Gerrit S.A. Dijkstra

Modernization and reform of Dutch waterboards: resilience or change?

In this article, we look into the question whether the Dutch waterboards can still be considered resilient institutions, effectively adapting to changing circumstances as often described in literature. We argue that current waterboards resemble the CPR management form of old only in name. Their institutional nature has changed considerably, thus providing a challenge to the future of CPR water management in the Netherlands. We examine not only the implications for the institutional performance and future of the waterboard system but also discuss possible ways to regenerate the system. With respect to the latter (changes in), the system of governance and community base character of waterboards are examined.

Rethinking the ‘Public Service Bargain’: the changing (legal) position of civil servants in Europe

It can be argued that because of the rise of New Public Management and the growing dominance of labor law and HRM practices, the so-called ‘traditional’ public law formulation of the position of civil servants has come under pressure in a number of Western European countries in recent decades and have shaken the ‘bargain’ agreed between the political and administrative leaders since the Second World War. By contrast, in Central and Eastern Europe and Britain, new Weberian-type civil service legislation has been introduced. In this analysis, we examine both apparent opposites from a public sector bargains perspective and find that European countries are at a crossroads in their reflection on the ‘bargain’. Points for practitioners For practitioners in this field two considerations are important to note. The first is that while the discussion about the (legal) position of civil servants within their political-administrative system may seem to be a national debate, in essence it forms part of a more general debate that is conducted all across Europe. The second is that both theoretically and empirically, two dimensions of the bargain have to be distinguished, namely on the one hand the material labor conditions (pay, job protection, etc.) and on the other hand the values of bureaucracy (impartiality, integrity, loyalty, etc.). As our empirical analysis shows, these two dimensions have become increasingly independent from each other in the discussions and reforms in various countries over recent decades. In other words, managerial reforms in terms of material labor conditions have in practice been paired with the renewed emphasis on Weberian values of bureaucracy. Whether this decoupling is sustainable from a policy point of view in the long run (i.e. whether Weberian-style labor conditions are or are not conditional for high levels of Weberian values of bureaucracy), remains to be seen.

Institutional Change and Implementation

The principles of proper governance constitute a set of unwritten, non-codified general principles of law, ‘law in action’, living in the minds of administrators and judges. These general principles are constantly revised and elaborated through case-law. In the 1980s, these rules had expanded to such an extent that codification was deemed necessary. A committee consisting of eminent scholars was put to work; it drafted several versions of the law that were the object of an extensive debate. Finally, on 1 January 1994, the first and second phases of the Awb (Algemene wet bestuursrecht i.e. General Administrative Law Act) were enacted.