Dutch Revolt Essay

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The Netherlands had gone through different phases of transformational events in its long history. The famous Dutch Revolt is one of the remarkable occurrences in the country. It opened a number of prospects in the field of academics and it served as the baseline of most scholars in analyzing various aspects of society, may it be in terms of social, cultural, economic, or political. This was also used by Gorski (2003) in his article entitled, “The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Rise of the State in Early Modern Europe” wherein he presented the possible consequences Calvinism which spur from the revolt in the state formation of Netherlands. The incorporation of religion was presented in order to not limit the explanations in Marxist…show more content…
That was a good match with the rise of cities in the 16th century, which was gaining independence from central authority". This statement supports the claim of Gorski of why the Dutch Republic works well in its decentralized structure of government, which he fell short to discuss more upon. According to Tawney in his book on religion, as quoted by Brandon (2007), “Calvinism was an active and radical force. It was a creed which sought, not merely to purify the individual, but to reconstruct church and state, and to renew society by penetrating every department of life, public as well as private, with the influence of religion.” It also an added factor that religious affairs are delegated to the jurisdiction of the provincial states, may it be in terms of enforcing and approving legislations in the provincial level and appointments of church officials or even the other way around (Gorski 2003, p. 47). In a decentralized structure of government, it is believed that it enables the local government, hence the citizens at the grass-roots level, to be empowered and to be able to participate in the affairs of the state. Taking into context the Calvinist perspective in this aspect, Wearne (2014) claimed
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