Although the glorious days of the Republic of the United Seven Provinces and the Dutch colonial empire are long gone, the Netherlands is still a power of some significance. After a painful process of decolonization and adaptation to the post-war realities, the Netherlands has become a prosperous Northwest-European country that is an active member of the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In the 1960s and 1970s, it even gained a reputation as a liberal, progressive, and tolerant society, an idealist supporter of the United Nations and a generous donor of development aid. In recent years, however, a certain unease and insecurity over the position and identity of the Netherlands has crept into the minds of the Dutch political elites which also affects decision making in the field of foreign relations.

The Atlantic Alliance

Before the Second World War the Netherlands was a conservative colonial power, a small country with huge colonial possessions that had tried – against all odds – to pursue an independent policy of neutrality and free trade. Nevertheless, in May 1940 the Netherlands had been overrun by German troops. Almost two years later Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies, which meant the end of three hundred years of Dutch colonial rule. Directly after the war the colony proclaimed its independence as Indonesia. In spite of a considerable military effort, the Dutch were unable to turn the tide. In 1949 the Netherlands had to accept the independence of Indonesia and the fact that it was now merely a smaller Northwest-European state.

Although many Dutch politicians resented the fact that the United States had opposed them during the conflicts over Indonesia, the Netherlands enthusiastically joined the Americans in the NATO alliance in 1949. The Netherlands soon built up a reputation as a loyal ally of the United States and a trustworthy member of the Treaty Organization. This reputation was in many ways well deserved. Successive Dutch governments assumed that Dutch interests were best served by a solid military alliance that linked the United States to Western Europe. They considered the Atlantic alliance as vitally important, not only as a counterweight against Soviet expansionism but also against possible hegemonial aspirations of the European great powers.