Dynamics in the Dutch policy advisory system: externalization,politicization and the legacy of pillarization

Although the literature on policy advisory systems has experienced a revival in recent years, its empirical focus has mainly been on Anglophone countries (Craft and Halligan 2016). This paper applies the policy advisory systems approach to the Netherlands, which can serve as an example of the dynamics in the policy advisory systems of consensus-driven, neo-corporatist polities Lijphart in Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, 21, 235–266 1999). Using a historical-institutionalist perspective, the dynamics of the Dutch policy advisory system from the mid-1960s to the present day are examined. Based on original cross-time survey data and an analysis of secondary sources, the impact of depillarization (mid-1960s–mid-1990s), new public management (mid-1980s onwards) and an increased pressure on the executive have had for the Dutch policy advisory system (from the late 1990s): fragmentation, externalization and a non-partisan brand of politicization are shown. More specifically, the use of the institutionalized system of permanent advisory councils has lost part of its significance in favour of both external consultants and ad hoc advisory committees. The Dutch case, with its accumulative institutional design based on Weberianism, neo-corporatism and new public management elements, has thus experienced markedly different dynamics in its policy advice system than the Anglophone countries.     

Dutch 'Multiculturalism' Beyond the Pillarisation Myth

This article is about the state of multiculturalist politics in the Netherlands. It assesses the popular claim that a paradigmatic change has occurred in the Netherlands due to events such as 9/11 and the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh. The article argues that although changes are significant, both in discourse and in practice, they must be viewed as part of a process of rethinking the relation between newcomers and the state that goes back as far as the end of the 1980s. Long-standing claims about the exemplary form of multiculturalism in the Netherlands were always ambiguous at least, or even hard to sustain. The article criticises the persistent idea that Dutch accommodating integration policies since the end of the 1970s are an extension of the historical tradition of 'pillarisation'. Only by going beyond this myth can we understand why recent changes are much less of a break with the past, and why multiculturalism was never accepted or practised as fully as has often been suggested in more stereotypical depictions of Dutch integration policy.     

A FRAMEWORK FOR THE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL REGULATION

The emphasis of this paper is on the development of a framework for analyzing the impacts of governmerit intervention on issues of public health and safety. Government policies are classified into three general strategies: regulatory, fiscal, and educational. In most issues, governments pursue policies in all three categories. The authors explain how the effects not only of specific policies, but also of these general policy types can be assessed over the range of social issues. The conceptual framework is tested with regard to a particular issue–alcohol-related traffic accidents–across the American states from 1979-1 984. The results suggest that fiscal and educational policies had little effect, but certain of the regulatory policies tended to be related to traffic fatalities involving alco- hol. The empirical analysis demonstrates the utility of the conceptual framework presented.     

Toward a positive theory of coalition formation and endogenous instrumental choice in global pollution control

The paper analyzes the coalition formation process in a global emission game with asymmetric countries where the number of signatories, the abatement target and the policy instrument are chosen simultaneously. Exemplarily, a uniform emission reduction quota and an effluent charge are considered. Stability is analyzed in a supergame framework by applying the concept of coalition-proofness. The analysis also considers the impact of impatient agents, restricted and simple punishment profiles. Two main results may be mentioned: First, paradoxically, IEAs achieve only little (if signed at all) if the externality problem is distinct. Second, our model helps to explain the frequent appearance of emission quotas in international pollution control despite the recommendations by economists to use market-based instruments like effluent charges.     

Small-scale administration in St Martin: Two governments of one people

Divided between France and Holland since 1648, the small island community of St Martin has grown and prospered in recent decades largely because of tourism. France which incorporates its part, Saint Martin, as a municipality in the Department of Guadeloupe has been generous with public funds and tax concessions to those who invest in the dependency. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, the governments of its constituent parts (Holland and the Netherlands Antilles), has been more generous with authority than with money. So Dutch Sint Maarten has enjoyed much greater political and administrative autonomy than its northern neighbour, but it has to depend on investment from private interests, American and European. Indeed, it has lacked sufficient public capital even for infrastructure and social services, including education. The governments of both sides have neglected joint planning and other coordinated efforts to develop the island. The Dutch side has been committed to laissez-faire private enterprise and so personnel development in the public service has been minimal. This has disposed the government of the French side to limit joint ventures with the Dutch government. The population is large enough and the revenues are high enough to provide adequate numbers of public officials, but tourism has attracted, in the 1970s and 80s, many of the more able and ambitious. These considerations set the two sides of St Martin apart from other West Indian micro-states, most of which have not experienced as much success in developing and maintaining tourism. St Martin is unique in another way. It is different from other English-speaking islands because of its French and Dutch institutions. It is quite different from other French and Dutch islands (Saba and St Eustatius excepted) because of the English language and other cultural influences.     

