“This book gives a both revelatory and clarifying portrait of neoliberalism in the Netherlands. A must-read for those who want to understand contemporary Dutch politics.”
—Ronald van Raak, De Volkskrant
“This book, filled to the brim with careful and sharp analysis, contributes to our knowledge of liberalism. It shows that this philosophy is not the logical consequence of economic laws of nature.”
—Paul van der Steen, Trouw
“A sophisticated political history of post-war Dutch politics.”
—Rik Rutten, NRC Handelsblad
“For decades, the Netherlands was held up as proof that free-market reforms could be achieved through consensus. With sharp historical insight, Merijn Oudenampsen demolishes this “polder model” myth, showing how from the 1970s a neoliberal revolution was smuggled in as technical necessity – depoliticized in tone, radical in substance.”
—Niklas Olsen, author of The Sovereign Consumer: A New Intellectual History of Neoliberalism
“Merijn Oudenampsen is one of the most knowledgeable scholars on neoliberalism in the Netherlands. He has analyzed how Dutch policies and society became neoliberal in painstaking detail. This book is required reading for anyone interested in this topic.”
—Ingrid Robeyns, author of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth
“Long viewed as a model of consensus and moderation, the Netherlands has in recent decades been rocked by waves of right-wing radicalism. In this highly engaging book, Merijn Oudenampsen makes that shift comprehensible by showing how neoliberalism took hold of Dutch politics and how it drove a decimation of the social safety net while expanding the privileges and subsidies enjoyed by corporations and asset owners. The definitive history of economic politics and policy in the Netherlands since the seventies, and a major contribution to the neoliberalism literature.”
—Martijn Konings
“In this careful and insightful book Oudenampsen shows that, in the Netherlands, the greatest trick neoliberalism ever pulled was convincing us that it doesn’t exist. How does a deeply political ideology mask itself as technocratic, consensual, pragmatic, and inevitable? Here we find answers that wind through Dutch politics, government, and intellectual history, in which technocrats, economists, and social scientists take center-stage. No Nonsense is necessary reading for anyone interested in the forms, reach, and effects of Western neoliberalism.”
—Stephanie L. Mudge, author of Leftism Reinvented: Western Perties from Socialism to Neoliberalism
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