* Why did the 'West' become such a significant actor in the world, and what part did the Netherlands play?
* What were the driving forces in state-formation, and in what respects and why did the Netherlands take a different path to most of Europe?
* How did globalisation impact economic structures and socio-cultural life, and how did the Netherlands react to these new challenges?
* How did this very Christian and bourgeois nation develop into a flagship for liberal tolerance?
The book carefully balances a wider investigation of these issues with close inspections of how ordinary people experienced the changes they prompted. It also provide a convincing, judicious assessment of the ebbs and flows of this small country's global influence over time: prominent as a Golden Age economic powerhouse, colonial power, and bastion of political freedom in some eras, and yet impotent on the world stage at others. Supplemented with 35 images, 10 maps, a wealth of text boxes, charts and tables, as well as a companion website, this book is the definitive history of the Netherlands in a global context.



![Mcwilliams, David ECONOMICS David McWilliams: Money [2024] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/mcwilliams-david-david-mcwilliams-money-2024-paperback-61115153383763_{width}x.jpg?v=1744475964)
![Hrytsak, Yaroslav & Gerbish, Nadiyka BARGAIN GIFT BOOKS New A Ukrainian Christmas [2022] hardback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/hrytsak-yaroslav-gerbish-nadiyka-a-ukrainian-christmas-2022-hardback-9781408728413-57655306748243_{width}x.jpg?v=1727794380)
![Khalidi, Rashid I. HISTORY Rashid I. Khalidi: The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance [2020] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/khalidi-rashid-i-rashid-i-khalidi-the-hundred-years-war-on-palestine-a-history-of-settler-colonial-conquest-and-resistance-2020-paperback-59356491055443_{width}x.jpg?v=1728368041)
![Grann, David TRANSPORT David Grann: Wager The [2023] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/grann-david-david-grann-wager-the-2023-paperback-57804381454675_{width}x.jpg?v=1745257191)
