Dutch architecture of the 1990s is regarded worldwide as a success. The favourable economic and political conditions from the start of the 1990s (the ‘boom’ years) created an advantageous climate for unorthodox design approaches and experiments, which became the trademark of a modern form of cultural export. Since then, Dutch architecture has been known as pragmatic, self-assured and uncompromisingly modern. Four years of economic decline and market-driven politics have brought an end to the post-ideological party of the 1990s. It was replaced by the risk-avoiding behaviour of government bodies and principals. The architecture climate is now characterized by an elusive sombreness and a responsible realism. After the Party aims to make up the balance. The collapse of the optimistic consensus of the ‘polder model’ has revealed contradictions between interest groups, ideas and mentalities, and has made confrontations inevitable. But the sky has cleared, and there is new space to think about architecture, public concerns and the culture of the Netherlands and Europe. This edition of OASE spurs on this debate.