Dutch people are particularly concerned about events that directly affect their own community, researchers from the Clingendael Institute write in a report published on Sunday. Between hope and fear. At the end of last year, the researchers asked more than 3,500 Dutch people which developments they found threatening and hopeful.
At the top of the ranking were threats from abroad with direct local impact, including cyber sabotage, foreign interference in Dutch migrant communities, large-scale migration, and international organized crime. Respondents found the Dutch approach to cyber sabotage and crime encouraging.
Migration-related developments ranked particularly high in Clingendael's annual ranking of supposed threats. The authors cite the increased politicization of this topic as a possible cause.
From 'Russia shock' to 'Hamas shock'
This year, the researchers also noted “a certain Hamas shock” in the attitudes of respondents, in response to the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7. For years, the fear of an Islamic terrorist attack in the Netherlands scored very low, but this year it is at number three. 66 percent of respondents think this will happen within five years.
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In 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a shock among the Dutch and this was reflected in the rankings. In the survey that year, the five largest threats learned were Russia-related. But the “Russia shock” was temporary, the researchers note. The fear that Russia will take Ukraine now hangs slightly above the middle in the ranking of a total of fifty “threats”.
Less attention is paid to structural geopolitical developments, the researchers write. For example, reductions in prosperity due to increasing protectionism are at the bottom of the rankings. According to the poll, the Dutch are less concerned about climate change than in previous years. Fear of disasters caused by climate change is at number forty: four years ago it was in the top three. The hope of Dutch adaptation to the changing climate, through targeted investments and technological innovation, is actually considered very high.
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