Samenvatting

A crisis brings existing vulnerabilities to the surface and clearly shows where the strong qualities of a society and its governance can be found. In the Netherlands, the corona pandemic has also exposed strengths and weaknesses according to that pattern. An important example of this is the region’s strong and complex position in our domestic governance. The author points out three lessons from the long post-war history of failed attempts to adjust the administrative organisation of our country. This leads to three proposals for embedding the region in the existing administrative organisation. The three steps would not be necessary if there were political support for a small adjustment to the administrative structure of the Netherlands, namely a reduction of the provincial scale. A step-by-step, cautious adjustment in the eyes of the author therefore gives more chance of success than a radical administrative reorganisation, which is doomed to fail in this country. For example, the cautious steps could be a prelude to a new and smaller provincial scale.