14 - Terrorism in the Netherlands

Summary

In this chapter, terrorism is interpreted as a contested concept: as a discursive frame and a political attribution with the power to transform conflicting political, ideological or religious positions into repertoires of action and governmental practices. Terrorist events will be highlighted inasmuch as they were reported on in the Netherlands, or when threats posed by international terrorist organisations or foreign groups were mediatised within the Dutch context. We will also trace when indigenous Dutch radical groups and individuals triggered national debates – and estimate whether this was followed by national policy decisions and actions or not. As will transpire, the Netherlands were more often than not on the receiving end of international terrorism and global terrorist trends. Yet, there were some instances of terrorist groups and attacks originating in and from the Netherlands, inspired by injustice frames generated on the basis of misgivings about Dutch politics. By and large, the history of terrorism in the Netherlands did follow the trajectories of David Rapoport’s ‘four waves’ of terrorism, albeit with some national characteristics, and always situated within the specific confines of the Dutch national context. In the following, we will trace the introduction, trajectories and translations of terrorism as a concept, discourse and influence on concrete security practices into Dutch politics, society and law – and we will ask ourselves how the double-edged nature of terrorism played out in these interactions.