Abstract
The purpose of this book is to gain a better insight into the process concerning the resignation of
individual ministers and secretaries of state during the period 1918-1966. This specifically
concerns ministers and secretaries of state who were forced - or felt forced - to leave national
politics prematurely following a political crisis. First of all, this study shows by whom and on what
grounds a minister or secretary of state was forced to resign during a political crisis. In addition, it
analyses the changes in the balance of power, norms, and parliamentary interaction during this
period. The Dutch political system does not have specific constitutional rules to determine if and
when a member of the government should resign. However, in political practice the 'negative
confidence' rule is used. According to this unwritten rule, a minister or a secretary of state is
compelled to resign if a majority of the House of representatives or the Senate has ceased to
express confidence in a member of the Cabinet. A similar trust relationship exists between
parliament and the Cabinet as a whole. The House can indicate a lack of confidence by submitting a
majority vote of no confidence or censure, though in practice this hardly ever occurs. In this study,
individual cases of the eighteen ministers and one secretary of state who resigned between 1918
and 1966 have been analysed. In all cases, a distinction has been made between internal political
actors that can force a minister or a secretary of state to resign, and external political actors that
strongly influence those internal actors. The following internal political actors are addressed: the
House of Representatives, the Senate, the Cabinet and the prime minister, the party leadership, and
the head of state. The external political actors include civil servants, stakeholders, international
players, and the press; these are somewhat further removed from politics, but nevertheless
highly interconnected with it.
