French origin of the Dutch polder model

16 November 2009

The polder model seems to be a typically Dutch approach, but in fact it was imported from France. This is the conclusion reached by Dutch researcher Roeland Audenaerde in his thesis on the French philosopher Louis de Bonald.

Nobleman Louis de Bonald (1754-1840) was opposed to the French Revolution. He saw the upheaval as a revolt by the individual against the will of God and against natural order. As ‘Nature’s Secretary’ he abhorred the revolutionary notions of freedom, equality, democracy, capitalism and human rights. He considered that the only result of these ideas would be war and conflict between political parties and between social classes. He felt that only a return to the former society of guilds and estates, where employers and their workers consulted ‘harmoniously’ with each other, could protect society from the hazards of state omnipotence and anarchy.

The inventor of the polder model

His pleas for collaboration, consensus and consultation turned de Bonald into the French inventor of the polder model. In the 19th century the Catholic philosopher’s ideas were adopted in the Netherlands by the priest Herman Schaepman and the protestant leader Willem Groen van Prinsterer. These two politicians set up movements that were precursors to the christian-democratic party CDA, the Netherlands Christian Confederation of Employers (VNO-NCW) and the FNV and CNV trade unions. This is how the ideologies of a staunchly conservative Frenchman also took root in the boggy polder.

The thesis could be written thanks to a research grant from NWO. Author Roeland Audenaerde is a senior policy officer employed at CAOP, the Centre for Labour Relations in the Public Sector.
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For further information please contact:

• Roeland Audenaerde (CAOP)
• tel: +31 6 3071 3621 / +31 70 376 5862, r.audenaerde@caop.nl
• The doctoral thesis was defended on 18 November 2009.
• Supervisor: Prof. A.A.M. Kinneging

Title of thesis: Secretaris der Natuur. De Franse conservatieve denker Louis de Bonald en zijn Theorie van de Macht. [Nature’s Secretary. The French conservative philosopher Louis de Bonald and his Theory of Power.]