Running the big city: the Dutch prewar mayoralty under construction

This article discusses the development of the mayoralty in the Netherlands during the first decades of the twentieth century. It will be argued that during the interwar years the mayors' position was in transition, with mayors developing new ways to exert public influence – a development that until now has been associated with the postwar mayor-managers. A case study of mayors in Amsterdam – in particular interwar mayor Willem de Vlugt (1921–1941) – Rotterdam and The Hague during the interwar years will show how changes and shifts in the local and national political constellations and power relations as well as socioeconomic developments both curbed and opened up possibilities for the mayor to adjust his position. At the same time, it will be shown how the mayoralty itself was transformed through the emergence of mayors whose personal and political background differed from their early twentieth-century predecessors.