I have already written that, in my opinion, it is also justified that the Netherlands was chosen by people as Best Quality of Life 2026 in the Numbeo ranking. The reasons why this happened are certainly also connected to the Dutch system.
I almost do not even want to publish this—many people may not be aware of these Dutch advantages. However, I would publish it for those who see a problem with very liberal societies…
Dutch society demonstrates that a very liberal society can be resilient and also safe precisely on the basis of its liberal values.
This topic is terrible when it comes to a liberal societies such as the Dutch one. But when I look at the Netherlands, Dutch society, and the Dutch infrastructure in the event of a serious conflict, I see several major advantages from both a human and technological perspective.
The Strength of a Liberal Society
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| Photo is shared from another social medias. |
The Netherlands represents an example of a very liberal society that is exceptionally proactive and also has the potential to be resilient in the event of conflicts of the most serious kind, including a war.
Dutch initiative is not limited to business and the economy. It is also reflected in the emphasis on individual rights, humanism, civil society, very high-quality and strong infrastructure, efficient public services, economic development, and the ability to solve problems in practical ways.
Dutch society has a strong tendency to actively organize, improve, and adapt things on its own. When a high level of quality does not meet expectations, there is an emphasis on institutions to ensure that what is required is provided.
These Dutch characteristics can also be significant in the event of a serious crisis or armed conflict.
The Netherlands also has very good material foundations for ensuring basic needs. It has exceptionally productive agriculture, diverse farming, and is one of the world’s most important food exporters.
The Netherlands is therefore creating a very strong foundation for food resilience.
In terms of electricity generation, the Netherlands has significant domestic electricity production capacity. It not only produces electricity for its own consumption, but is also a net exporter of electricity. The fact that it imports electricity from neighboring countries at certain times cannot be interpreted as an inability to meet its own consumption—it is rather a consequence of the advantages of the market.
A significant advantage is the decentralization of energy production in the Netherlands. In renewable electricity generation, the Netherlands is among the leaders. It has a very large number of solar installations, including on individual homes, as well as extensive wind power capacity. Energy is not produced primarily in a few large power plants, but rather across many geographically dispersed locations.
Such infrastructure can be advantageous from a resilience perspective. The loss of a single large generation facility does not necessarily mean the loss of a comparable amount of generation capacity, as it might in a system based primarily on a few large centralized sources, compared with a system relying on highly dispersed sources across the country, including widely distributed decentralized wind generation or a individual solar panels at homes.
Decentralized electricity generation can also increase the flexibility of the system and make it easier to gradually restore it after disruption.
Public transport also operates to a very significant extent on this infrastructure. Transport such as railways is electrified, as are metros and, in many cases, urban and suburban public transport systems as a whole.
Electromobility fits into the same concept. The Netherlands is one of the strong supporters of electric mobility. If transport is increasingly powered by domestic electricity generated from wind, solar, and other sources, the need to import oil and distribute fuels through relatively centralized infrastructure is reduced.
Electric vehicles also represent a potentially significant distributed battery-storage capacity. This could help balance fluctuations between electricity generation and consumption, and potentially provide part of that energy back to the grid or local infrastructure.
When it comes to technology, it is also worth mentioning that thanks to ASML, the Netherlands has a practically monopolistic position in EUV lithography—precisely the technology that is critical for manufacturing the most advanced semiconductors.
The Netherlands does not need to be completely self-sufficient in the sense of being isolated from the outside world. Its strength lies rather in the combination of social initiative, economic performance, very high-quality and strong infrastructure, the ability to meet basic needs such as domestic food production, and high and extensively decentralized electricity generation.
In my opinion, it is precisely this combination within a very liberal Dutch society that creates a high degree of resilience and energy autonomy, including in the event of extensive disruption to the normal functioning of society.
