It is widely acknowledged that a common knowledge base for European research is necessary. Research repositories are an important innovation to the scientific information infrastructure. In 2006, digital repositories in the 27 countries of the European were surveyed, covering 114 repositories from 17 European countries. In follow-up, this book presents the results of the 2008 survey. It shows an increasing number of respondents, but also a further diversification in the character of a repository. Repositories may be institutional or thematically based, and as such non-institutional as well. 178 Institutional research repositories and 14 thematic and other noninstitutional repositories from 22 European countries took part actively. European practices should be harmonized and the development of state-of-the-art technology facilitated. Authors, institutes and information users are stakeholders in this process. In presenting a state-of the art of developments, this book is a valuable guide for them in developing their policy on research repositories without losing contact with others. The ongoing process of widespread and diversification of digital repositories puts urgency on coherent approach, as a basic feature of repositories is the retrievability of information that may be dispersed over many of them. Continued monitoring of developments will be necessary.

This richly illustrated book presents a global overview of the key events and themes in Dutch history and culture: a choice of fifty key topics, or 'windows' into the country. Fifty important people, inventions and events which together show how the Netherlands has developed into the country that it is now. At the back of the book, there is an overview of the fifty 'windows', grouped in seven themes. This is an excellent introduction for anyone who would like to make an acquaintance with this low country by the sea.

Dutch Edition/Nederlandse editie: Over de grens On 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese surrender that also brought an end to the Second World War in Asia, Indonesia declared its independence. The declaration was not recognized by the Netherlands, which resorted to force in its attempt to take control of the inevitable process of decolonization. This led to four years of difficult negotiations and bitter warfare. In 2005, the Dutch government declared that the Netherlands should never have waged the war. The government's 1969 position on the violence used by the Dutch armed forces during the war remained unchanged, however: although there had been 'excesses', on the whole the armed forces had behaved 'correctly'. As the indications of Dutch extreme violence mounted, this official position proved increasingly difficult to maintain. In 2016, the Dutch government therefore decided to fund a broad study on the dynamics of the violence. The most important conclusions of that research programme are summarized in this book. The authors show that the Dutch armed forces used extreme violence on a structural basis, and that this was concealed both at the time and for many years after the war by the Dutch government and by society more broadly. All of this - like the entire colonial history - is at odds with the rose-tinted self-image of the Netherlands.

Development aid has become the subject of much discussion. Why do we give aid, and does it help? What do we know about the development paths being taken by various countries, or the possibilities of helping them to achieve their goals from outside? How relevant is development aid now that remittances and foreign direct investments have increased as a result of globalization? When does aid have more negative than positive effects? What is the significance of shifting power relations in the world? And do policies focusing on issues like climate, migration, financial stability, knowledge, trade and security not have a greater impact than aid on the development opportunities of poor countries? These questions inspired the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (wrr) to examine what form development aid should take in the era of globalization. At the start of 2010, on the basis of over 500 interviews with experts and an extensive literature survey, the wrr presented its far-reaching recommendations. In October 2010, the new Dutch government decided to use the report as the basis of a thorough modernization of its development policy. This book is based on the wrr report. It builds on the many responses to the report, resulting in more elaboration on specific lines of reasoning, coverage of new themes and more comprehensive analyses, without changing the core of the original report.

Nowadays most consumers are aware of the European dimensions of their electricity supply. But what ideas lie behind this European network? In constructing electricity networks, "Europe" performed a Janus-faced function. On the one hand, a European network would bolster economic growth and peace. On the other, economic growth through electrification would increase military potential. By combining a wide array of rarely used sources, this book unravels how engineers, industrialists, and policymakers used ideas of Europe to gain support for building a European system. By focusing on transnational and European actors, this book is a valuable addition to existing national histories of electrification. It is an original contribution to the history of technology, while also making the role of technology visible in more mainstream European history. The empirical chapters show how ideas of European cooperation in general became intertwined with network planning during the Interwar period, although the Depression and WWII prevented a European electricity network from being constructed. The subsequent chapters describe the influence of the Marshall Plan on European network-building, focusing on both its economic and military aspects. The last chapter portrays how the Iron Curtain was contested. The troubled expansion of networks and capacity in Western Europe provided an underpinning for political rapprochement with the East in the 1970s and 1980s. Political and economic turmoil after 1989 accelerated this process, leading to an interconnected European system by 1995.

These five articles, first presented at the conference 'The Holocaust and other Genocides. The Uses, Misuses and Abuses of the Holocaust Paradigm' in 2011, reflect the current Dutch research on the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands during the Second World War and recent developments in the historiography concerning this topic. To a certain extent, the work being done in the Netherlands has reflected the international historiography in that it addresses the political and public responses to National Socialism and occupation, the nature of the persecution and the regime in the concentration camps. The perspectives of the general population, of the victims and of the perpetrators are all examined, but above all those of bystanders. In this selection of the most recent research, there is a particular emphasis on the nature of the persecution and the general public's reaction to it.