ROAD GRANTS, INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMPETITION AND THE BENEFITS OF DUPLICATION

Abstract: This article argues that direct commonwealth involvement in road funding and road policy has benefited the states and local government. Although inefficiencies and friction are evident as a result of joint funding, the benefits of multiple accountability outweigh the costs. A competitive dynamic underlies the involvement of all three levels of government, producing outcomes that no single government dominates, but which reflect in part the responses of each to their respective constituencies. The commonwealth has been driven to more intrusive forms of intervention as existing controls failed to achieve the commonwealth's objectives, and to expanding its financial contributions to counter the diversion of funds by state governments. Its commitment to funding the road program is likely to be highest when its specific purpose grants can be identified closely with the provision of roads in particular regions and localities. In sum, joint funding of the road program produces a system that is responsive to competing conceptions and interests, and the commonwealth's "voluntary vacancy" from all but "national" roads is on balance likely to be detrimental to the program.     

Alternative patterns of welfare state development: The case of public assistance in the Netherlands

Among the numerous studies of the development of welfare states, less attention has been paid to the smaller European democracies. In an attempt to address this problem, this article investigates the development of public assistance programmes in the Netherlands. The historical record shows that the development of the Dutch public assistance programme has been more contentious than the development of similar programmes in other countries. An explanation for political controversy surrounding Dutch public assistance focuses on the manifestation of corporatism in a policy area that involved private charity organisations, rather than labour and capital interests. The incorporation of private charities permitted them to slow state encroachment on their activities. Implications of the case for the study of corporatism in other countries are discussed.     

Pigouvian policies in closed behavioral systems

This essay-analyzes the Pigouvian tax-subsidy policy, reviews the traditional justification and several practical and theoretical criticisms of it, and offers three arguments about the Pigouvian policy and the implied structure of effluent charges (as well as subsidies). First, many proponents of a Pigouvian policy misinterpret its purpose. The tax is not designed to reduce pollution to an ‘acceptable’ level, but to maximize joint production value. Second, Pigouvian effluent charges may violate some constructions of the equal protection clause. Third, these charges may violate, also, some constructions of the due process clause, as well as the ethical criteria that the right of due process implies.     

The correlates of consensus democracy and the puzzle of Dutch politics

In much of the comparative literature, and in the work of Arend Lijphart in particular, the Netherlands often emerges as a ‘special case’ of accom‐modationist politics, a picture which is confirmed not only in terms of Lijphart's distinction between majoritarian and consensus democracy, but is also the case when more policy‐based indicators are considered. This is somewhat puzzling, since, in comparative terms at least, the Dutch case is now no longer especially marked by the sorts of features which are generally believed to promote a more consensual style in politics. This puzzle is partly solved, however, by a more updated analysis of the comparative data, which reveals that the Netherlands no longer actually leads the field in terms of consensualism, but has since been surpassed by several other countries. In fact, the more recent evidence now suggests that neither the conditions nor the practice of consensual politics are much in evidence in the Netherlands.     

Constructing Authoritative Answers to a Latent Crisis? Strategies of Puzzling,Powering and Framing in Dutch Climate Adaptation Practices Compared

While adaptation tends to be approached as an issue for policy analysis, framing and powering strongly interact with policy analysis (puzzling) and are at least as important for adequate outcomes in such an ambiguous context. The present contribution compares and analyzes two Dutch adaptation strategies in the Central Netherlands: (1) realizing a flood bypass channel near the town of Kampen and (2) exploring possibilities to raise the water level of Lake IJssel, enhancing the country’s freshwater storage capacity. The article concludes that in both trajectories there is an important role for policy analysis (puzzling) but the cases differ strongly in the way actors frame the intervention, their corresponding powering strategies and the policy outcomes.     

