steger, P. James, ‘Levels of Subjective Globalization: Ideologies, Imaginaries, Ontologies’, in} Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, Vol. 12, 2013: 23.

32_{C. Castoriadis, The Imaginary Institution of Society, trans. K. Blamey, original by Editions du Seuill 1975,} repr. by Polity Press (Cambridge 2005).

33_{M. Halbwachs, La mémoire collective, Presses Universitaires de France (Paris 1950).} 34_{E.J. Hobsbawm, T.O. Ranger, The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge 1983).}

35_P._{Nora, 'Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire', in Representations, Vol. 26, 1989: 7-25.} 36_{M. Mälksoo, ‘The Memory Politics of Becoming European: The East European Subalterns and the Collective} memory of Europe’, in European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2009: 657.

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21 Radstone have also argued that a nationalist perspective on cultural identity is also bound up with a nationalist understanding of collective memory. The re-emergence of nationalist perspectives on cultural identity in the public and political debate are therefore accompanied by a rise of nationalist versions of collective memory.37

The question remains, why historical references regarding collective memory are so powerful in shaping ones understanding of the social and hence ones cultural identity. The key argument here is that collective memory is bound up to the notion of tradition. Weber indicated tradition as an important ground for authority. He argued that people for long accepted existing power structures such as feudalism and patriarchy based on the idea that these were primordial structures.38 While Weber established imaginations of the past as an authority for present attitudes, he has also been criticized for dealing with this traditional authority as an irrational tendency. Hannah Arendt stated that following tradition cannot be so easily be regarded as irrational, because of its important function. According to Arendt, a sense of tradition is fundamental for providing people with meaning. She was concerned that a lack of tradition

would lead to a lack of depth in human existence. For her, memory and depth were the same.39

Later Friedrich followed this argumentation by stating that tradition is both a rational and valuable source for authority, but also has to be limited to a certain extent. He opted to strike a good balance between the experience of the past and its use in politics.40

Also in social psychology, the authority of the past for directing people’s behaviour has been articulated in the theory of ‘anchoring’. This concept, also known as ‘anchoring-and-adjustment’ is a concept in psychology that entails that people tend to make judgements on the basis of an existing implicit point of reference, which is subsequently also adjusted when the

desired judgement changes.41 In recent years, this concept has also been developed and applied

to historical case studies.42 Both from a sociological and psychological perspective we can therefore state that historical references about collective memory are so powerful, because they appeal to what is seen as the traditional and thereby authenthic condition of the social group, and hence constitute the perceptions of its authentic cultural identity.

37_{K. Hodgkin, S. Radstone, Contested Pasts: The Politics of Memory, Routledge (New York 2003), p. 170.} 38_{M.E. Spencer, ‘Weber on legitimate norms and authority’, in British journal of sociology, Vol. 21, No. 2,} 1970: 123-134.

39_{H. Arendt, ‘What is authority?’, 1954: 94.}

40_{C.J. Friedrich, Tradition and Authority, The Pall Mall Press (London 1972), p. 14.}

41_{The theory was first theorized in A. Tversky, D. Kahneman, ‘Judgement under uncertainty: heuristics and biases,} Science, Vol. 185, no. 4157, 1974: 1124-1131.

42_{See for example I. Sluiter, ‘Anchoring Innovation: A Classical Research Agenda’, European Review, Vol. 25,} No. 1, 2017: 20-38.

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2.2.4 The politicization of collective memory

It has now been argued that cultural identity and the perception of a groups collective memory are bound up in the social imaginary. Because of the importance of the social imaginary as a frame of reference for peoples perspective on society, collective memory is liable to become part of political discourse in the form of historical references. What is at stake in these political discourses, is not only how the past of the group is interpreted, but also what this collective

memory means for the social imaginary and hence cultural identity of the group.43_{Hodgkin and}

Radstone have argued:

‘Our understanding of the past has strategic, political, and ethical consequences.

