Walter Kickert

Public Governance in the Netherlands: An Alternative to Anglo-American ‘Managerialism’

In many Western public administrations, particularly the American and Anglo-Saxon ones, a remarkable trend is taking place - the ‘new public management’ (Hood 1991). Many Western governments and public services are adopting a more ‘managerial’ approach to administration. Under conditions of heavy public demands but a severely constrained public budget, the only feasible alternative to cutting public services or raising taxes, seems to be to reduce costs, increase effectiveness and efficiency, and deliver ‘more value for the money’. This budgetary consolidation forces the public sector to become more businesslike, ‘work better and cost less’, and become more client-oriented. In this article, this trend of ‘public managerialism’ will be critically examined. From a theoretical viewpoint the adequacy for the public sector of a businesslike concept of ‘management’ can seriously be criticized. From an empirical viewpoint it is also inadequate as a description of administrative practice. Without denying the budgetary circumstances and the need for ‘effectiveness and efficiency’, the one-sidedness of ‘managerialism’ is ill-suited to the public sector. Other politico-administrative responses to these circumstances may be possible and more appropriate. In this article one such possible alternative is theoretically examined and practically illustrated. Although not as elaborate and well developed as the multitude of available ‘managerial’ models, methods and techniques, the alternative ‘public governance’ not only possesses theoretical and analytical cogency but also reflects the practice of administrative developments. The idea and practical impacts are illustrated in case studies of administrative reforms in the Netherlands.

Public management of hybrid organizations: governance of quasi-autonomous executive agencies

This article presents the results of case analyses of eleven executive agencies from four Dutch ministerial departments: Education and Sciences; Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries; Transport and Public Works; and, Justice. These agencies are all so-called hybrid organizations; that is, they are somewhere between pure government agencies on one hand and commercial firms on the other. Such organizations make up the bulk of the public sphere in many Western European countries. Public management theorists must understand and explain the governance of this increasingly important class of hybrid organizations.

State responses to the fiscal crisis in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands

Abstract How have governments, politics and administrations responded to the fiscal crisis? In this brief article, a first preliminary analysis is made how Great Britain, Germany and The Netherlands managed the crisis. The crisis consisted of three stages: First, the financial crisis causing governments to save and support banks; second, the economic crisis, causing governments to take economic recovery measures and third, the fiscal crisis of state debts and budget deficits, causing governments to take fiscal cut-back measures. Particular attention is paid to the governmental decision-making processes during the three stages of the crisis.

Distinctiveness in the study of public management in Europe

Abstract This article presents three clear examples of distinctive approaches to the study of public management, that is, in France, Germany and Italy, three countries with peculiar legalistic state traditions. For each country a historical sketch of state and administration is first given, then both the administrative (public management) reforms are described, the state of the art of administrative sciences and finally the specificness of the study of public management. The historical-institutional context of a particular state and administration apparently does influence not only the form and content of the administrative ‘public management’ reforms but also the scientific study of public management in that country.

Beneath consensual corporatism: traditions of governance in the Netherlands

This article begins with a historical account of the various styles of governance in The Netherlands from the post–war period to date. That overview reveals the persistence of an underlying more traditional form of governance, that is, the tradition of consensual corporatism. Although conventionally believed to be an invention of the Catholic Church and subsequent political theorists, the present twentieth and twenty–first–century historical review of this corporatist style of governance leads to the conclusion that its historical roots are, instead, the age–old Dutch state traditions of tolerance, pragmatism and consensus. It looks as though the worn–out cliches of ‘images of the Dutch’ are indeed the fundamentally underlying core–concepts behind the Dutch style of governance. The ruling, merchant, partrician families of the Dutch Republic, in order to defend their international trade interests, in the midst of somewhat dogmatic Protestant preachers, were pragmatically tolerant of deviant ideas and groups and thus were able to reach a feasible compromise.

