Sanneke Kuipers

Leadership in Times of Crisis: A Framework for Assessment

The deeply rooted belief in the importance of public leadership is accompanied by quick and often shallow assessments of leadership performance. Such assessments never arrive more quickly than in the wake of crises and disasters—these episodes make for instant winners (Giuliani) and losers (Bush). These assessments are necessarily shallow, as the public can only judge leaders by what they see. While symbolic performance is important (if only because it can arouse the public), it is not the only performance dimension by which we should assess crisis leadership. In this article, we reflect on the many tasks that strategic leaders are called to perform, and we offer a comprehensive framework for leadership performance in times of crisis.

Shared hesitance, joint success: Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the European Union policy process

This paper analyses the roles of Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the area of EU legislative decision-making. After reviewing the literature, a research design is presented which incorporates information on the policy preferences of these three political states for seventy recent EU legislative decisions. The findings of the analysis are that the positions of the Nordics are quite similar and that these three states are rather successful. Denmark is doing slightly worse than Finland and Sweden Sanneke Kuipers, Department of Public Administration, Leiden University, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. email: kuiperss@fsw.leidenuniv.nlThis paper analyses the roles of Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the area of EU legislative decision-making. After reviewing the literature, a research design is presented which incorporates information on the policy preferences of these three political states for seventy recent EU legislative decisions. The findings of the analysis are that the positions of the Nordics are quite similar and that these three states are rather successful. Denmark is doing slightly worse than Finland and Sweden Sanneke Kuipers, Department of Public Administration, Leiden University, PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands. email: kuiperss@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Paths of the Past or the Road Ahead? Path Dependency and Policy Change in Two Continental European Welfare States

Abstract In contrast to what many critics claim, path dependency theory can explain both policy stability and change. It explains how public policy and institutions get increasingly consolidated, legitimated and protected by the elites governing a policy sector, and that precisely this rigidity preludes inevitable large-scale reform. Reform is the result of political behavior at a critical juncture in the history of a policy sector. This political behavior includes the use of crisis rhetoric to instigate reform. Crisis rhetoric has the most potential when institutional inertia has been building up during long periods of path-dependent policy development. This explains why similar welfare state predicaments in the Netherlands and Belgium lead to different reforms in the mid-1990s.

Exploring the EU’s Role as Transboundary Crisis Manager: The Facilitation of Sense-Making during the Ash Crisis

In recent years, nation-states have encountered a rapidly changing environment marked by the onset of various threats. These threats range from terrorism to epidemics, from shifting international relations to the breakdown of the financial system, from climate change to cyber attacks. We live in a world where ‘black swans’ and ‘mega crises’ can strike any time (Taleb, 2007; Helsloot et al., 2012). These new threats and impending crises bring to the fore a specific set of political and administrative challenges that are hard to address (OECD, 2003, 2011; Boin et al., 2005; Boin, 2009).

Path Dependence, Institutionalization and the Decline of Two Public Institutions

The early decades of the last century witnessed the rise of two fascinating public institutions in the U.S. At the federal level, the Tennessee Valley Authority came to prominence. On the east coast, the Port of New York Authority — dormant for years following its formal inception — blossomed into an immensely powerful organization. Intriguingly, both organizations also experienced a painful decline. Both organizations still exist, but their heydays seem long past.

A Toxic Cloud of Smoke: Communication and Coordination in a Transboundary Crisis

This chapter analyses what should have been a routine crisis: a fire at a chemical plant near Rotterdam. At the operational level, it was effectively treated as a routine incident. The fire services performed adequately. But this routine crisis turned into a stress test for the Dutch crisis response system. As a cloud of smoke crossed the local and regional boundaries that make up the Dutch system, collaboration between the safety regions began to flounder. Different actors communicated different messages to the public. The national level became involved. In the end, the response appeared chaotic and ineffective. This chapter analyses how and why the Dutch national response system could not cope with this prototype of a transboundary crisis.

A Political Assassination and a Crisis of Legitimacy: The Murder of Pim Fortuyn

The murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 shocked the nation. Fortuyn had challenged the political order by winning the local elections in Rotterdam. He was poised to win the national elections, which were to be held just weeks after his death. Fortuyn sought to represent the ‘forgotten men and women’. The reaction to his assassination was ferocious: the parliament was nearly stormed and the legitimacy of the incumbent order rapidly declined. This chapter analyses the effort of national politicians to manage this legitimacy crisis.