Contests over the meaning of the past are also contests over the meaning of the present and over ways of taking the past forward’.44

Reflections on a groups past were already present in speeches by ancient politicians such as Pericles and Cato the Elder. In the late nineteenth century, national histories were written and became part of nationalist political discourse. However, it has been argued that the presence of historical references in political discourse across the political spectrum and within the heart of the public and political debate is a relatively new phenomenon. Pierre Nora has argued that the past has moved from a concern among mere historians to public concern in Western-Europe since the 1970s.45 He states that the obsession of the public with the ‘recent history’ of the devastating world wars and decolonization made history a concern for the wider public. History became a sensitive area, and sensitive for everyone. Both the rather standardized national histories and the monopoly of historians on the past changed. Whereas historians first held the monopoly on histories that were written about the distant past, the public saw themselves as witnesses to recent history and thereby engaged to history in general. According to Nora, the past became a source of ‘consumption’ for the wider public, by which the past became a public contested ground in light of present societal debates. This also led to the increase of historical

43_{P.J Verovsek, ‘Collective memory, politics, and the influence of the past: the politics of memory as a research} paradigm’, in Politics, Groups and Identities, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2006: 529-530; C. Weedon, G. Jordan, ‘Collective memory: theory and politics’, in Social Semiotics, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2012: 141, 150.

44_{Hodgkin & Radstone (2003), p. 1.}

45_{P. Nora, ‘Recent history and the new dangers of politicization’, in Eurozine, 24 November 2011, 1-4,} https://www.eurozine.com/recent-history-and-the-new-dangers-of-politicization/, accessed on 14-7-2019.

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23 references in political discourse. But with different versions of history present in the public and political debate, conflicts about the content and implications of collective memory appeared.

The public and political debates about collective memory since the 1970s have been conceptualized as so called ‘memory wars’. According to Pomian, these debates do not just have a cognitive dimension about the content of collective memory, but also a strong emotional and existential dimension. What is at stake, is not just ‘right’ memory of the group, but also its social imaginary: its cultural identity and sense of belonging.46 Furedi argues that these memory wars have been fought out on both national and transnational levels since the 1970s, for example with regard to the reception of the Holocaust, the remembrance of the Cold War period and European identity in light of the European union.47 Furedi has pointed to the various diverging cultural scripts which are central in these memory wars, and which will be explained in a later part of this theoretical framework.

Lastly, what is typical of the use of historical references regarding collective memory in political discourse is that these are not always explicit. Wodak discerns the implicit discursive strategies by which political discourses can imply either a sense of continuation and discontinuation with regard to society. This implicitly infers how society should considers its past and its present condition, and what might be seen as the ‘favourable time’.48

2.2.5 Conceptual model

Figure 1 visualizes the relation between cultural identity, collective memory and political discourse, as this has been explained in the former four paragraphs. The figure shows how the formation of cultural identity is driven by peoples need to belong, and how cultural identity fulfils this need to belong. The formation of this cultural identity is constituted through the social imaginary, in which various perceptions of one’s social group are included. One of these perceptions is that of the collective memory of the group. The figure also shows that political discourse both affects and is affected by perceptions of the social group that shape a particular understanding of cultural identity. The presence of historical references in political discourse can be explained as the interaction between political discourse and perceptions of collective

46_{K. Pomian, ‘Memory wars’, in: H. Swoboda, J.M. Wiersma (eds.), Politics of the Past: The Use and Abuse of} History, Socialist Group in the European Parliament (Strasbourg 2009), pp. 81-86.

47_{F. Furedi, Populism and the European Culture Wars: the conflict of values between Hungary and the EU,} Routledge (New York 2018), p. 83.

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24 memory, by which indirectly perceptions of cultural identity are also constituted. Therefore, this conceptual framework explains how notions about cultural identity and historical references are bound up in the national election manifestos of the CDA. This is because notions about cultural identity often (implicitly) imply perceptions of collective memory, and historical references often (implicitly) imply perceptions of cultural identity. It will become apparent that in the case of the CDA, the development of historical references also follows the development of a political discourse on cultural identity.

