On April 28 at the Chang Ki Won International Conference Hall (Yonsei University Library), the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende was awarded an honorary doctorate from Yonsei University. He was conferred an honorary degree for his services to the advancement of social structure which include creating the first Ministry of Children and Family Affairs in Netherland, striving to enhance the life quality of the socially weak, improving insurance programs for unemployment and illness, and constructing a stable pension system. He has also taken a leading role in the ratification process of the European Constitutional Treaty and the negotiations on Turkey’s EU membership. Prime Minister Balkenende was born in 1956 and grew up in a family that was very active in the community. His parents were members and chairs of the boards of various civil society organizations; and he believes that his parents’ attitude to the world around them aroused his interest in society and politics at a very early age. His doctorate thesis is also on government regulation and civil society organizations. In his thesis, he called for a change in thinking on how society should be organized, and the role government should play. More tasks and responsibilities should be delegated to civil society organizations. In his opinion, civil society organizations should be financially independent of government. Among his many careers: he was professor at the VU University in Amsterdam from 1993 until 2002; a member of parliament from 1998 until 2003; a leader of the CDA parliamentary party (Christian Democratic Appeal, a center-right Dutch Christian democratic political party) in 2001; and he has been Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 2002 to now. He has been the head of government for the longest period in Europe.