{"product_id":"no-nonsense","title":"No Nonsense","description":"\u003cb\u003eHOW THE NETHERLANDS BECAME A HOTBED OF NEOLIBERALISM\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the 1980s, Dutch politics underwent a neoliberal turn overseen by the Christian Democrat Ruud Lubbers. It formed part of an interna­tional trend, famously spearheaded by Reagan and Thatcher. What was new, however, was the way Lubbers depoliticized his reforms and sold them to the public as ‘no-nonsense’ politics. When social democrats and trade unions came to embrace neoliberal reform in the mid-1990s, an elite consensus was forged.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this path-breaking study, Merijn Oudenampsen traces the long shadow these developments cast over Dutch politics. Neoliberal­ism helped nurture the right-wing populism of Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders and inspired the austerity policies of the right-wing liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte. A bleak political template was created for the world.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57487865676149,"sku":"9781804294192","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/no-nonsense","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}