Now this conceptual framework has been established, the next part of the theoretical framework will focus on the various forms in which historical references in political discourse appear.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the relation between political discourse, collective memory and perceptions of cultural identity (Poot 2019)

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2.3 Typological framework

2.3.1 Forms of historical references in political discourse

In order to critically evaluate the presence of historical references in the political discourse regarding cultural identity of the CDA, we need to understand how to classify these historical references. From the scholarly literature on the use of historical references in political discourses regarding cultural identity, we can distinguish the presence of at least three types:

- Historical references as part of historical charters - Historical references as part of a cultural script

- Historical references as part of a political discourse of nostalgia

These three types all refer to different motivations and forms of using historical references in political discourse. Historical charters, as explained by Liu and Hilton, are the most general and less activating form.49 Here historical references are part of the particular cultural master narrative of a group in order to legitimize existing policies, institutions and commonly held views on the group. While these charters imply a particular understanding of the cultural identity of the nation, they are not used in relation to a direct call for action. Contrary, historical references as part of a cultural script are more activating. Here historical references are used to support a particular understanding of the cultural identity of a group – a so called ‘cultural script’- as a reaction against the threat of competing cultural scripts which are used to legitimize alternative policies or political actions. The last category are the historical references as part of a political discourse of nostalgia. Like in cultural scripts, these historical references are activating for a cultural direction of society. But the difference lies in the fact that these references call on the restoration of cultural characteristics that have been lost, instead of just a description of the desired cultural identity of the group. In the following section, these three different types will be explained.

2.3.2 Historical references as in historical charters

49_{J. Liu, D. Hilton, ‘History as the narrative of a people: From function to structure and content’, in Memory} Studies, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2017: 6-8.

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26 Liu and Hilton state that each group in society upholds a foundational myth, which they describe as a ‘historical charter’. These charters contain historical events, characteristics and developments which are seen as vital to the foundation and collective transformations of social groups. They are also both constitutional and mythical. Constitutional in the sense that they describe both what a group defines and what the supposed historical trajectory is: where the

group comes from and where it is moving.50 It is important to note that the these charters are

functioning as mythical representations and not as a fully objective representations of a groups history: they are stories with a particular beginning and consciously selected actors, events and norms and values which fit the storyline. Historical charters serve not only as collective memories for a social group, but also as legitimizations for the social and political arrangements that are being made. Historical charters are also used to direct behaviour: which norms and values are historically correct and which actions have to be undertaken to act in accordance with the historical trajectory of the group. This idea of making sense of the world on the basis of particular historical myths can be related to the work of Malinowsky. Malinowski argued already in the 1920s that myths come into play when social or moral rule needs justification.51 Furthermore, historical charters are not fixed, but are altered according to the political needs of the moment and when confronted with new challenges. This also creates competition between different competing historical charters which are used to support different political views and different needs of social groups. The idea of historical references as part of historical charters are valuable in understanding a sometimes mythical historical trajectory of a group as part of a political discourse. However, historical charters themselves are rather descriptive and cannot account for historical references that are part of a political discourse in which a call to change is implied.

2.3.3 Historical references as in competing cultural scripts

A second form of historical references in political discourse is that of its presence in competing cultural scripts. Furedi states that in recent years culture has become politicized both domestically and internationally. In his view there are is an ongoing debate of how to

50_{J. Liu, D. Hilton (2017); Littoz-Monnet refers to ‘definitional myth’ instead of ‘foundational myth’, to} emphasize how myths are used to constantly redefine the identity of a group, see A. Littoz-Monnet, ‘Explaining Policy Conflict across Institutional Venues: European Union‐Level Struggles over the Memory of the

Holocaust’, in Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 51, No. 3, 2012: 459. 51_{B. Malinowski, Myth in primitive psychology, Norton (London 1926), pp. 93-145.}

