Interlocking directorates and conflicts of interest: The Rotterdamsche Bankvereeniging, Müller & Co. and the Dutch financial crisis of the 1920s

How can interlocking directorates cause financial instability for universal banks? A detailed history of the Rotterdamsche Bankvereeninging in the 1920s answers this question in a case study. This large commercial bank adopted a new German-style universal banking business model from the early 1910s, sharing directors with the firms it financed as a means of controlling its interests. Then, in 1924, it required assistance from the Dutch state in order to survive a bank run brought on by public concerns over its close ties with Müller & Co., a trading conglomerate that suffered badly in the economic downturn of the early 1920s. Using a new narrative history combined with an interpretive model, this article shows how the interlocking directorates between the bank and this major client, and in particular the direction of influence of these interlocks, resulted in a conflict of interest that could not be easily overcome.

The influence of culture on home-based family caregiving at end-of-life: A case study of Dutch reformed family care givers in Ontario, Canada

Families are facing increased pressure to provide care to their terminally-ill or dying kin in the home. It is known that balancing care with other personal and social roles can adversely affect family caregivers' (FCGs) health, yet access to supportive services which can mitigate burden is often inadequate. Cultural factors are known to shape the experience of caregiving; however, most research to date tends to neglect the experiences of FCGs from different cultural groups. This understanding is necessary to ensure that supportive services are both meaningful and culturally-appropriate. Using qualitative methods, we undertook longitudinal research with a sample of Dutch Reformed FCGs (n = 5) to understand their experiences of caregiving and bereavement. The results of the study are suggestive of a cultural specificity with respect to caregiving that impacts both responsibilities and reactions to care. Three themes were salient to this group as a cultural entity: cultural attitudes towards care, religious beliefs and coping, and c. ulturally-informed care-seeking behaviours. These three themes were seen to be a function of their religious and ethnic identities and were reinforced by ties to the communities in which they resided. Cultural identity provided a framework through which to understand and make sense of the experience, while group membership provided access to networks of informal support. This research contributes to the geographical literature on care/caregiving by providing insight into the social, cultural and religious context of informal family caregiving with a population who live in close geographic proximity. On a practical level, this case study indicates the importance of considering how these factors may operate in other settings in order to implement timely and appropriate interventions to better support FCGs who are caring for their terminally-ill loved-ones at home.

Geographies of Communality, Colonialism, and Capitalism: Ecology and the World-System

Drawing upon recent reworkings of world systems theory and Marx’s concept of metabolic rift, this paper attempts to ground early nineteenth-century Ireland more clearly within these metanarratives, which take the historical-ecological dynamics of the development of capitalism as their point of departure. In order to unravel the socio-spatial complexities of Irish agricultural production throughout this time, attention must be given to the prevalence of customary legal tenure, institutions of communal governance, and their interaction with the colonial apparatus, as an essential feature of Ireland’s historical geography often neglected by famine scholars. This spatially differentiated legacy of communality, embedded within a country-wide system of colonial rent, and burgeoning capitalist system of global trade, gave rise to profound regional differentiations and ecological contradictions, which became central to the distribution of distress during the Great Famine (1845-1852). Contrary to accounts which depict it as a case of discrete transition from feudalism to capitalism, Ireland’s pre-famine ecology must be understood through an analysis which emphasises these socio-spatial complexities. Consequently, this structure must be conceptualised as one in which communality, colonialism, and capitalism interact dynamically, and in varying stages of development and devolution, according to space and time.

Clothing and Colonialism: The Dungiven costume and the fashioning of early modern identities

The entanglement of identity and personal attire in colonial settings is explored through consideration of a tattered set of clothes from late sixteenth-early seventeenth-century Ireland incorporating elements of Irish, English, and Scots fashion. Reconsideration of the clothing, recovered from a bog, provides a rare opportunity to explore the physical manifestations of processes of hybridity and mimesis, as well as the pragmatic accommodations of impoverishment and displacement in colonial settings. In addition to considering the role of material culture in colonial identity formation and negotiation, examination of what has become known as the Dungiven costume also speaks to the ongoing legacy of early modern colonial encounters, as the cultural associations of the garments, and by extension their past wearer(s), continue to be subjected to the politically charged nature of identity politics in contemporary Northern Ireland.

Initiating advance care planning on end-of-life issues in dementia: Ambiguity among UK and Dutch physicians

Background
In dementia, advance care planning (ACP) of end-of-life issues may start as early as possible in view of the patient’s decreasing ability to participate in decision making. We aimed to assess whether practicing physicians in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom who provide most of the end-of-life care, differ in finding that ACP in dementia should start at diagnosis.

Methods
In a cross-sectional study, we surveyed 188 Dutch elderly care physicians who are on the staff of nursing homes and 133 general practitioners from Northern Ireland. We compared difference by country in the outcome (perception of ACP timing), rated on a 1–5 agreement scale. Regression analyses examined whether a country difference can be explained by contrasts in demographics, presence, exposure and role perceptions.

