Tom-Jan Meeus

Duidelijkheid (transl. "Clarity") is a book length essay that offers and analysis of the current political power in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the first developed western nation where right-extremists won the elections. Tom-Jan Meeus shows what developmentment led to this culmination. Throughout this essay, the author uses Machiavelli as a point of reference. He demonstrates how the roots for this political development can be found in the political situation in the late 1990s, when socialsts and liberals deceived the elctorate. This betrayal caused voters to turn away from the establishment, increasingly opening up roads for ever more radical politicians. Meeus also points out that governments for more than 20 years could not only communicate with the electorate, miscommunication or insufficient communication has also caused several of the biggest scandals over the past 14 years.

Duidelijkheid was published as the essay for the "Month of Philosophy". Applying Machiavelli to the Dutch political scene, Tom-Jan Meeus has written a political analysis that is valid and applicable to the Dutch political landscape for decades, from years in the past, to, unfortunately, as it seems, years into the future.… (more)