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27 understand collective culture and which direction the culture of society has to go. These so called ‘culture wars’ are fought out between politicians with diverging ‘cultural scripts’ of society: which norms and values are important, the nature of the community in which people live and what makes a good citizen in cultural rather than juridical terms. Historical references can be part of these described cultural scripts. They are used to legitimize a particular desired cultural identity on the basis of a presupposed tradition of society.52

Furedi argues that not all politicians maintain a political discourse in which historical references sustain their cultural script. Some politicians deal with politics in a post-historical way: for present culture the past would only be a heavy load to be relieved from. This view echoes the work of Habermas, who argues that harmonious societies can only exist with identities that are not tied to particular past of groups. Because harmony between people of

diverse background could only exist if they share a common frame of reference.53_Nonetheless,

historical references are part of political discourses regarding cultural scripts across the political spectrum. According to Martin-Arrayo, the debate about cultural identity in Europe is a good example of this general presence. Conservative and nationalist politicians would pursue a ‘histo-nationalization’ of cultural identity in Europe: pointing towards its tradition of nation states. But at the same time, progressive and more pro-European politicians would engage in the ‘histo-europeanization’ of cultural identity in Europe, by focusing on shared European history and distinctiveness in relation to the rest of the world.54 The notion of historical references as part of competing cultural scripts is useful in classifying historical references that defend or pursue a particular contemporary cultural understanding of a group, but this classification is limited for understanding historical references that refer to the cultural restoration of a lost past.

2.3.4 Historical references as part of a political discourse of nostalgia

The last form in which historical references appear in political discourse about cultural identity is as part of a political discourse of nostalgia. Here historical references are used to portray a nostalgic image of a past in which desired cultural characteristics have been lost. According to Davis, nostalgia is a search for continuity amid threats of discontinuity. It reacts to the idea that

52_{Furedi (2018), p. 47.} 53_{Ibid., p. 31.}

54_{P. Martin-Arroyo, Histoeuropeanisation’: challenges and implications of rewriting the history of Europe} ‘Europeanly, 1989-2015, College of Europe Natolin Campus (Warsaw 2014).

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28 agency or identity are threatened because of a separation from a particular imagined past,

homeland, family or community.55 This imagined nostalgic past is often romanticized, with the

idea of a particular ‘Golden Age’ of society as the peak of a glorious past that is now lost.56

According to Boym, there are two kinds of nostalgia. Reflective nostalgia refers to the imagination that (some elements of) the past were better than the present, but without the idea that this former times can or have to be restored. Contrary, restorative nostalgia refers to the idea that this idealized past has somehow been lost and has to be restored. 57 This idea of restoration is tied to the idea that society in a certain moment in time was in its authentic and most successful stage, often indicated as its Golden Age, which formed the blueprint of the cultural identity of the nation. Restorative nostalgia includes that in pursuing this authentic blueprint of cultural identity, society can close the gap with its glorious past.58

Wodak has stated that restorative nostalgia thrives on ideas of societal instability and loss, and is also linked to the so called politics of fear. According to Wodak, historical references to an idealized past are especially fruitful in political discourse when they are embedded in a discourse of societal fear and anxiety. Wodak states that especially modern right-wing parties start with the assumption that society is in danger, that old securities are gone and that strangers are taking over the country. These parties would then legitimate their agenda on the basis of a past which is portrayed as peaceful, stable and careless.59 According to Grillo, this idea of cultural anxiety is not something totally new. It also can be found in the Romanticism of the nineteenth century, but Grillo does note that the ubiquity of contemporary cultural anxiety is quite unique. Boym noted quite ironically that ‘twentieth century began with utopia, and ended with nostalgia’.60 She explained this rise of nostalgic feelings in contemporary societies as the result of rapidly changing globalizing and automating societies where people are constantly orientating themselves.61 In the next paragraph, Tannocks interpretative model of restorative political discourse will be expounded, which will be used to interpret the restorative political discourse which is developed in the CDA national election manifestos.

55_{F. Davis, Yearning for Yesterday: a Sociology of Nostalgia, Free Press (New York 1979), p. 35}

56_{A.R., Murphy, ‘Longing, Nostalgia, and Golden Age Politics: The American Jeremiad and the Power of the} Past’, in Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 7, 2009: 125.

