FAREWELL TO PILLARIZATION

Pillarization is a key concept in Dutch modern history. It is most oft en used as an explanatory factor for almost every socio-political proc ess in Dutch history. After a short historiographical introduction, th is article sets out to review six Ph.D. dissertations published in the last decade. They are all derived from a research programme mapped ou t by the Dutch historian J.C.H. Blom, focusing on the pattern of pilla rization on a local level, with a very broad description of the concep t, desperately trying not to exclude anything that might later prove t o be pillarization. Although all these publications are well researche d and very readable, they leave us with the puzzling question of how t o generalize their findings. Pillarization seems to be an essentially contested concept, unfit for theoretical clarity. Not without a touch of irony, this article takes the liberty of proposing to get rid of th e concept as such. Instead the suggestion is made to renew political h istoriography by using a broad concept of 'politics', especially by em phasizing the predominant importance of religion and social rank to th e mentality in the nineteenth century. In addition it seems very worth while to distinguish three ideal types of 'political orientations' whi ch emerged in successive periods or stages, as proposed by the America n political scientists Almond and Verba. A first stage which might be characterized as passive or deferential, a second one as local and int ermittent, and a third one as national, stable and ideological. This c ould become a bridge between the local and the national level. The six studies under review incite us to pursue that course.