Diederik Smit, historian at Leiden University and biographer of Wim Kok, will be the guest at this first meeting of the new academic year of the research group The Eighties: Austerity, Reform, Conflict . Drawing on the life of union leader, finance minister and prime minister Wim Kok, he will talk about continuity and discontinuity between the Lubbers and Purple Cabinets. In August 1994 - 30 years ago this month - Ruud Lubbers left the Torentje to make way for Wim Kok. However, did this year also mark the end of ‘the long 1980s’? Smit will discuss the extent to which he considers 1994 a break. What were important differences and similarities before and after ‘94? And how did these manifest themselves with Kok, who shaped both the Lubbers period (as deputy prime minister in Lubbers III) and the Purple period (as prime minister)? Or are there perhaps other, more important political break years to point to in this period, such as 1989? In that year, the CDA swapped the VVD for the PvdA as a government partner and, in addition, the Berlin Wall fell. What significance did these events have for political relations in The Hague?
CPG researcher Anne Bos will act as co-reporter during the meeting. She will explain the CPG's choice to consider 1994 as the end of the ‘long 1980s’ for the upcoming volume of the book series Parliamentary History of the Netherlands.
During the meeting, there will be an opportunity to bring your own lunch. Please register in advance using the form at the bottom of this page. A week in advance, we will send around a text for you to read in advance.
Research group meetings are intended for members and associate members of research group The Eighties and are also open to researchers from other universities.