The Eighties. Austerity, Reform, Conflict

Profound and structural transformations occurred in the 1980s within Europe. After a phase of increasing tensions, the Cold War came to an end between 1989 and 1991. Moreover, important steps were set in the process of further European integration with the signing of the Single European Act (1985) and Maastricht Treaty (1991). What is more, centre-right governments came to power in Western European countries, save a few exceptions. These governments initiated substantial reforms that changed European societies in the subsequent decades. Cut backs to the welfare state and reorganisations of  public administration stand out. Notions of austerity ran as a common thread through many of these transformations. Seemingly, austerity also affected the political style and political culture of the eighties. In the Netherlands, the cabinets lead by the Christian Democratic Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers (1982-1994) were among the main architects of these transformations. Tellingly, these cabinets did not present these reforms as part of an ideological project. On the contrary, they marketed  them as ‘inevitable’, ‘pragmatic’ and ‘no nonsense’. Still, of course, the reforms of 1980s were informed by specific values, ideas and decisions, and nourished protest, social tensions and political conflict too.

This research group aims at bringing together experts studying the history of politics in the ‘long 1980s’, both in the Netherlands as well as beyond. The research group specifically focuses on:

• Identifying and debating the various ‘political’ transformations that took place in the 1980s and the different domains in which these transformations were carried out; 
• discussing the added value of parliamentary history for studying politics in the 1980s;
• analysing the ways in which political and societal actors (e.g. politicians, policy makers, social organisations)  shaped the transformations of the 1980s – and the ways in which they aimed to resist them;
• discussing the periodisation of the ‘long 1980s’, with due regard of the various turning points and caesura’s;
• investigating the impact of European integration and changing international relations of this decade on national politics.