This title was first published in 2001: Under the name of the "polder model", the Dutch model of democracy has received favourable attention from journalists, administrators and political leaders. This book presents a thorough analysis of Dutch democracy as a specimen of consensus democracy. The Dutch administrative tradition of consensus, consultation and compromise is reflected in current trends towards networks and new interactive technologies. This insightful account is an excellent resource for courses on European studies, comparative politics, public policy and administration.

Determines wether or not the relevant socio-economic actors pursued a neo-corporatist strategy with regard to the formation and implementation of social and economic policy (incomes policy) and analyses if their strategies are successful.

At the occasion of the 25 anniversary of the Dutch Cultural Policy Act, Dutch academics in cultural policy research have compiled a volume to commemorate the quarter century in which Dutch cultural policy has developed and analyse the key debates in Dutch cultural policy for the coming years. Historically, central public authority in the Netherlands has been problematic. The country's origin as a confederation of seven independent republics, has had effect in the sense that government usually works 'bottom up'. As a result the Netherlands has relatively few national cultural institutions when compared to other countries. Moreover, the national media never have been linked to the nation state. It is therefore surprising that the nation's cultural policy can be described as a national system in which the nation state sets the agenda rather than cities and regions.

To what does the Netherlands owe their recent economic success? Will the polder model become the victim of its own success or will the threat come mainly from outside? In the Netherlands, polder are small communities hemmed in by dykes built to resist quickly rising tides, and hence imply communal effort to mediate harmful outside forces. Translated into economic terms, the polder model entailed tripartite cooperation between business, government, and labor to protect the nation's economic and social well being. Delsen evaluates recent changes in the Dutch economy brought on by globalization and American dominance and concludes that the polder model is reaching its end. Delsen argues that the market forces introduced by the purple governments imply a far-reaching adaptation of the unique Dutch economic order. The primacy of the market has resulted in a more flexible labor market, decentralization of the wage formation, modernization of the social security system, more competition on the goods markets, and liberalization and competition in the financial markets. More market forces within Dutch socioeconomic relations imply also that the aims of trade and industry have changed, and have become oriented toward short-term results and away from actions aimed at long-term continuity and consensus.

Explores the Netherland's recovery from the severe unemployment crisis in the early 1980s to record job growth in the 1990s. Distinguishes three policy changes to explain the "miracle": the wage restraints since the early 1980s; the reform of the social security system ten years later; and the active employment policy of the 1990s.

Public and private managers who are looking for sustainable development have to implement innovative solutions in a complex field of action. Joint action is needed, but the existing power networks within and between public and private domains tend to frustrate joint innovations. This book analyzes how public and private managers deal with energy transitions by creating innovative networks capable of co-ordinated action. A case study shows how separated power networks in the field of mobility, energy and environment, which are spread over the public and private world as well as civil society, are becoming more interconnected

Controversies over issues such as genetically engineered food, foot-and-mouth disease and the failure of risk models in the global financial crisis have raised concerns about the quality of expert scientific advice. The legitimacy of experts, and of the political decision-makers and policy-makers whom they advise, essentially depends on the quality of the advice. But what does quality mean in this context, and how can it be achieved? This volume argues that the quality of scientific advice can be ensured by an appropriate institutional design of advisory organisations. Using examples from a wide range of international case studies, including think tanks, governmental research institutes, agencies and academies, the authors provide a systematic guide to the major problems and pitfalls encountered in scientific advice and the means by which organisations around the world have solved these problems.