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Fields of interest & areas of research

Robin de Bruin (1971), historian, has published on the issue of European integration in Dutch politics as well as on the Dutch civil service under Nazi rule. Before joining the University of Amsterdam as a lecturer in 2008, he taught courses at the VU University Amsterdam and the Utrecht University on expanding government interference and anti-statism in the 19th and 20th century, the history of political parties, perpetrators of the Holocaust, “action repertoires” of extraparliamentary political movements in the 1960s and 1970s and “World History.” Currently, he teaches courses on the history of Europe, European integration and political philosophy at the UvA's subdepartment of European Studies (department of History, Archeology and Area Studies).

Other fields of interest & areas of research

History of politics: state power and the individual, (neo)corporatism, Europeanization and domestic change, the transformation of the European idea, technocratic ideology. Cultural history: work ethic in Europe in the 19th and 20th century, Moluccan cultural “nationalism” in exile, “New-Feminism” and fear of “sex-extinction” in the Netherlands in the 1920s and 1930s, the biography as a historical genre.

Forthcoming: book

• Robin de Bruin is preparing a PhD thesis on the “elastic” European ideal in Dutch politics in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, which will be published early in 2012: Elastisch Europa. De integratie van Europa en de Nederlandse politiek, 1947-1968, Amsterdam, Wereldbibliotheek. “The experience with the horrors of totalitarianism during the Second World War led to increased enthusiasm for the European cause. However, the motivation for this enthusiasm varied strongly. The spokesmen of the Dutch Labour Party drew the conclusion that socio-economic justice provided by a European socio-economic policy could prevent future attraction to totalitarian ideologies like Communism. On the other hand, within the Orthodox Protestant Antirevolutionaire Partij (ARP) freedom was conceived as freedom from state power. Many politicians of the “anti-statist” ARP regarded the integration of Europe as a means to increase welfare without having to create a “totalitarian welfare state.” Most Dutch political parties presented European integration more or less as a means for achieving their respective ideological aims. At the same time, the expectation of “Europe” caused ideological restraint in Dutch domestic politics...”

Forthcoming: articles

• “Projector or Projection Screen? The Portuguese Estado Novo as an Example for Ideas on “Renewal” in the Netherlands, 1933-1946,” in Carlos Reijnen a.o. (eds.), European Encounters. Intellectual Exchange and the Rethinking of Europe 1918-1945. (European Studies. An Interdisciplinary Series in European Culture, History and Politics), Amsterdam, 2012. “In the 1930s and during the first year after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the basic principles of Salazar's “authoritarian” New State were widely discussed (and cheered) in the Netherlands...”
• ““Europe” as a Hothouse for Dutch Domestic Politics, 1946-1968,” in Antonio Varsori a.o. (eds.), European Political Cultures and Parties and the European Integration Process, 1945-1992, Bruxelles/Brussels, P.I.E. Peter Lang.

In preparation: chapter handbook

• Ideas on European Integration before and during the Second World War/federalism and functionalism in the late 1940s and 1950s, in Wim van Meurs (ed.), Handbook History, Historiography and Theory of European Integration, Nijmegen, Vantilt, 2013.

In preparation: review

• “Luuk van Middelaar, De passage naar Europa. Geschiedenis van een begin, Groningen, Historische Uitgeverij, 2009,” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis. [Translated into French as Le Passage à l'Europe. Histoire d'un commencement, Éditions Gallimard 2012. Translations of this book in English, Hungarian and Polish are being prepared. Publishers: Yale University Press, Typotex Kiadó and Wydawnictwo Aletheia.]

Publications: book chapters

• “Het nieuwe Europa. Hans Linthorst Homan, lid van de Hoge Autoriteit (1962-1967),” in Gerrit Voerman, Bert van den Braak and Carla van Baalen (eds.), De Nederlandse eurocommissarissen, Amsterdam, Boom, 2010, pp. 65-92. [book chapter, academic refereed]
• “The “Elastic” European Ideal in the Netherlands, 1948-1958. Images of a Future Integrated Europe and the Transformation of Dutch Politics,” in Marloes Beers & Jenny Raflik (dir./eds.), Cultures Nationales et Identité Communautaire: un Défi pour l'Europe? / National Cultures and Common Identity. A Challenge for Europe?, Bruxelles/Brussels, P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2010, pp. 207-216. [book chapter, academic refereed]
• “Cees Hazenbosch en de “eeuwige beginselen van Gods woord.” Antirevolutionaire beginselpolitiek en de integratie van Europa in de jaren vijftig,” in G.J. Schutte a.o. (eds.), Grenzeloos christelijk-sociaal. Internationale activiteiten van de Christelijk-Sociale Beweging. Cahier over de geschiedenis van de Christelijk-Sociale Beweging 8, Amsterdam/Utrecht, Uitgeverij Aksant/CNV, 2009, pp. 52-62. [book chapter] [Reviewed by Patrick Pasture, Bijdragen en Mededelingen Betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden / The Low Countries Historical Review, Vol. 126, 2011, http://www.knhg.nl/wpcontent/uploads/Schutte_G.J._Grenzeloos_christelijk-sociaal_Internationale_activiteiten_van_de_christelijk-sociale_beweging_Patrick_Pasture_2011-2_web.pdf ]

Publications: articles (selection)

