Hoetink, prof. dr. Carla

Carla Hoetink is Director of the Documentation Centre for Dutch Political Parties (DNPP) and an expert in the field of modern representative democracy. She has a special interest in the functioning of political institutions, including parliaments, political parties, and social movements, and their respective — and sometimes conflicting — views on ‘good politics’. She focuses primarily on the Netherlands in the 20th and 21st centuries, sometimes comparing it with other countries.
In 2020, she received the D.J. Veegens Prize for her thesis “The power of habit. Rules and rituals in the House of Commons after 1945”. In this, Hoetink emphasizes the importance of showing how the culture within parliament has a significant influence on how this institution works. She shows how this culture shapes new members, whether parliament is capable of self-reform, and how collective views on politics and the behaviour of politicians evolve.
According to Hoetink, every proposal for a new electoral system reflects the criticism of politics at that time. Many proposals have been made since 1917, each having different motives. The common denominator in the majority of proposals is that they focus on the district system or elements thereof.
Previously in the news (mainly in Dutch)
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Carla Hoetink wins Veegens Prize 2020 (in Dutch)