Polarisation strategy

Ed van Thijn as a negotiator with PvdA party leader and informateur Joop den Uyl during the 1977 Dutch cabinet formation.

The polarisation strategy was a political strategy in the Netherlands used by the Labour Party (PvdA) from 1966 to the 1980s. With this strategy, the party aimed to emphasise the differences with the confessional parties, particularly the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and its successor Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). By highlighting these differences, the party attempted to create a division in Dutch politics based on conservative versus progressive lines. The intellectual father of the strategy was Ed van Thijn.[1]

  1. ^ Van Baalen & Bos 2022, pp. 22–23.