Research Papers

Geert Wilders recently argued that Flanders should re-unify’ with the Netherlands in case Belgium fell apart. He thus placed himself into the tradition of the Grootnederlandse gedachte or Pan-Dutch idea, a movement seeking to overcome the separation of the Low Countries and to reunite all speakers of Dutch in one country. Interestingly, while playing the supposedly populist theme of ethno-linguistic and economic nationalism, and employing the classic strategy of demanding a referendum on the issue, Wilders’ calls received a rather muted, if not outright negative, response in both countries. Indeed, far from appealing to the public, the idea of a Greater Netherlands had always been more of the brainchild of a small intellectual elite in both countries. The populist had exposed himself as elitist and tacitly dropped his proposal. In Belgium, on the other hand, several Flemish politicians have voiced similar opinions in the past, but on the whole support for the scheme is limited to the far-right Flemish Interest party that has enjoyed considerable electoral success in recent decades with its populist and Flemish-nationalist agenda. However, even this party felt compelled to tone down the call for reunification and to propose a closer political cooperation with the Netherlands instead. This paper will first provide a brief overview of the development of the Pan-Dutch idea, before analysing the Dutch and Belgian public and political discourses of this Wilders-episode, the role of Grootnederlandism in both countries today and, by comparing this case study with a number of similar episodes in both countries (e.g. union plans with Germany), try to shed light on the role of elitist thoughts in populist’s agendas.