Antonius Adrianus Gerardus Maria "Ronald" van Raak (born 30 October 1969) is a Dutch politician, non-fiction writer and former academic. A member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, he has been a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since 30 November 2006. He focuses on matters of

home affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

, kingdom relations, the

royal house A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in repu ...

and general affairs. From 2003 to 2006, he was a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Biography

Van Raak is of a

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

background; his father was a

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

. He grew up in his native village and attended secondary education in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

. Afterwards he studied both

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

and got promoted in

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. On 1 April 2000 he joined the Socialist Party and started to work at SP's

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

. Three years later he became director. In 2003 he was elected into the

Dutch Senate The Senate ( or simply ' , literally "First Chamber of the States General", or sometimes ' ) is the upper house of the States General, the legislature of the Netherlands. Its 75 members are elected on lists by the members of the twelve States-P ...

and was a member from 10 June that year till 28 November 2006. In November 2006 he was elected into the

Dutch House of Representatives The House of Representatives (, pronounced ; commonly referred to as the ', literally "Second Chamber of the States General") is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General of the Netherlands ...

. The same month he changed positions, instead of being director he became SP's think tank chairman. From 2001 to 2005 he also taught history at the University of Amsterdam.

Bibliography

* 2011: ''De Eerste Kamer. De andere kant van het Binnenhof: toen, nu, straks'' (

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

, with Arjan Vliegenthart) * 2010: ''Woorden in de strijd'' (editor, with Sj. van der Velden) * 2008: ''Socialisten. Mensen achter de idealen'' * 2008: ''Modern socialisme'' * 2006: ''Het rijke rooie leven. Verhalen over socialisme in Nederland'' * 2004: ''Socialisme, what's left?'' (editor,

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s) * 2003: ''Oud licht op nieuwe zaken. Adviezen van Erasmus, Spinoza, Thorbecke, Multatuli, Huizinga en anderen'' (essays) * 2001-2003: ''De uitverkoop van Nederland'' (with N. Schouten) * 2001: ''In naam van het volmaakte: conservatisme in Nederland in de negentiende eeuw van Gerrit Jan Mulder tot Jan Heemskerk Azn.'' ( dissertation) * 1997: ''De moderne dwaas. Bertolt Brecht en de moderne zingeving''

References

*
Parlement.com biography

External links

*
House of Representatives biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raak, Ronald Van 1969 births Living people Dutch essayists 20th-century Dutch historians Dutch political consultants Dutch speechwriters Dutch republicans Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Writers from Amsterdam People from Hilvarenbeek Social historians Socialist Party (Netherlands) politicians University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch historians