57_{S. Boym, The Future of Nostalgia, Sage (New York 2002), p. 41.} 58_{Murphy (2009): 129.}

59_{R. Wodak, The Politics of Fear, Sage (London 2015), pp. 32-33.}

60_{S. Boym, ‘Nostalgia and its discontents’, in The Hedgehog Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2007: 9.} 61_{Boym (2001), xvi.}

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2.4 Tannocks interpretative model of restorative political discourse

How does this use of historical references in political discourse in a context of nostalgia emerge? For Tannock, the temporalizing dimension of nostalgia that implies continuity and discontinuity, is fundamental for its understanding. He identifies various nostalgic tropes in which the past is seen as discontinuous in relation the present: the Golden Age, the Fall, the story of homecoming and the pastoral. These themes have appeared throughout European history, most notably in Homerus’ Odyssey. Nonetheless, Tannock argues that nostalgia is a typical modern phenomenon, because of its increasing distinction of people from place, and of person from people. This idea that people could be separated from their ‘roots’, made way for the idea of continuity and discontinuity with regard to historical trajectories of people, and enabled the idea of nostalgia.62 According to Tannock, nostalgia is not only about yearning, it also functions as an imperative to change, to establish continuity in the prospect of discontinuity. He states:

By returning, in text or vision, to these lost pasts, places and peoples, the nostalgic author asserts a sense of continuity over and above here sense of separation, and from this continuity may be able to replenish a sense of self, of participation, of empowerment, belonging, righteousness or justification and direction.63

Tannock argues that in contemporary politics this idea of returning to of an imagined stable past can be desired across the political spectrum. However, he also states that we have to go beyond Davis his idea that nostalgia is just an experience by the individual nostalgic subject. Nostalgia can also be part of political discourse, in which an idea of discontinuity and a call for action are present.64 According to Tannock nostalgia in discourse typically consists of three key ideas:

1. A past pre-lapsian world: a ‘golden age’ or a period in which the country was stable. 2. A lapse: a ‘fall’, a cut, catastrophe or a ‘fall’ of the pre-lapsian world.

3. A present post-lapsian world: a world that is lacking, deficient and where the loss of the prelapsian world is felt.

62_{S. Tannock, ‘Nostalgia Critique’, Cultural Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3, 1995: 454-457.} 63_{Ibid., p. 456.}

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30 Tannock argues that when we find these key ideas in discourse, we can critically approach this discourse by focusing how the pre-lapsian world is being described and what is being asserted in terms of continuity and discontinuity to the post-lapsian world. It is important to stress here that the imagined ‘lapse’ does not necessarily have to be in a distant past. The lapse can also be imagined as taking place in the present, or yet to come. The pre-lapsian and postlapsian world can therefore be presented as lying close together.

2.5. Operationalization of the typological framework and Tannocks model

In this thesis, the described three typologies of historical references in political discourse will be used to classify the use of the historical references in each CDA election manifesto since 1989. This will be done by reflecting at the end of each manifesto analysis, which forms of historical references in political discourse can be discerned in that particular manifesto.

To interpret the emergence of historical narratives of political discourse, this thesis will use Tannocks theory of the construction of historical lapses to show and explain how historical references have emerged in CDA election manifestos since 1989. This thesis will argue that the idea of historical lapse in Dutch society as constructed in CDA election manifestos in the 1990s and its combination with a nationalist perspective on Dutch cultural identity since the early 2000s, led to the emergence of historical references in CDA election manifestos from the mid-2000s onwards. As described in the conceptual framework, the thesis will start from the notion that ideas about a groups cultural identity and collective are formed in a relationship with political discourse. However, the construction of cultural identity and collective memory in political discourse is not always explicit and easily to unravel. In the next chapter, the method of discourse historical analysis and its particular significance for analysing historical discourse about cultural identity in election manifestos will be explained.

Politics of Loss and Restoration