• “Dutch Politics in the 1950s and the Myth of Inevitable Europeanization,” in Jolán Róka (ed.), Globalisation, Europeanization and Other Transnational Phenomena. Description, Analyses and Generalizations, Budapest, Századvég Kiadó, 2011, pp. 382-390. [conference proceedings, academic non refereed]
• “Dr. Hans Max Hirschfeld, man zonder moreel kompas? Over de ontsporing van beeldvorming,” Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden / The Low Countries Historical Review, Vol. 123, 2008, pp. 433-445. [academic journal article, refereed] [Reply Meindert Fennema: “Hirschfeld als zondebok of heilige,” Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden / The Low Countries Historical Review, Vol. 123, 2008, pp. 446-452, http://dare.uva.nl/document/138262  ]
• “Het politieke compromis als exportartikel. De PvdA en de Europese dimensie van het streven naar vernieuwing (1948-1954),” Nieuwste Tijd. Kwartaalschrift voor Eigentijdse Geschiedenis, Vol. 4 - 3, 2005/2006, pp. 41-49. [academic journal article]
• “Geobsedeerd door calorieën. Arie van der Zwans boek over Hirschfeld neigt naar karaktermoord,” Biografie Bulletin, Vol. 15 - 2, 2005, pp. 44-54. [academic journal article] [Reply Arie van der Zwan:  “Hirschfeld,” Biografie Bulletin, Vol. 15 - 3, 2005,pp. 86-90.]

Publications: book reviews

• “De weg naar “Europa” vande “netwerker” Wim Beyen,” in C.C.van Baalen a.o. (eds.), De waan van de dag. Jaarboek Parlementaire Geschiedenis 2006, Amsterdam, Boom, 2006, pp. 188-189. [Review of: W.H. Weenink, Bankier van de wereld. Bouwer van Europa. Johan Willem Beyen 1897-1976, Amsterdam/Rotterdam, Prometheus/NRC Handelsblad, 2005.]
• “A. van der Zwan, H.M. Hirschfeld.In de ban van de macht. Biografie, Amsterdam, J.M. Meulenhoff, 2004,” Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden / The Low Countries Historical Review, Vol. 121, 2006, pp. 169-170.
• “George Harinck, Roel Kuiper and Peter Bak (eds.), De Antirevolutionaire Partij 1829-1980, Hilversum, Verloren, 2001,” Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis, Vol. 83, 2005, pp. 511-515.
• “Eerste proefschrift programma De Natiestaat: Conservatieven in de negentiende eeuw,” De Laatste Tijd. Nieuwsbrief van het Nederlands Centrum voor Contemporaine Geschiedenis, No.3, February 2001. [Review of: Ronald van Raak, In naam van het volmaakte. Conservatisme in Nederland in de negentiende eeuw van Gerrit Jan Mulder tot Jan Heemskerk Azn., Amsterdam, Wereldbibliotheek, 2001.]

Conference papers (selection)

• ““Europe” as a Hothouse for Dutch Domestic Politics, 1946-1968,” European Political Cultures and Parties and the European Integration Process,1945-1992, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca / University of Padua 10-12 November 2011.
• “Dutch Politics in the 1950s and the Myth of Inevitable Europeanization,” Globalization, Europeanization and Other Transnational Phenomena, Budapest College of Communication and Business 6-7 May 2011.
• “The “Elastic” European Ideal. “Europe” as a Cause for Change in Dutch Domestic Politics, 1948-1963,” Die Geschichte der Europäischen Union: Neue Forschungsansätze jenseits der Diplomatiegeschichte (Graduiertenkolleg Prof.Dr. Wolfram Kaiser, University of Portsmouth), Amsterdam Institute for German Studies 25 March 2011.
• “Projector or Projection Screen? The Portuguese Estado Novo as an Example for Ideas on “Renewal” in the Netherlands, 1933-1946,” European Encounters. Intellectual Exchange and the Rethinking of Europe (1918-1945), University of Amsterdam 27-28 January 2011.
• “Transfer of Corporatism? Corporatism and “Renewal” in the Netherlands, 1939-1946,” European Social Science and History Conference 2010, Ghent 13-17 April 2010.
• “The “Elastic” European Ideal. Images in Dutch Politics of a Future Federal Europe, 1948-1958,” Colloque RICHIE IV: Cultures Nationales et Identité Communautaire: un Défi pour l'Union européenne,  University of Cergy-Pontoise / University of Paris 1: Panthéon-Sorbonne 11-13 December 2008. [See: Marie Julie Chenard and Marloes Beers, “4th RICHIE Conference: “National Cultures and European Common Identity. A Challenge for the European Union” (11-13 December 2008),” Journal of European Integration History, Vol. 15, 2009, pp. 181-185, http://www.lcd.lu/cere/journal/JEIH-29-2009_1.pdf  ]
• “Ideas of Europe in the Dutch Protestant Antirevolutionaire Partij and the Dutch Labour Party during the late 1940s and 1950s,” European Identity and the Second World War, University of Amsterdam 10-11 December 2007.
• “Europe and the Recovery of Justice: Post-War Dutch Political Visions,” European Social Science and History Conference 2006, Amsterdam 22-25 March 2006.

Unpublished work

• “Duits­land, de basis van onze welvaart. Hans Max Hirsch­feld, zijn visie op Duits­land...,” Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam, 1998.

Extra

• Newsreel: Hans Max Hirschfeld, Dutch “High Commissioner” (ambassador) in Indonesia, executing the dissolution of the Royal Dutch East Indies' Army (KNIL) on July 26, 1950; after the sovereignty over the Indonesian archipelago was transferred to the “Republic of the United States of Indonesia.”