Public Management Reforms in Countries with a Napoleonic State Model: France, Italy and Spain

This chapter addresses a main theme of this book: the influence of various institutional settings of states and administrations on the way public management ideas and practices are implemented. Different historical-institutional backgrounds of European states and administration do affect the form and content of their administrative reform. Western states and administrations do differ considerably in many relevant respects. That influences the path of their administrative ‘public management’ reforms (Kickert, 1997, 2000; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2004). This chapter will concentrate on the administrative reforms in three European countries that significantly differ from the Anglo-Saxon state model, that is, on the three European countries — France, Italy and Spain — that have a Napoleonic state tradition. In comparison to the relative success of New Public Management (NPM) reforms in Anglo-Saxon countries, France shows more modest examples of that type of reform and Italy and Spain are relative ‘failures’ in terms of NPM reforms. One of the explanations for this difference is that Anglo-Saxon state models differ from continental European legal state traditions, such as reflected in the Napoleonic model (Wunder, 1995). France forms its origin and Italy and Spain have adopted the Napoleonic model.

Managing emergent and complex change: The case of Dutch agencification

An analysis is made of agencification reform in the Netherlands from the viewpoint of the management of the complex change process. We will present a processual analysis of the complex change process of agencification reform by means of organization science insights on ‘emergent change’ and administrative science insights on ‘complex networks’. The analysis of the process of change events shows that it is not an example of centrally planned and controlled change. The reform is rather an example of ‘emergent and complex change’. The reform is a complex system of different intertwined change processes with many different decentralized actors, which is ‘managed’ by different central ‘change agents’. The ‘change managers’ themselves form a complex system as well. Points for practitioners One of the important reform trends in Dutch central administration is the ‘agencification’ of executive government organizations, that is, the increase of managerial autonomy of executive parts of ministerial departments. In this article we analyse how this two-decades-long reform process was ‘managed’ by various central actors like Parliament, the National Audit Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Home Affairs, various internal and external advisory committees and supervisory committees. It turned out that the reform can hardly be described as a centrally planned and controlled process. Initiatives for reform, in fact, popped up locally within the various ministries and agencies. The reform process was more a continuous accumulation of local initiatives for agencification. The various central actors tried to exercise some coordinating or supervisory influence, but that was rather indirect, reactive and limited.

How the Dutch government responded to financial, economic and fiscal crisis

This article describes how the Dutch government responded to that countrys financial, economic and fiscal crises. The article covers the financial crisis in 2008 when the Dutch government took measures to support and save banks; the economic crisis in 2009, which forced the government to take economic recovery measures; and the resulting fiscal crisis of increasing state debts and budget deficits which led the incoming government in 2010 to begin cutbacks in public expenditure.

How the UK government responded to the fiscal crisis: an outsider's view

This article presents an outsiders view of the UK governments response to recent financial, economic and fiscal crises. The article covers the financial crisis in 2008 when the then New Labour government rescued UK banks; the economic crisis in 2009 which resulted in economic stimulus measures; and the fiscal crisis of increasing national debts and budget deficits which led the newly-elected coalition government in 2010 to take fiscal consolidation measures. The author is an administrative scientist, and unpicks government responses, focusing on the political and administrative aspects of the governmental decision-making processes. The article ends with some lessons and foreign perspectives.

Politics of fiscal consolidation in Europe: a comparative analysis

The aim of the article is to comparatively describe and explain consolidation measures and political decision-making processes in 14 European countries. The consolidation measures followed a similar pattern. Hiring and pay freeze occurred almost everywhere, whereas more radical cutback measures were introduced only in a limited number of countries. Cutback decision-making was not a one-off event, but consisted of a series of stages, beginning with temporary and small measures and gradually evolving into more serious cutbacks, sometimes arriving at targeted cuts and political priority-setting. The political decision-making was moderate and gradual rather than drastic and swift. Exceptions to this general pattern were the Baltic states as well as those European countries which received financial assistance on the condition of swift and severe cutbacks. Economic factors and supra-national influences primarily explained the size of consolidation measures, whereas domestic political factors turned out to have limited explanatory power. Points for practitioners The comparative analysis of fiscal consolidation in 14 European countries showed that the consolidation measures followed a similar pattern. Hiring and pay freeze occurred almost everywhere, whereas more radical cutback measures were introduced only in the later stages of fiscal consolidation. At the beginning of the crisis, the severity and duration of the crisis were denied and the necessity for serious cutbacks was recognized only later. Exceptions to this general pattern were the Baltic States as well as those European countries which were bailed out on condition of swift and severe cutbacks. The article argues that the political will and capacity of governments to take drastic and targeted measures based on political priority-setting is still a serious need.