of the Republic were mostly aligned with the Dutch States Party Unlike modern
political parties, the States Party and the
Orangists were not necessarily distinguished by ideology. At the
provincial level, choice of sides was driven by the contest for power between members of the
Regenten class. Local groups often simply adopted the opposite position taken by their factional opponents, a reality made more complex by the rivalry between individual provinces. There was little explicit ideological coherence, and what there was often changed over time. and
Pieter de la Court in his the
Interest van Holland (Interest of Holland) and
De stadthouderlijcke regeeringe in Hollandt ende West-Vrieslandt (History of the stadholders of Holland and West-Friesland). In these works the doctrine was extended into a distinctly anti-monarchical and pro-republican direction as a justification for the
de facto abolition of the office of stadtholder in most provinces as "superfluous" and "positively harmful to the general welfare.." ==Notable representatives==