Politics out of place: understanding the geography of discontent in the Netherlands from a spatial justice perspective

In the last decade, the political landscape was shaken up by a new wave of populist leaders gaining power in long-standing liberal democracies. Geographers were quick to point out regional patterns in the strong political divides. This is referred to as the geography of discontent. This dissertation moves beyond the perspective that discontent is merely a populist threat, and exposes the geography of discontent through the lens of spatial justice. With this approach it is examined how feelings of discontent are spread across regional divides and what regional disparities are likely to explain contemporary discontent in the Netherlands. The argument is made that many people living in the rural periphery perceive national politics to be detached to their region and feel misrecognised by it. The extent to which regional disparities are likely to explain discontent is empirically tested using a mixed-methods approach, which includes descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, critical policy analysis, and named entity recognition. The findings reveal that peripheral regions in the Netherlands are to some extent disadvantaged by uneven regional development, inadequate recognition and political underrepresentation. This research also shows that residents' perceptions are not always aligned with actual regional developments. In doing so, this dissertation opposes conventional explanations and adds crucial nuances to our understanding of the triggers of regional discontent.