Vrijheid op Voorwaarde: de parlementaire strijd om het recht op vereniging en vergadering, 1849-1855.

Abstract

This thesis examines how parliamentary debates on the right of association and assembly (1849-1855) reveal the evolving democratic thought within the early Dutch parliamentary system. Central to the analysis is the question of which conceptions of freedom, order, and state authority underpinned the legislative proposals that followed the 1848 constitutional reform. At a time when many European countries experienced revolutionary upheaval, the Netherlands pursued political change through institutional reform. The debates surrounding association and assembly show that, even in the absence of revolution, fundamental political tensions emerged over the conditions under which citizens were permitted to participate in public life.