´Legitimizing the Dutch empire 1945-9´

Abstract

[""This research sets out to explore the interpretive frameworks of Dutch public discourse during the decolonization war (1945-9) in Indonesia, using security culture as an analytical framework. Especially in context to the end of WWII in the Netherlands, and the five years of occupation that the Dutch had endured by Nazis, the question will be raised how a democratic Dutch government and Dutch media used rhetoric and discourse to make sense of the colonial war’s realities, and how they legitimized the colonial war to the public. The main argument is that the Dutch government and media developed the pre-existing security culture, which was still reflective of the previous world order, to serve as a legitimization framework for the colonial war in Indonesia. In this way, the Dutch were able to ‘sell’ the necessity and importance to the Dutch public, as the public was not interested in the Indonesian National Revolution (INR) during the beginning phase of the conflict."]