“Short-term thinking in Dutch politics comes at the expense of the longer term”

Politicians are experiencing an increase in short-termism in Dutch politics, at the expense of essential longer-term planning. This is the conclusion of four students from Utrecht University in a small-scale study on short-termism. “Politicians always balance short-term image scoring against long-term results.”

In conversation with (former) politicians

Boyd Angenent, Jesse Dubié, Riko van der Helm, and Noah Terpstra talked to seven (former) politicians, including Sybrand van Haersma Buma, Annemarie Jorritsma, and Gert-Jan Segers. “Among almost all the politicians we spoke to, we sensed the perception of an increase in short-termism in Dutch politics. Short-termism refers to the delusion of the day, or short-term thinking at the expense of the longer term.”

Students attribute the perceived increase to several factors.

Students attribute the perceived increase to several factors. “In particular, the de-pillarisation and de-ideologisation of society, voter volatility, the need for profiling, and the rise of social media.” For instance, voters are said to be more focused on the short term and have also become more ‘volatile’ as a consequence of de-pillarisation. The result: the political landscape has become fragmented, voters are less loyal, and politicians feel greater pressure to promote themselves in the hope of retaining and winning new votes.

How big a problem are we facing?

“This puts pressure on the freedom of action that allows politically responsible long-term policy making,” the students explain. However, whether short-termism is actually on the rise and constitutes a structural problem can be disputed, they stress. “It is difficult to sharply define exactly what short-termism means, because how long is the long term, for example?”

“The politicians also rightly noted that short-termism is of all times. Everyone has their role to play. Politicians need voter trust to make long-term policies, politicians do not have to surrender to the capricious voter or short-termism, and the media do not have to choose the delusion of the day.”

Negative impact of short-termism on climate policy

One of the subjects most affected by short-termism is the climate crisis. Since 1972, the year the Club of Rome published its report The Limits to Growth, it has taken a long time to create space for a long-term environmental vision and approach. You could even say this is still lacking, Angenent, Dubié, Van der Helm, and Terpstra argue.

Without a long-term vision, no structural steps will be taken.

Previous climate policies mainly comprised short-term solutions, the students write. Consider, for instance, the subsidy of electric cars and solar panels. Meanwhile, larger, longer-term problems, such as nitrogen emissions and the agricultural sector, were always pushed forward or fought separately. “When in reality these are connected factors. Without a long-term vision and approach to the whole, no structural steps will be taken.”

One explanation, according to the students, is again the need for profiling. “Voters are more concerned with the short term than the longer term. Denying or downplaying longer-term problems can therefore be seen as short-termism for electoral gain.”

Master’s programme History of Politics and Society

Angenent, Dubié, Van der Helm, and Terpstra conducted their research for the Politics & Society Lab course, as part of the Master’s programme History of Politics and Society. In this Master’s programme, students explore the historical roots of contemporary issues.

“We looked specifically at to what extent short-termism is a structural problem in Dutch politics,” the students say, “and how this has shifted between 1980 and 2020. This idea actually came about while attending Professor James Kennedy’s ‘The Hague behind-the-scenes’ course. Here, we talked to Gert-Jan Segers about nitrogen and reflected on the different considerations a politician has to make.”