Nuclear Weapons in the Tweede Kamer: Analysis of Nuclear Motions in the Dutch House of Representatives in Times of Contestation

Abstract

Abstract US nuclear weapons are presently hosted in five European countries. In recent years, parliaments in four out of the five countries held debates about these weapons. For most of them, this was the first (or the only) debate in many years. By contrast, in the Netherlands, the Tweede Kamer, the House of Representatives, held forty-four votes related to nuclear weapons in the last two parliamentary periods alone. Although parliament's powers are restricted, these votes can oblige government to pursue a certain policy and ultimately put soft constraints on government's freedom of action. Yet, the extent of the contestation of nuclear weapons in European parliaments is almost unknown. Using the Dutch case and spatial modeling methods, we offer three lessons: first, that security policy does not stand above the parliamentary politics; second, that cross-bench voting happens but the activity originates in partisan silos; and third, that there is a strong partisan element to the debates about nuclear weapons in Europe.