In search of the networked nation. Transforming technology, society and nature in the Netherlands in the 20th century

In the Netherlands, the simultaneous construction of society and network technologies has a long history, yet it is only in the twentieth century that the Netherlands has become a veritable Network Society. Drawing on the vocabulary of the research field of 'large technical systems' and the empirical results of the Dutch national history of technology programme, this article argues that during this century technological, social and even natural landscapes were reshaped in processes of material network building. An investigation of selected cases (the development of the electricity supply, the food chain, the petrochemical industry, and nature conservation) shows a variety of development patterns, motives, interests, conflicts, and negotiations behind the seemingly universal human obsession regarding circulation and network building.