Reflecting on 15 Years of Autonomy and the State of Our Democracy

Reflecting on 15 Years of Autonomy and the State of Our Democracy

28 September 2025

This month marks fifteen years since Curaçao gained its autonomous status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands on October 10, 2010. Anniversaries invite reflection, not only on what has been achieved but also on what remains unfinished. Autonomy was meant to strengthen our democratic institutions and bring decision-making closer to the people. Fifteen years later, however, the central question remains: has our democracy deepened, or has it stalled?

On Friday, September 26, 2025, the seminar Democracy Today & The Road Ahead was held at the Kura Hulanda Conference Center to mark 15 years of autonomy for Curaçao. Unfortunately, I could only attend until 10:00, while the program continued until noon. I therefore only heard the opening remarks by sociologist and philosopher (and not political scientist, as the Antilliaans Dagblad mistakenly reported) Dr. Brede Kristensen.

That same morning, someone asked me if I would call myself a political scientist. My answer: I studied political science and public administration, and I hold a PhD in public administration.

When I received the invitation weeks ago, I asked the organizers why a white male perspective had been chosen to open the conference. In response, a woman was added to the list of speakers. Still, I agreed with much of what Kristensen presented—points I have also made before. The Antilliaans Dagblad summarized them:

• Democracy only works when there is dissent—when leaders listen to opposing voices.

• Since 2010, participation has declined, and advisory councils have become paper tigers (my words).

• Democracy only functions if human rights are upheld.

• Participatory democracy is just as essential as representative democracy.

• Democracy cannot coexist with herd behavior.

• The abolition of the second layer of government in 2010 weakened checks and balances.

• He advocated for a federation of the former Netherlands Antillean islands.

The newspaper placed this point at the end of his talk, but in fact, Kristensen began with a striking claim, where he almost lost me: democracy is not a European invention. He tried to support this by pointing to governance in so-called primitive tribes, where decisions were made collectively, and to Switzerland as an example of participatory democracy. His argument suggested that democracy is inherent to human nature rather than learned behavior.

And yet, he also called for teaching democracy from an early age in schools—implying that democracy is learned, nurtured, not purely innate.

Kristensen also devoted attention to the pamphlet Aan het volk van Nederland (To the People of the Netherlands), published on September 26, 1781, which pleaded for democracy in the Dutch Republic.

His central thesis—that democracy is human nature—is debatable. My brief response: humans are a species, and to the best of my knowledge, no species is democratic. Some argue that bees and buffalo exhibit democratic traits, but these are exceptions rather than the rule. To illustrate, consider the “ape rock”: dominance, not democracy, prevails. The analogy is similar to the debate over human monogamy. Monogamy is rare in nature, and even when it occurs, it is questionable whether humans naturally belong to that category. Kristensen’s view also resonates with the old philosophical idea of the state of nature: are humans born into paradise, or into the jungle?

By leaning heavily on Aan het volk van Nederland, Kristensen drifted into a thoroughly Dutch perspective, which in my view has little relevance here. The blind spot was our own reality: Curaçao is a young democracy in a postcolonial society marked by slavery—a past for which the Dutch state only offered apologies and asked forgiveness in 2023. This profoundly undemocratic history still shapes our society today, yet it goes unmentioned. Add to the equation the Status of a Small Island Developing State, which brings its own dynamics to democracy.

All in all, there was much to think about. But after 15 years of autonomy, the real question is not whether democracy is a matter of nature or nurture, Dutch or universal. The question is whether we, here in Curaçao, are willing to build a democracy that is truly our own—rooted in our history, reflective of our diversity, and strong enough to protect the rights and voices of all our people. Fifteen years of autonomy is not the end of the journey, but the beginning. The measure of our democracy will be whether we dare to shape it—together.

Miguel Goede