4.1 THE DUTCH CONSTITUTION. The part of the government that makes sure laws are carried out 1 mark.

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1 4.1 THE DUTCH CONSTITUTION POLITICS GAME 1 1 Your teacher will show you how to play the Politics game. Complete this table during the game. Type of player at the end of round 1 at the end of round 2 at the end of round 3 at the end of round 4 b) The Executive The part of the government that makes sure laws are carried out Government The Courts Queen 2 a) How many people were winners in your game and which types of player were they? Cabinet b) If you wanted to be sure to win, which type of player must you be Boss or People? Explain why this type can always win. The Boss They can change the rules in their favour 2 marks. POLITICS GAME 2 3 Complete this table during the game. Mayor Local Government Queen s Commissioner (Governor) Provincial Government Provincial Mimisters First Chamber (Senate) Parliament Second Chamber Type of player at the end of round 1 at the end of round 2 at the end of round 3 at the end of round 4 Aldermen Provincial Councils (States) KEY judiciary 4 a) How many people were winners in your game and which types of player were they? Local Councils legislature executive chooses b) What are the main rule changes between this game and Game 1? The Boss now cannot just make new rules they have to be accepted as fair by the Judge 2 marks. c) If you want to be sure to win, do you have to be a particular type of player? Explain your answer. The Boss and the Judge are in the strongest position, but all players should do better than in Game 1 3 marks. INFORMATION Study pages 114 and Write your own definitions for the following terms. a) The Legislature The part of the government which makes laws 6 In the diagram above, shade in the parts of the system of government of the Netherlands which represent the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. 7 What can each of the following institutions do? Electorate appoint the person who forms the coalition government; have weekly meetings with the Prime Minister with the Council of State, can draw up laws to suggest to Parliament; join in (but not vote) in debates in the Second Chamber; heads the executive; appoints Queen s Commissioner as chairman of Provincial States 1 mark each. a) the Monarch b) the Cabinet passes laws c) the Parliament has limited legislative and executive powers for its province d) Provincial Government has limited legislative and executive power for its municipality e) Local Government

2 4.2 ELECTIONS THE FIRST-PAST-THE-POST ELECTION Your teacher will show you how to play an election game. 1 What political party were you in and how much did you want the government to spend on each area? Party Education Defence Welfare 5 Complete the table below after the election has been held. write how many votes they got. Now calculate the electoral quotient. Total votes cast Total divided by 5 Round down to the nearest whole number 2 Complete the following table, which records the votes, the result of the election, the government s spending plans and your score. write how many votes they got. write the winning party and the amount they spent. write your party s spending plan. If you were not the government, write the difference between the government s spending and your party s figure. Always make it a negative number. Total it at the end. 3 a) Describe how this voting system worked. Grey Red Blue Purple Yellow Winner Education Defence Welfare Education Defence Welfare All votes were counted; the party with the most votes was the winner 2 marks. Total write how many seats in government they each got. How many votes used (one seat uses the same number as the electoral quotient) Unused votes (total votes minus the row above) Extra seat(s) to make five, given to the highest remaining total(s) Total number of seats in the government b) Was it fair? Explain your answer. Good answers will look at the issues from both sides and reach a conclusion: Yes because the most popular party won 2 marks. No because most people did not vote for the government 2 marks. 6 Complete this table to work out your scores. write how many votes they got. write the final spending agreed by the government. Grey Red Blue Purple Yellow Education Defence Welfare THE PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION ELECTION write your party s spending plan. Education Defence Welfare 4 What political party were you in and how much did you want the government to spend on each area? Party Education Defence Welfare If you got the same as the government, write in your score. If you got a different figure write in the difference and a minus and total your score. Total

