Authoritarianism in the Netherlands: Mission Completed? Downward Trends in Authoritarianism in the Netherlands 1970-1992 with an International Comparison of World Data

Three basic hypotheses on authoritarianism in The Netherlands are proposed. A composite Middendorp data set was used, that included five national random samples in The Netherlands: 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985 and 1992. The first hypothesis maintains that the authoritarianism syndrome will not disintegrate in time. This stability-hypothesis was strongly supported in the 1970-1992 period. The second hypothesis suggested that the levels of authoritarianism have steadily decreased in time. This decreasing-levels hypothesis also received consistent support. Non authoritarian attitudes are now supported among a majority of the population. It is argued that the decrease of authoritarianism levels cannot be attributed to disintegration of the authoritarianism syndrome proper. Hypothesis three stated that The Netherlands is among the lowest in levels of authoritarianism andstateauthoritarianism in the world. This lowest level-hypothesis was explored using cross national data of authoritarian attitudes and state authoritarianism. The indicators indeed suggest that The Netherlands rank among the lowest in authoritarian attitudes as well as in state authoritarianism, together with Scandinavia, Iceland, Canada and New Zealand. The results suggest that the quest of Adorno et al. may have been completed, at least for countries like The Netherlands in the 1990s