Although there are predecessors, the text of the written Constitution is generally perceived as dating back to 1848. It has been amended on several occasions, and revised in 1983. An official translation into English is available from the Dutch government or through its embassies: The Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, The Hague: Ministry of the Interior.
There have been many attempts at more or less radical reform of the constitution. See for example:
- R.B. Andeweg, Institutional Reform in Dutch Politics: Elected Prime Minister, Personalized PR, and Popular Veto in Comparative Perspective, Acta Politica, Vol.32 (1997), pp. 227-257
- R.B. Andeweg, Institutional Conservatism in the Netherlands: Proposals for and Resistance to Change, West European Politics, Vol.12 (1989), pp. 42-60
- J. Vis, The Netherlands (1983): the Failure of Constitutional Reform, in: V. Bogdanor (ed.), Constitutions in Democratic Politics, Aldershot: Gower, 1988, pp. 342-363.