Abstract
Netherlands Overseas Territories in Comparative Perspective: The current political map of the world still shows many territories that did not free themselves during the decolonization and thus continue to be connected to their metropoles, often thousands of kilometres away. This study discusses one such example, the overseas territories of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The study deals both with the three autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba, Curaçao, Saint Martin), as well as with the so-called Caribbean Netherlands (Caribisch Nederland) that is a part of the "European" country Netherlands (Bonaire, Saba, Saint Eustatius). The study aims to analyze the relation of those countries to The Hague, emphasizing the viewpoints of history (summarizing the development of relevant areas), constitutional law (with attention to legal regulation of the status of Netherlands overseas territories - the extent of autonomy, way of administration, the relation to the metropole and the EU) and political science (concentrating on peculiarities of the new organization of the Netherlands overseas territories).
Research from the last mentioned perspective emphasizes the role in local party systems played by local politicians (when administrating local issues) and the extent to which state-wide parties are active here. Following detailed analysis of above phenomena, the study - using comparative method - attempts to answer crucial questions, i.e. why these territories did not free themselves, which factors led to differentiated statuses of particular territories after WWII and which development is to be expected in near future, with respect to the 2010 administrative reorganization.
The study is complemented by many tables that clearly summarize the basic analysed facts.