The Soft Power of a Small Country Self-Perceptions of the Netherlands as a Model for Europe and the World

The explanatory historical framework of the Dutch international missionary drive is usually dominated by the small size of the country and by cultural factors, such as the Calvinist root note of Dutch culture, post- Christian progressivism or the tools developed by a divided (‘pillarized’) nation to find common ground.
This chapter has added the idea of Europe as a lever to this framework, by discussing cases which seem to suggest that the notion of being organically connected with the European larger whole played a major role in Dutch missionary internationalism. National self-images are inseparably intertwined with perceptions of Europe and EU member states essentially see Europe through the lenses of their respective nations. Setting the example for Europe was a task the Dutch imposed on themselves in order to set the example for the world, with Europe as a lever.