My current research project is
titled Associational Mania. The
Struggle for
Recognition and the Transformation of Politics, 1820-1890. I am
investigating the remarkable enthusiasm for founding new
organizations in the nineteenth-century, and its relation
to the process of democratisation from the perspective of the
'founders' themselves. For more on this project, click here
(in Dutch). I am working on this project as a post doc at the history department
of Leiden University,
where I also work as an assistant professor in Modern History.
During 2007-2008 I was appointed a fellow at the Charles Warren Center of
Harvard University. While there,
I have worked on the American 'associational mania', as well as
discussed
the broader theme of the interaction of social
movements and politics. Find here the first results of my work
in progress (pdf).
De afschaffers. Publieke opinie, organisatie en politiek in Nederland 1840-1880 is now available. The title translates The Abolitionists. Public opinion, organization and politics in the Netherlands, 1840-1880. An English Summary is available in pdf (it follows after the table of contents).
More information here (in Dutch, with Order Form for University Libraries)