Democratie onder druk. De reglementering van politieke manifestaties in Amsterdam tijdens het interbellum

Abstract

Democracy under Pressure. The Regulation of Public Politics in Amsterdam during the Interwar Years
This article explores the regulation of public politics in the Netherlands during the interwar years. It investigates how this policy was established, which public authorities were responsible for it, and how they accounted for the rather strict regulations. Particular attention is paid to developments in Amsterdam. The article shows that the regulation of political manifestations was not necessarily carried out as a response to actual political unrest, but was increasingly imposed on Amsterdam by the national government. Consequently, the opportunity to organize political manifestations was slowly but surely curbed. Moreover, the centralization and bureaucratization of public order policy amounted to the withdrawal of public order policy from democratic control. During the interwar years the Dutch democracy was therefore challenged by both the strict regulation of public politics, as well as the way in which this policy was established.