Table of contents List of tables 8 List of figures 9 Acknowledgements 11 Preface 15 1 Political discontent in the exemplary case of the Netherlands 19 Political discontent in the Netherlands 20 Research approach 23 On the research choices made 27 Structure of this thesis 27 2 On Political Support and Political Discontent: Concepts, Trends and Theories 31 On political discontent and political support: concepts and meaning 31 Theoretical models for analysing political support 34 Trends and theories 46 Specified research questions 54 3 Mapping (the Survey Statistics) of Political Discontent in the Netherlands 57 Growing discontent with current government (policy) and incumbent officeholders? 59 Growing discontent with political institutions and politicians in general? 65 Growing discontent with democratic principles and values? 71 Comparing types and levels of political discontent in survey studies 74 4 In conversation with politically dissatisfied citizens 79 Assessment of Politics: Objects of Discontent in Detail 85 Intensity and deepseatedness of the cynicism 93 What Influences the Intensity of Political Cynicism? 97 Summary, Review and Discussion 99 5 Political Discontent and Political Behaviour in the Netherlands 107 Exit or voice? 107 Political discontent and political behaviour in Dutch Parliamentary Election Studies 2010 109 The political behaviour of political cynics through interviews 129 Comparing Results 135 6 Understanding the Public Attention for Political Discontent 139 Data and methods 140 Newspaper attention for political discontent from 1970-2010 143 Interim conclusions and reflections on the growing attention for political discontent in newspapers 158 Parliamentary discussions on political discontent since 1995 160 Interim conclusions and reflections on the growing attention for political discontent in parliament 166 Concluding reflections on the growing newspaper and parliamentary attention for political discontent 167 Explaining the growth of attention 169 7 Summary, Closing Reflections and Policy Implications 173 Summary 173 Closing reflections 183 Comparing 7 Appendices 193 Appendix A 195 Appendix B 197 Appendix C 199 Appendix D 203 Appendix E 213 Appendix F 217 Bibliography 227 Index 249 Preface Acknowledgements Table of contents List of tables List of figures Chapter 1: Introduction. Political discontent in the exemplary case of the Netherlands Chapter 2: On Political Support and Political Discontent, Concepts, Trends and Theories Chapter 3: Mapping (the Survey Statistics of) Political Discontent in the Netherlands Chapter 4: In Conversation with Politically Dissatisfied Citizens Chapter 5: Political Discontent and Political Behaviour in the Netherlands Chapter 6: Understanding the Public Attention for Political Discontent Chapter 7: Summary and Closing Reflections Nederlandse samenvatting Appendixes A Overview of political parties in Dutch parliament in 2006 and 2010 B Consent form interviews C Interview format D Original text of parts of the interviews used in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 E Overview of newsarticles quoted in Chapter 6 F Overview of survey items used in Chapter 5 Bibliography