in the same polder have been forced to cooperate because without unanimous agreement on shared responsibility for maintenance of the dykes and pumping stations, the polders would have flooded and everyone would have suffered. Crucially, even when different cities in the same polder were at war, they still had to cooperate in this respect. This is thought to have taught the Dutch to set aside differences for a greater purpose. See also Bipartisanship References Further reading "Same old Dutch", The Economist, 3 November 2012 "Model makers", The Economist, 2 May 2002 "Economic illusions", The Economist, 2 May 2002 "A fine place to be", The Economist, 2 May 2002 Mark Kranenburg, "The political branch of the polder model", NRC Handelsblad'', 1 July 1999 Dispute resolution Dutch words and phrases Economy of the Netherlands Power sharing