THE ROLE OF STATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN NATIONAL INDUSTRY POLICY

A decade of economic stagnation has produced a plethora of calls for government action to stimulate economic growth in employment. Arguing that activists federal industry policy is likely not to emerge in the United States, Rasmussen and Ledebur examine the potential role of states in a "federalist industry policy." States presently administer effective programs of financial assistance to business enterprises. These efforts are "rationally parochial" in that their purpose is served equally well by cresting a new job or pirating from other jurisdictions. This paper considers how state programs can be reoriented to serve national growth and development objectives as well as those of specific jurisdictions. It concludes that a subnational industry policy offers a unique opportunity to reallocate existing state resources to achieve a much higher social return.     

Legalization and dissolution of consensual unions: an example of log-linear models used to estimate models of competing risk

"This is a mainly methodological work: a generalization of the so-called proportional risk models to cases of multiple and competing risks.... Proportional risk models are an extension of the methodology implied in calculating mortality tables, where the risk function is made to depend on some variables (covariables), as in a regression model.... Life-table methodology has been...an essential instrument in demographic calculus and analysis." The author uses the proposed methods to analyze the determinants of the legalization and dissolution of consensual unions in Mexico. (EXCERPT)     

Out of tune or well tempered? How competition agencies direct the orchestrating state

This article analyzes the impact competition agencies have on the orchestrating role of states in domestic private regulation. I argue that these agencies can significantly affect interactions in the governance triangle through the way they apply a “logic of the market” to evaluate agreements between firms. The regulatory framework of European Union competition law has increasingly constrained the ability of firms to take into account broader interests when making agreements to foster social objectives. This logic of the market clashes with the ever‐increasing emphasis governments place on enabling firms to enter into such agreements. I analyze this tension through a case study of a pact of Dutch retailers to collectively introduce higher animal welfare standards for poultry. Using regulatory network analysis I trace the governance interactions between the governance triangle on the one hand (government, non‐governmental organizations, and firms), and the Dutch competition authority, Autoriteit Consument en Markt (ACM) and the European Commission on the other hand. Attempts by the Dutch government to instruct the ACM to be more lenient toward private regulation were blocked twice by the European Commission. As a result, the Dutch government abandoned private regulation as the preferred mode and proposed a bottom‐up process that would generate public regulation as a way to avoid conflict with competition policy. I argue that paradoxically enough the intervention of these non‐majoritarian competition agencies against the “will” of the governance triangle has potentially increased the effectiveness and legitimacy of orchestration processes.     

Regulatory Competition and the Politics of Financial Market Reform in Britain and Japan

This article examines the impact that the internationalization of jnance has had on the regulation of domestic securities markets in Japan and Britain. In particular, it seeks to explain the apparent incompatibility of two distinct trends: deregulation (and state retreat) on the one hand, and increased regulation and state involvement in markets on the other.
Much of the literature about the efects of internationalization on domestic policymaking has drfjculty explaining these two distinct regulatory frends. First, there has been no uniform "competition in regulatory laxity." Second, the United States does not appear to have exerted hegemonic influence over outcomes. Finally, domestic-level explanations which deny the importance of systemic-level influences on domestic policy choices are unable to explain the similarity of policy choices undertaken by governments with very different regulatory traditions.
I argue instead that regulatory reforms have been undertaken primarily for the benefit of a particular set of private economic actors—mobile consumers of financial services, including both holders of liquid investment capital and large multinational borrowers. Internationalization has systematically strengthened their influence over the policymaking process by making "exit" from one political marketplace to another a more realistic and more potent bargaining strategy than the alternative of exercising "voice."     

Deregulation as regulatory reform: the case of environmental policy in the Netherlands

Abstract. Deregulation in the Netherlands has been associated with the perceived crisis of the welfare state. But in the area of environmental policy it has not meant dismantling those substantive regulations designed to promote improved environmental quality. Deregulation in environmental management has involved the retention of overall regulatory objectives while striving to simplify and streamline existing regulatory procedures, and developing alternatives to the more traditional instruments of regulation. Deregulation in this area is a prime example of 're-regulation'- of steps taken to make existing regulations more effective, or to replace rules with other instruments designed to achieve more effectively and efficiently the same behavioural changes sought with the original regulatory scheme.     

