The dutch political system clearly favors representative democracy over direct democracy. Popular vote in 2005 on the ratification of the Constitution for Europe was the first (and the last) a nationwide referendum in the Netherlands. The decision to adopt the Constitutional Treaty by referendum was dictated by various factors, but mainly resulted from the belief that voters agree with the politicians about the need for a Constitution for Europe. Meanwhile the Dutch rejected the treaty in referendum. The purpose of this article is to show the reasons for the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty of the European Union, as well as to make an attempt to answer whether the outcome of the referendum was the result of voters’ attitudes towards Europe, or rather the attitudes towards political parties and government.

The purpose of this article is to present Hugo Grotius’s views concerning the idea of freedom. It must be pointed out that the idea of freedom was not the subject of a separate thought, except for the freedom of the seas, which Grotius dedicated a separate work. Theses on freedom were formulated in the light of other issues such as natural law or the essence and scope of state power. For this purpose, the first part of the article presents a historical background. In the second part, Grotius’s views will be presented in three contexts. First, freedom of the individual as power over oneself. Second, freedom in political terms, as a relationship of community. Finally freedom in the global aspect, as freedom of navigation, trade and migration.

Feminism in the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Feminism in the Netherlands began as social movement during the 19th century. The prominent representatives of the first feministic movement are: Wilhelmina Drucker, Aletta Jacobs and Helena Mercier. Later, the struggles of Second-wave feminism in the Netherlands mirrored developments in the women’s rights movement in other Western countries. Nowadays the position of women in the Netherland’s society have changed, but there are a lot of problems like part-time jobs, discriminating political parties, which must been encouraged to guarantee the full emancipation.