The Netherlands: Modernization, Participation and Strategic Choice

Abstract

Public management reform has been on the agenda in the Netherlands since the early 1980s. According to Kickert (2000) ‘autonomizing’ of public sector organizations is the key word to describe the changes in the Dutch public sector. This autonomization, though, has taken different shapes over time. In the early 1980s ‘privatization’ was the main trend. During the period 1989 to 2002, when there were coalition governments in which the Social Democrats participated, privatization was a less-favoured reform option. Other forms of autonomization were introduced, especially ‘self-management’ since the mid 1980s (involving a management contract between departmental leadership and the management of agencies), ‘quangos’¹ in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, and ‘new regime agencies’ in the mid 1990s. The main element of the latter is the idea that politics should not interfere with day-to-day organizational practice so that agencies can concentrate on their main executive tasks.