Theo Veenkamp was head of the Netherlands Agency for the Reception of Asylum–Seekers and head of strategy at the Dutch ministry of justice. He is now active as an essayist and adviser. He was first co–author of People Flow: managing migration in a new European commonwealth, Demos/openDemocracy (2003)

Recent articles

The murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh has left the Netherlands in turmoil and its reputation for tolerance in tatters. What does the second political murder in thirty months mean for the Dutch multiculturalist model? The strategist and author Theo Veenkamp looks back and thinks forward.

Theo Veenkamp extends his review of the first part of openDemocracy’s debate on his People Flow report by elaborating an ambitious programme which sees new strategies towards migration as part of a project to give practical form to the humane, protean and dynamic space that is within Europe’s grasp.

The innovative ‘thought experiment’ about how best to manage 21st century European migration has provoked a rich, diverse debate in openDemocracy. Here, People Flow author Theo Veenkamp reviews the debate so far, and reaffirms the core principles of pragmatism, firmness and imagination which animate the report’s ideas.

Does migration erode or enhance national culture? This question is highly sensitive in many European countries. The problem with the existing European approach to migration is that official distinctions between categories of migrants do not match reality. We need a new, sustainable model that recognises the evolving complexity of human mobility. In our People Flow pamphlet, openDemocracy and Demos have proposed such a model to open up debate. This article summarises its main arguments.