3 7 a) Describe how this voting system worked. Votes cast; electoral quotient calculated; each party which gets a seat or seats depending on how many votes they have compared to the electoral quotient; remaining votes more through to a second round, where remaining seats are given to the parties with the highest votes 1 mark each (maximum 5 marks). b) How was it different from the first-past-the-post system? More parties got represented in government 2 marks. c) Which system is most fair? Give reasons for your answer. Good answers will look at the issues from both sides and reach a conclusion: First past the post because the most popular party won 2 marks. Proportional representation because the government is a closer reflection of the range of views in the population 2 marks. Study pages 116 and a) Describe the stages by which the system in the Netherlands really works. 1 mark for each stage: electors vote for a candidate who is on a party s list number of votes necessary for getting a seat is decided total number of votes cast divided by the number of seats votes are counted for each party, the total number of votes each party has is divided by the number of votes necessary to get one seat each party gets that number of seats the remainder seats are distributed by a mathematical formula. b) In what ways is this like the election game you have just played? System for allocating seats through electoral quotient 2 marks. Allocation of remainder seats 2 marks. 9 Write down three synonyms for accommodation in the political sense. They can be one word or a phrase. Underline the one you think is the closest in meaning. Possible answers include: compromise, adjustment, give and take, making concessions 1 mark each for 3; of these, compromise is the closest in meaning. 11 Read Source C. What does it suggest makes proportional representation necessary? Because the Netherlands is a country of minorities, and no party has ever won a majority 12 Read Source D. a) What does it suggest about how fair voting machines are? That they were not fair b) Is there any reason to suspect this might be biased? The name of the website We Do Not Trust Voting Computers c) On balance do you consider Source D to be reliable? Level One: Provenance equals bias so unreliable 13 What does the cartoonist of Source B think about voting machines? That they are not as good as pencil and paper 1 mark each. OR Asserts that the question can t be answered because we don t know in what context the source might be reliable An alternative answer is the Level Four answer without convincing explanation. Level Two: Uses detail from provenance to argue that, in this case, it is or isn t a reliable source Level Three: Uses the source text itself to check the possible bias suggested by the provenance Level Four: Asks reliable for what? 1 2 marks 2 4 marks 5 7 marks 7 8 marks Must be a developed answer: e.g. you can t really answer this question, because you don t know what it is supposed to be reliable about. It is surely reliable about what the group wanted to say, it may or may not be reliable in what it says about voting machines. 2 marks. 10 Read Source A. Why was 1917 an important year for Dutch politics? Set up the accommodation pattern of politics

4 4.3 COALITION GOVERNMENT Study pages 118 and Explain the role in forming a government played by each of the following. Meets with the presidents of the First and Second Chambers, vice president of a) the Queen: the Council of State, and the party leaders, then appoints one or more informateurs to discuss possible coalitions 2 marks. 2 Visit the website of the Second Chamber ( Go to the list of members of parliament and organise the list by party. What parties are represented and how many members does each party have? Party Seats Party Seats Party Seats b) the Presidents of the First and Second Chambers: c) the Vice President of the Council of State: d) the informateurs: e) the formateur: f ) Advise the monarch on the political situation Advise the monarch on the political situation Have discussions with party leaders and others to work out a coalition which is likely to work smoothly; recommend a formateur to the monarch 2 marks. the coalition agreement: policies they will follow Forms the coalition and picks a Cabinet 2 marks. The agreement between the parties in the coalition about what 3 Study the diagram of parties and seats in In this diagram each small box represents one seat. What are the main changes in the power of political parties between 2000 and today? 4 Use the Frequently asked questions section of the website to answer the following questions. a) How much does an ordinary member of parliament earn? b) How many periods in a year does the Second Chamber not sit? c) If you wanted to contact a member of parliament, how should you do it? 5 Which committees would you expect to consider the following: a) things to do with schools b) Alzheimer s disease (it mainly affects the old) c) a pay rise for the staff of the Second Chamber d) government spending plans e) farming problems f ) 5 Education, Culture and Science Ageing Salaries and Other Work Benefits Finance plans Finance Foreign Affairs relations with China 6 On the Second Chamber s website, find the list of committees (it is under the members of parliament tab). Compare the list of committees with the diagram on page 119. Are there any new committees and are there any committees that have stopped meeting?

