Political Career
In 1986, Kok succeeded Joop den Uyl as leader of the social democratic Labour Party. From 1989 until 1994 he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in a cabinet with the centre-right party Christian Democratic Appeal.
In 1994 Kok became Prime Minister in a cabinet with the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the social liberal party Democrats 66. This cabinet goes under the name of Cabinet Kok I. This Purple coalition was the first in decades to form a government without the Christian Democratic Appeal. After the elections in 1998 he led a second government with the same partners, Cabinet Kok II.
The main aim of the Cabinet Kok I was to create employment. The Dutch economy had been in a deep recession for years. The market should get more influence in the economy. This let to a policy of tax reduction, economizing, and trying to keep people out of the social care by supporting employment; large infrastructural projects were set in motion. Another aim was to make an end to the enormous debt of the Dutch government. The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed during this cabinet. The Srebrenica massacre occurred under the responsibility of this government, which led later to the fall of the second Kok cabinet. This was the last cabinet in recent history to serve a full term. Five of the following cabinets resigned and one was a temporary caretaker cabinet.
The second cabinet was the successor of the first cabinet was formed from the same coalition of PvdA, VVD and D66. It was also known as the tweede paarse kabinet ("second purple cabinet") called such because it contained both the social-democratic PvdA (red) and the liberal VVD (blue). The aim of the cabinet was to continue the policy of cabinet Kok I, which was concerned with economizing, tax reduction, and making an end to unemployment. Wim Kok was the prime minister, Annemarie Jorritsma as the deputy prime minister for the VVD, and Els Borst for D66. The cabinet was considered boring, because both left-wing and right-wing political parties were a part of it. There was no strong opposition in the House of Representatives. This cabinet was notable for resigning twice. The first time was in May 1999, when D66 stepped out of the coalition when proposed legislation entered by this party was blocked; through negotiations the crisis was solved and the cabinet stayed together. The second and final time was on 16 April 2002, close to the natural end of term for the cabinet, when prime minister Kok wished to resign over the report by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies into the fall of Srebrenica in 1995 and the other ministers had no choice but to follow him. The Second Kok cabinet remained in place as a caretaker cabinet until 22 July 2002, when it was replaced by the first Balkenende cabinet.
During most of Kok's time as Prime Minister, the Netherlands was booming economically and Kok was credited internationally for the Dutch polder model. This same "polder model" went out of fashion early 2002, which saw the rise of Pim Fortuyn, a political newcomer. Kok's second cabinet fell just weeks before the May 2002 elections when Kok and all his ministers stepped down because of the discussion about the possible Dutch responsibility in the Srebrenica massacre.
Kok was succeeded as leader of the Labour Party by Ad Melkert, who went on to lose the Dutch general election of 2002.
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