In recent decades, Dutch policy has sought to fashion renewed relationships between the state and citizens. In addition to the strict, disciplining state that we know from welfare benefits, social policy is ruled by a desire for what I call an intimate state — a close, human and effective welfare state that cooperates on an equal footing with responsible, involved citizens.

In this inaugural lecture, De Koning will outline the contours of this intimate state. She first discusses the innovative insights of an anthropological approach to the welfare state. She then explores the dream of the intimate state and its everyday practice, dilemmas and contradictions. Finally, De Koning argues that the desire for an intimate state leads to a political landscape in which the distinction between government and society becomes increasingly blurred.

Prof. A. de Koning, professor of Anthropology of Power, Politics and the State: The Intimate State: Remaking Political Landscapes in the Netherlands.

This inaugural lecture can be viewed live here.