Depoliticising Democracy: Technocratic Antipolitics in Dutch Interwar Political Culture (1917–1939)

This chapter examines depoliticisation in Dutch interwar political culture through the lens of technocratic antipolitics. Shifting the common focus from ‘democracy’ as the central concept of interwar political disputes, it shows how various political actors viewed ‘politics’ as a hindrance to democratic efficiency and advocated reducing its influence through expertise. Although initially rooted in conservative opposition to democratisation, the idea of technocratic antipolitics was soon adopted by Social Democrats, liberals, and confessional parties and politicians alike. In the 1920s, they all diagnosed the state with a ‘political overload’ that required the canalisation and reduction of politics by technocratic means. By the 1930s, the idea of depoliticising democracy served to rebuke its extremist critics. Moderate elites sought to neutralise fascist polemics by framing political overload as a technical issue requiring expert-driven reform. The concept of technocratic antipolitics thus reveals a landscape of ideas and arguments that challenges common distinctions between interwar democrats and antidemocrats, raising new questions about the long-term development of ideas regarding democratic politics and expertise.