5 4.4 GOVERNMENT AND ITS CHALLENGES Study pages 120 and Look back at page 125 in this workbook and remind yourself what the executive is. Which three parts of the Dutch state are the executive? Government (Queen and Cabinet) Provincial Government (Queen s Commissioner and Provincial Ministers) Local Government (Mayor and Aldermen) 2 When the formateur negotiates with the different parties while trying to form a government, he or she is concerned with the policies of the government, who will be in the Cabinet and which ministries each Minister will head. a) Why will some parties compromise and accept policies that they do not really want? To make sure that the policies that are most important to them are part of the Coalition policy Economic affairs Agriculture Education, culture and science Transport b) Why will some parties compromise and accept a minister to head a particular ministry that they do not want? Usually because they get the second most important job in the ministry, and their choice of another ministry Health, welfare and sport Justice c) What levers does the formateur have to encourage parties to compromise? Which parties to include in the Coalition The make-up of the Cabinet and other ministerial posts 3 Go to the website of the Dutch government ( Choose the Government tab, and you will find a list of all the ministers and state secretaries for the current government. You can look at this list in a number of ways, including: looking at the biography of each minister looking at all the ministers from one political party looking at the team for a particular ministry. Use this site to complete the table below. Ministry Minister(s) (and party) State secretaries (and party) Interior General affairs Housing, spatial planning and environment Foreign affairs Defence Finance Social affairs

6 4.5 THE NETHERLANDS AND EUROPE 4 Complete this table, which summarises the information in the previous table: Party Number of ministers Number of state secretaries To answer Question 1, you may need to look back at Digging Deeper 1 and 2 or use other reference material. 1 The history of the Netherlands includes some examples of fierce independence and some examples of being part of a larger whole. Complete the table below. For each historical example, say first how independent or integrated the Netherlands was and second whether you think memories of this time affect people s attitudes now. The Roman Empire The reign of Charlemagne (about 810) How independent or integrated was the Netherlands? Only part of the Netherlands was in the Roman Empire. Completely integrated, no independence. Very integrated, but local feudal lords had some independence. Does this affect people s views now? Explain your answer. 5 Study Source B, which is the result of questions asked to members of the Second Chamber. a) Who do most of them think actually does decide government policy? Government and the parties in the coalition b) Is this what they think should happen? No The equal highest responses are Parliament and the Government 2 marks. c) Does this source suggest members of the Second Chamber are happy with the way government works in the Netherlands? Give reasons for your answer. Mixed Most of them don t agree with who decides government policy 2 marks. But most of them do agree with who judges the results of government policy 2 marks. The time of Floris V The reign of Charles V The establishment of the Dutch Republic The time of Floris V Floris was a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor, but the HRE was not very integrated. Floris had considerable independence, as did some towns. Not independent, ruled by Charles V; not integrated within Charles other states like Spain. Charles attempted to increase integration and central authority within the Low Countries. Fully independent, individual provinces retained some power. 6 Which do you think is the main problem facing the Dutch government? Give reasons for your answer. Answers may argue for any problem. The best answers are balanced, considering a range, and reaching a conclusion. Up to 3 marks for using evidence or other reasons in support of the chosen problem. Up to a further 2 marks for considering evidence or other reasons which support the other problems. 1 mark for a conclusion after looking at the evidence which supports all chosen problems. The time of Napoleon At first some independence, with French appointed rulers, but eventually integrated into France. Fully independent, and quite integrated in that William was an absolute ruler. 2 The Netherlands has been one of the biggest supporters of European integration since the end of the Second World War. Do you think the history of the Netherlands helps explain this? Answers may argue either yes or no. The best answers are balanced, considering both yes and no and coming to a conclusion. Up to 3 marks for using evidence in support of the answer. Up to a further 2 marks for considering evidence which supports the other answer. 1 mark for a conclusion after looking at the evidence which supports both answers

7 3 a) In what way might the EU be thought to be more important than the Dutch government in modern Netherlands? Answers should be supported with examples. 2 marks for each example, e.g. 95% of all EU directives by 2001 had been made part of Dutch law. b) In what way might the Dutch people be thought to have much more power than the EU in modern Netherlands? Answers should be supported with examples. 2 marks for each example, e.g. the Dutch referendum in 2005 was very significant in stopping the 2005 move towards a European Constitution. 4 a) Draw two graphs to illustrate the information in Source B. b) Does this graph prove or support the following statements? Give reasons for each answer. i) People in the Netherlands are becoming less sure that the EU is a benefit to the Netherlands. ii) People in the Netherlands have a selfish attitude to the EU. Both answers can be marked with the same levels. Level One: Finds evidence to prove or disprove the statement Level Two: Finds evidence to support or not support the statement Level Three: Questions the reliability of the figures Level Four: Considers reliability, but accepts as evidence which supports or does not 1 3 marks 4 6 marks support the statement 5 7 marks 8 10 marks 136