sozlukten sevistigim sikidikle olan hikayem capsli

main article: politics of the netherlands

thorbecke reformed the dutch government to a parliamentary monarchy.
the netherlands has been a constitutional monarchy since 1815 and a parliamentary democracy since 1848. the netherlands is described as a consociational state. dutch politics and governance are characterised by an effort to achieve broad consensus on important issues, within both the political community and society as a whole. in 2010, the economist ranked the netherlands as the tenth most democratic country in the world.
the monarch is the head of state, at present queen beatrix. constitutionally, the position is equipped with limited powers. the monarch can exert some influence during the formation of a new cabinet, where they serve as neutral arbiter between the political parties. additionally, the king (the title queen has no constitutional significance) has the right to be informed and consulted. depending on the personality and qualities of the king and the ministers, the king might have influence beyond the power granted by the constitution.
in practice, the executive power is formed by the ministerraad, the deliberative council of the dutch cabinet. the cabinet consists usually of thirteen to sixteen ministers and a varying number of state secretaries. one to three ministers are ministers without portfolio. the head of government is the prime minister of the netherlands, who often is the leader of the largest party of the coalition. in fact, this has been continuously the case since 1973. the prime minister is a primus inter pares, meaning he has no explicit powers beyond those of the other ministers. currently, the prime minister is mark rutte.

the binnenhof is the centre of dutch politics.
the cabinet is responsible to the bicameral parliament, the states-general which also has legislative powers. the 150 members of the house of representatives, the lower house, are elected in direct elections, which are held every four years or after the fall of the cabinet (by example: when one of the chambers carries a motion of no-confidence, the cabinet offers its resignation to the monarch). the states-provincial are directly elected every four years as well. the members of the provincial assemblies elect the 75 members of the senate, the upper house, which has less legislative powers, as it can merely reject laws, not propose or amend them.
both trade unions and employers organisations are consulted beforehand in policymaking in the financial, economic and social areas. they meet regularly with government in the social-economic council. this body advises government and its advice cannot be put aside easily.
while historically the dutch foreign policy was characterised by neutrality, since the second world war the netherlands became a member of a large number of international organisations, most prominently the un, nato and the eu. the dutch economy is very open and relies on international trade.
the netherlands has a long tradition of social tolerance. in the 18th century, while the dutch reformed church was the state religion, catholicism and judaism were tolerated. in the late 19th century this dutch tradition of religious tolerance transformed into a system of pillarisation, in which religious groups coexisted separately and only interacted at the level of government. this tradition of tolerance is linked to dutch criminal justice policies on recreational drugs, prostitution, lgbt rights, euthanasia, and abortion which are among the most liberal in the world.
[edit]political parties
main article: political parties of the netherlands

seats in the dutch house of representatives after the 2010 elections
due to the multi-party system, no single party has held a majority in parliament since the 19th century, and coalition cabinets had to be formed. since suffrage became universal in 1919, the dutch political system has been dominated by three families of political parties: the strongest family were the christian democrats, currently represented by the christian democratic appeal (cda), second were the social democrats, of which the labour party (pvda), and third were the liberals, of which the people's party for freedom and democracy (vvd) is the main representative.
these parties cooperated in coalition cabinets in which the christian democrats had always been a partner: so either a centre left coalition of the christian democrats and social democrats was ruling or a centre right coalition of christian democrats and liberals. in the 1970s, the party system became more volatile: the christian democratic parties lost seats, while new parties became successful, such as the radical democrat and progressive liberal d66.
in the 1994 election, the cda lost its dominant position. a "purple" cabinet was formed by vvd, d66, and pvda. in the 2002 elections, this cabinet lost its majority, due to an increased support for the cda and the rise of the lpf, a new political party around pim fortuyn, who was assassinated a week before the elections. a short-lived cabinet was formed by cda, vvd, and lpf, which was led by the cda leader, jan peter balkenende. after the 2003 elections in which the lpf lost most of its seats, a cabinet was formed by cda, vvd, and d66. the cabinet initiated an ambitious program of reforming the welfare state, the health care system, and the immigration policies.
in june 2006, the cabinet fell after d66 voted in favour of a motion of no confidence against minister of immigration and integration rita verdonk, who had instigated an investigation of the asylum procedure of vvd mp ayaan hirsi ali. a care taker cabinet was formed by cda and vvd, and the general elections were held on 22 november 2006. in these elections, the cda remained the largest party and the sp made the largest gains. the formation of a new cabinet took three months, resulting in a coalition of cda, pvda, and christianunion.
on 20 february 2010, the cabinet fell as the pvda refused to prolong the involvement of the dutch army in uruzgan, afghanistan.[39] snap elections were held on 9 june 2010, with devastating results for the previously largest party, the cda, which lost about half of its seats, resulting in 21 seats. the vvd became the largest party with 31 seats, closely followed by the pvda with 30 seats. the big winner of the 2010 elections was geert wilders' pvv which more than doubled in number of seats.[40] negotiation talks for a new government have resulted in a vvd-led minority government in coalition with cda as of 14 october 2010. this minority governent is supported by pvv.[41]
[edit]administrative divisions
main articles: provinces of the netherlands, municipalities in the netherlands, water board (netherlands), and bes islands

provinces of the netherlands.
the netherlands is divided into twelve administrative regions, called provinces, each under a governor, who is called commissaris van de koningin (commissioner of the queen), except for the province limburg where the commissioner is called gouverneur (governor). all provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), 430 in total (13 march 2010).
the country is also subdivided in water districts, governed by a water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap), each having authority in matters concerning water management. as of 1 january 2005 there are 27. the creation of water boards actually pre-dates that of the nation itself, the first appearing in 1196. in fact, the dutch water boards are one of the oldest democratic entities in the world still in existence.
the administrative structure on the 3 bes islands is different. the islands have the status of openbare lichamen (public bodies) and are generally referred to as special municipalities. they are not part of a province.[42]
provinces of the netherlands