Dutch politics homepage

This section of QuirksMode.org is devoted to explaining Dutch politics to foreigners.

In order to gently lead you into the Dutch ten-party system, I'm working on a general overview that consists of several articles centred around one theme. If you know nothing about Dutch politics you should read them in the order they appear below.

Overview

About government, parliament, elections, and coalitions.
About the three large parties and their subtle dance around the centre of power. The rules of Outage and Innage.

Documentation

About the system of 'verzuiling' that dominated Dutch politics from 1900 to 1970. Short history of the four denominations and their parties.
Exact election results, as well as the alignment of the parties on several issues, are detailed. Sortable table to further your understanding.
A few maps that indicate the geographical spread of parties (2006) and religions (1971).