Henk te Velde

Henk te Velde describes politics as a cultural phenomenon. He made a name for himself with his history of nationalism and leadership in the Netherlands. He showed that in around 1900, Dutch liberals embraced the nation state in response to growing political pluralism and that every era thereafter got the political leader it deserved. Te Velde’s later publications covered the history of politics and the monarchy in the Netherlands since 1815. More recently, he introduced new concepts that are not limited to the Netherlands, such as ‘political transfer’, political tradition, leadership styles and the importance of the rhetorical and theatrical aspects of politics in Britain and France. His ideas and methods have been well received by historians both in the Netherlands and abroad.