The many uses of regulatory impact assessment: A meta‐analysis of EU and UK cases

Research on regulation has crossed paths with the literature on policy instruments, showing that regulatory policy instruments contain cognitive and normative beliefs about policy. Thus, their usage stacks the deck in favor of one type of actor or one type of regulatory solution. In this article, we challenge the assumption that there is a predetermined relationship between ideas, regulatory policy instruments, and outcomes. We argue that different combinations of conditions lead to different outcomes, depending on how actors use the instrument. Empirically, we analyze 31 EU and UK case studies of regulatory impact assessment (RIA) – a regulatory policy instrument that has been pivotal in the so‐called better regulation movement. We distinguish four main usages of RIA, that is, political, instrumental, communicative, and perfunctory. We find that in our sample instrumental usage is not so rare and that the contrast between communicative and political usages is less stark than is commonly thought. In terms of policy recommendations, our analysis suggests that there may be different paths to desirable outcomes. Policymakers should therefore explore different combinations of conditions leading to the usages they deem desirable rather than arguing for a fixed menu of variables.     

LONG TERM CARE REGULATION IN THE STATES: A SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE

In recent years there has been growing interest in differing state roles in the regulation of the health care industry. Most of this attention has stressed the impact of regulatory policy with only superficial attention directed towards understanding the extent to which states can be counted on to act effectively in the area of health care regulation. Using the regulation of nursing homes as a focus, this study evaluates a variety of sociocultural, political, and economic conditions for their impact on the development of various regulatory policies. The findings suggest that the development of certificate of need legislation and reimbursement controls were not related to significant changes ir, states' budgets for Medicaid services or in bed/population ratios. Instead, regulatory efforts were more closely linked to the sociopolitical environments surrounding the policy arena. While these factors provide some indication of the potential for strong state action in the regulatory arena, ultimately the use of state regulatory policies will depend quite centrally on the innovative tendencies of the state, its organizational capacity for addressing policy issues, and the nature and extent of interest group politics.     

Defining Environmental Justice Communities for Regulatory Enforcement: Implications from a Block‐Group‐Level Analysis of New York State

The absence of a clear definition of environmental justice areas has been cited as one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's major deficiencies in managing federal environmental justice programs. Several states have explicitly defined potential environmental justice areas and integrated targeted efforts into the policy‐making process. At the block‐group level, this study evaluates the effects of New York State's environmental justice policy, which defines communities of concern in terms of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as mandates supplemental regulatory enforcement activities for these neighborhoods, on the agency's policy implementation practices under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The empirical findings suggest that there is inconclusive evidence regarding race/ethnicity‐ and class‐based environmental inequity. Also, the state's policy intervention is not universally effective. Moreover, task environments of a given community are a consistent determinant of the agency's regulatory compliance monitoring and assurance activities. This study then derives broader implications regarding the adoption of a policy instrument that defines and screens potential environmental justice communities.     

"PUBLICITY" AS A PROBLEM IN THE INTERNAL VALIDITY OF TIME SERIES QUASI-EXPERIMENTS

Scholars who work with time series quasi-experiments have identified "publicity" as a problem in the interpretation of such research designs. The present study utilizes three examples of the role of publicity in three social interventions: the Romanian abortion restriction of 1966; the British breathalyzer crackdown; and, the 1978 Georgia Status Offender Act. The authors conclude that publicity is most likely to be a problem in internal validity when (1) the intervention is not truly abrupt and (2) a broad "policy" is evaluated as opposed to a "program."     

Keeping It In‐House: Households Versus Population as Alternative Proxies for Local Government Output

Forced amalgamation has been used as a policy instrument in local government by numerous regulatory authorities across the world. A common presumption underlying municipal mergers holds that larger local councils will experience greater economies of scale. However, the empirical evidence on this question is mixed. Part of the reason for this could lie in the frequent use of population as a proxy for local government output in the empirical literature. This paper examines the use of alternative proxies, particularly the number of households but also the addition of business unit data. We demonstrate that household data represents a more accurate proxy of Australian local government output compared to population size. In addition, the paper employs experimental data, conceptual considerations on population, and household dynamics to establish that the number of households represents the most appropriate measure of local government size for both empirical and public policy purposes.