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Books & Papers

The Netherlands in Dialogue: A Structural Approach to Dialogue Across Society

Olga Plokhooij

This paper traces how a single 2002 dialogue event in Rotterdam grew into a national movement spanning 56 Dutch cities. Olga Plokhooij shares practical lessons from 15 years of building dialogue infrastructure across society.

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When debate failed to heal social divisions after 9/11, Rotterdam organisers turned to dialogue instead, and discovered something that could scale. This paper chronicles the growth of The Netherlands in Dialogue from a single 2002 event to a national network of 56 'Days of Dialogue' by 2009. Author Olga Plokhooij, a key architect of this movement, shares the structural approach that made expansion possible: simple methodology accessible to non-experts, partnerships spanning government, business and civil society, and trained facilitators in each city. The paper examines how local organisers adapted national frameworks to their communities while maintaining core dialogue principles. It also candidly addresses the movement's 2019 decision to close its formal foundation, exploring what this ending reveals about the natural lifecycle of social movements and how dialogue infrastructure can persist beyond formal organisations when deeply rooted.

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Books & Papers

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Dialogue in organisations and systemsPublic sector and government

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39 min

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