Guus "Guusje" ter Horst (born 22 March 1952) is a retired

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politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and psychologist. She is a member of the supervisory board of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

since 1 January 2013 and chairwoman of the supervisory board of the Institute for Sound and Vision since 11 July 2011.

Biography

Ter Horst attended gymnasium in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and subsequently studied at

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

where she obtained a MSc degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

. In 1984 she received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

on her thesis concerning the question how people who never go to the dentist can be made to do so. Between 1986 and 1994 she was associate professor of Social Dentistry at the subfaculty of

Dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

of the

. In 1984 Ter Horst joined the Labour Party (PvdA). In 1986 she was elected to the

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

. In 1994 she became alderwoman, responsible for spatial planning, she initiated a major renovation of the city of Amsterdam. In 2001 she became mayor of Nijmegen. During her six-year term, she moved to a new house every year, to get to know the city. In August 2006 Ter Horst was fined for drunk driving, strangely, without political consequence. On 1 January 2007 her term as mayor ended and she did not pursue a second one. She was succeeded by

Thom de Graaf Thomas Carolus de Graaf (; born 11 June 1957) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and jurist. He is the Vice-President of the Council of State (Netherlands), Vice-President of the Council of State since 1 November 2018. Early ...

. In 2010 Ter Horst received one of the Dutch Big Brother Awards for her lack of nuance in the privacy debate. Her project of a centrally organised fingerprint database for passports won an award as well. She resigned, together with all PvdA ministers, on the morning of 20 February 2010. The Queen accepted the resignation on 23 February 2010. Ter Horst became policy driver for the government program ''Doe onbeperkt mee'' ("Participate without limits") to empower people with disabilities in December 2022. She stepped down from the position in July 2024, as she was unwilling to serve under incoming State Secretary for Long-term and Social Care Vicky Maeijer of the right-wing populist

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( , PVV) is a right-wing populist, far-right political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole registered member of the party. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-ma ...

(PVV) due to Maeijer's party affiliation.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official
Dr. G. (Guusje) ter Horst
Parlement & Politiek
Dr. G. ter Horst (PvdA)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{DEFAULTSORT:Horst, Guusje ter 1952 births Living people Dutch academic administrators Dutch corporate directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch psychologists Dutch women psychologists Female interior ministers Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Mayors of Amsterdam Mayors of Nijmegen Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Ministers of the interior of the Netherlands Ministers of kingdom relations of the Netherlands Municipal councillors of Amsterdam Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Deventer Shell plc people University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Women mayors of places in the Netherlands Women government ministers of the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch scientists 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch scientists 21st-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch women educators 21st-century Dutch women educators