The Ever-Changing and Ever-Stable Dutch Party System

Since the early 1990s, the Dutch party system has shown signs of both continuity and change. The effective number of parties has risen to a historic high, as has the level of volatility. New political parties have entered parliament and support for traditional parties has declined. Moreover, new coalition formulae have been explored. However, the spatial structure of the party system has been two-dimensional since the early 1990s, with parties taking up relatively stable positions in the political space. Moreover, despite experiments with new government formulae, the most important feature of the Dutch party system remains the partial alternation in office. It is therefore difficult to argue that genuine party system change has taken place in the Netherlands.