How Did The Dutch Republic Weak

Historically, many states have experienced being colonized by powerful countries and most of the time they resort to resistance, uprising or revolution. The Dutch Republic or the Netherlands is one of the best examples when talking about states that have been colonized but developed measures that can help them become free from foreign forces. It was said in the article that the Dutch Republic is one of the safest, most stable and best governed nations in Europe, which was surprising according to the author (Gorski 2003, 40). It was puzzling how a small-numbered Dutch state can go against Spain, which was one of the biggest military powers in Europe. Though the Dutch State was perceived to be weak since it has a small population, the author
Under the leadership of Charles V and his son Philip II and their attempts to centralize power, there was a financial burdening with regards to taxes brought by the new proclaimed taxes without the consent of the States General or the members of the parliament (Gorski 2003, 41). The parliament is supposed to have a part in the decision making but in that case their involvement was not acknowledged by the Spaniards. Philip II wanted to exhaust all the resources that it can gain from the region in order to finance its campaign against France, which was also a major power at that time (Trueman, n. d.). The revolt was said to have begun in June 1568 (Harreld
Discipline, both individual and societal, is also one of the factors that affects state strength. With the rise of Calvinism, among other factors, the Dutch Republic was able to free its territory from the influence of the abusive colonizers and most especially established a strong state out of a revolt initiated by low level individuals which later became critical in the success of the movement.
The decentralization of power is also important especially if the local units are active and efficient. It must always be remembered that the strength cannot be just measured in the national level because there is still a presence of local units that are important in attaining stability on the state. The capacity of the state to become strong is not measured by the size of its population but by the efficient functions of the different sectors in the society. The case of the Dutch Republic is an example of the effective cooperation of the national level with the local level in order to develop a strong sense of popular governance (Gorski