Results
There was wide variability in agreement with the initiation of ACP at dementia diagnosis, in particular in the UK but also in the Netherlands (60.8% agreed, 25.3% disagreed and 14.0% neither agreed, nor disagreed). Large differences in physician characteristics (Dutch physicians being more present, exposed and adopting a stronger role perception) hardly explained the modest country difference. The perception that the physician should take the initiative was independently associated with agreeing with ACP at diagnosis.

Conclusions
There is considerable ambiguity about initiating ACP in dementia at diagnosis among physicians practicing in two different European health care systems and caring for different patient populations. ACP strategies should accommodate not only variations in readiness to engage in ACP early among patient and families, but also among physicians.

Troubled waters: an institutional analysis of ageing Dutch and American waterway infrastructure

Waterways are one of the oldest systems for the transportation of cargo and continue to play a vital role in the economies of some countries. Due to societal change, climate change and the ageing of assets, the conditions influencing the effective functioning of these systems seem to be changing. These changing conditions require measures to renew, adapt or renovate these waterway systems. However, measures with the sole aim of improving navigation conditions have encountered resistance, as the general public, and stakeholders in particular, value these waters in many more ways than navigation alone. Therefore, a more inclusive, integrated approach is required, rather than a sectoral one. Addressing these contemporary challenges requires a shift in the traditional waterway authorities' regimes. The aim of this study is to identify elements in the institutional setting where obstacles and opportunities for a more inclusive approach can be found. Two major waterway systems, the American and the Dutch, have been analyzed using the Institutional Analysis and Development framework to reveal those obstacles and opportunities. The results show that horizontal coordination and a low pay-off for an inclusive approach is particularly problematic. The American case also reveals a promising aspect – mandatory local co-funding for federal navigation projects acts as a stimulus for broad stakeholder involvement. Improving horizontal coordination and seizing opportunities for multifunctional development can open pathways to optimize the value of waterway systems for society.

Cultural adaptation of websites: a comparative study of portuguese and dutch corporate websites

Master Thesis Presented at Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto for obtaining the Master’s degree in Digital Marketing under the supervision of Professor José de Freitas Santos

Understanding the Intersection of Reformed Faith and Dutch Immigrant Culture in Ontario Independent Christian Schools: Principals’ Experiences and Perspectives

In the aftermath of World War II, a wave of Dutch Reformed immigrants arrived in Ontario, many of whom joined the Christian Reformed Church. Following familiar cultural patterns, history, and their Reformed Christian faith, these immigrants settled in Ontario with remarkable institutional completeness (Breton, 1964). They quickly established independent, parent-operated Christian schools across Ontario. The primary purpose of the schools was to educate children through a comprehensive biblically based school program, yet this religious purpose often intersected with a Dutch immigrant ethnic culture. Van Dijk (2001) states that “the schools were the most important organization in maintaining the religious and ethnic identity of Calvinists” (p. 66). In this qualitative study I explore the intersection of Reformed faith and Dutch Canadian immigrant ethnic culture in Christian schools through the experiential and professional lens of eight retired principals. Employing a theoretical framework informed by Berger’s (1967) Sacred Canopy, I suggest that the intersection of faith and culture was experienced in the schools and was embodied by the schools themselves. Findings point to this intersection being located in the participants’ experience of (a) Dutchness, (b) the struggle for Christian education, (c) the ties that bound the school community together, and (d) the cloud of witnesses that founded and continues to support and encourage the Christian school community. The study offers insight into a Dutch Reformed immigrant group’s experience carving out a niche for themselves on the educational landscape in Ontario. This study also offers suggestions on how Christian schools can broaden their canopy and become more ethnically and denominationally diverse in the future.

The individual and collective effect of U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico : a scale construction and validation, with implications for social work education and practice.

Tesis (Doctor en Filosofía con Orientación en Trabajo Social y Políticas Comparadas de Bienestar Social) UANL, 2011.

Análisis de la presencia de petroleras occidentales y la agudización de conflictos político-económicos en el Delta del Níger. Caso: la Royal Dutch Shell y el Movimiento para la Emancipación del Delta del Níger (MEND) 2006-2010

La región del Delta del Níger es uno de los territorios, sino el principal, en otorgarle a Nigeria numerosas regalías por la exportación de petróleo, sin embargo el escaso beneficio que recibe su población genera conflicto en la región. La alta contaminación provocada por empresas petroleras como la Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), la violación de Derechos Humanos y la estrecha relación que mantiene la multinacional con el Gobierno, se han convertido en los motores del conflicto. Es debido a esto que grupos armados como el Movimiento para la Emancipación del Delta del Níger (MEND), han emprendido acciones con el fin de controlar los recursos, cometiendo robos de petróleo y actos de violencia que constituyen represalias por el trato que la industria petrolera ha dado a la población del Delta. No obstante, el conflicto se ha ido alejando de sus objetivos iniciales en tanto que se ha convertido en un negocio lucrativo, ha producido mayores índices de pobreza y se ha generado un círculo de violencia entre las empresas petroleras, el gobierno nigeriano y los grupos armados. De ahí que el Delta del Níger constituya una región importante no sólo debido a sus altas producciones de petróleo, sino porque además representa una zona altamente compleja que envuelve a ciudadanos, gobiernos y petroleras.