Within the past two years, hydraulic fracturing for shale gas became a highly contested technology in the Netherlands. Possible negative environmental impacts are at strained terms with possible economic, energy and geo-political benefits. In addition, there are many scientific uncertainties about, for example water contamination, methane emissions, the amounts of gas to extract and the risk of earth quakes. Societal conflict and scientific uncertainties make fracking for shale gas a wicked problem for decision makers. This article demonstrates that the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs has implemented several instruments for deliberation, such as a consultation round with stakeholders and a sound board for an independent research. These failed to lead to the desired support for fracking. In this contribution, I demonstrate that these instruments led to reason giving but not to structuring of the problem. They were used by governmental actors and protest groups as a political platform that was fuel for the political conflict.

This article presents an analysis of the introduction of the HPV vaccine into the National Vaccination Program in the Netherlands. This introduction resulted in public debate and resistance and eventually a low turn-out (45% while 85% was expected). The question is what we can learn from this specific case about trust of citizens in scientific advice and political decision-making around medical issues. Our qualitative empirical research highlights that trust in scientific advice was undermined by a combination of criticism from peers, a critical approach in the mass media and a strong campaign through social media. Our analysis shows that these factors can be understood as partly resulting from a transition to a network society. We conclude that the network society demands a more open approach of scientific advice both in terms of who they discuss issues with and what kinds of arguments are permitted in the debate.

This special issue focusses on deliberative elements in deciding over wicked problems. We present four case studies in which some form of deliberation was organized: the placement of mobile phone masts, hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, the failed HPV vaccination campaign and climate dialogues organized to enhance deliberative knowledge production over climate change. The case studies demonstrate how each of the deliberative processes has become politicized and that deliberative governance runs the risk of turning into a technocratic policy approach.

Decreasing trust in government is almost universally considered to be a troubling fact of life for governments. Even though many politicians, administrators and commentators assume that the public’s trust in government is waning, the empirical data from the Netherlands are not unequivocal. This suggests that the assumed crisis of trust is not ‘just’ an empirical fact but is also to some extent a social construction. This article analyses how the major Dutch political parties have contributed to the narrative of a ‘failing government’. It does so by analysing their party programs over the last half century (95 programs in total). The analysis demonstrates that the major political parties are increasingly inconvenient with the effectiveness and efficiency of government, the traditional role of bureaucracies and the tasks of civil servants. This narrative harks back to the parties themselves and becomes increasingly inconvenient. If it is true that government fails to meet their standards, as they now all claim, what does that disclose about government policies for which those parties have been responsible?

The Netherlands is engaged in reforming several of its public service provision sectors by limiting their hybrid (mixed public/private) character. This special issue deals with these reforms. We have a closer look at the systems of transport, education and housing, and also discuss reforms of the Dutch nation state. Each article poses three basic questions: why has the sector evolved as it has? Why is change seen as necessary? And how does this process take place? By doing so, we draw general lessons on how the Netherlands deals with system change and public management reform.

In the spring of 2013, the Dutch railway operator, High Speed Alliance, cancelled the acceptance procedures for V250 high-speed train sets they ordered from Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda after numerous problems with the build quality and safety systems. It is the latest chapter in a series of failed attempts to build and run a high-speed railway link between Amsterdam and Paris. Inevitably, the question of who was responsible for the decision to order the V250 has become prominent. We study 20 years of public decision-making by analysing the content of over 1,200 documents. Using David’s and Arthur’s theory of path-dependency, we conclude that all the decisions that were taken during those two decades created a situation in which the choice for the V250 was nothing more than an inevitable gamble. It can therefore be concluded that all parties involved, from the railway operator to Parliament, have contributed to the current failure.

Many tasks will be decentralized to municipalities in the Netherlands in the coming years. To deal with these challenges, central government encourages municipal mergers, while municipalities often prefer a light form of cooperation. Since municipal boarders are converging less and less with the boarders inhabitants experience in their daily lives, municipalities feel free to cooperate in a variety of ways with other partners. This poses new challenges to democratic legitimacy, effectiveness and the role local authorities play. Local governments therefore do not need new regulations or legal forms of co-operations, but rather a repertoire fitting their role. We argue that local governments need to analyse their tasks, choose the form of cooperation that fits best and develop a repertoire for their cooperation. Light forms of cooperation are very important for developing a variety of cooperative forms and roles local governments need to play.

This concluding article of our special issue on public management reform in the Netherlands summarizes the information presented in the individual articles. We conclude that reform is often an incremental process, aimed at streamlining existing governance arrangements rather than creating and rolling out grand new designs.

This text provides a summary of an interview we conducted with Roel in ’t Veld, who (as an academic, advisor and civil servant) is a veteran of public management reform in the Netherlands. In ’t Veld criticizes the approach often taken by these reforms, as they are often not based on an in-depth study of the problem in question and its historic background. Scholars in public administration should not only provide critical assessments of reforms from the side-lines but should also get their hands dirty and participate in them.

In the 1980s, the organizational autonomy of primary schools in the Netherlands was increased to improve the quality of education. Today, new restrictions are being imposed on this autonomy, again as a means to improve educational quality. This article discusses whether this change can be seen as a systemic change or rather a further streamlining of the policies started in the 1980s.

Since 1901, Dutch social housing is organized as a hybrid system. Over the years, this system has continually adapted to outside forces and demands. Lately it has come under pressure, especially as the negative side effects of housing associations becoming autonomous have become apparent. This article describes the history of social housing in the Netherlands since 1901, and discusses whether the negative side effects of hybridity should be used as an argument for a major overhaul of the system.

During the 1980s and 1990s, successive Dutch governments reformed public transport by introducing market-type mechanisms. However, these New Public Management-style reforms have only been introduced half-heartedly because governments also tried to avoid the negative effects of NPM. On some fronts, the reforms have undoubtedly led to improved quality (better and newer material) and more choice for governments regarding how to organize public transport because there are several new providers. But on other fronts, these positive effects have been hampered by fragmentation, leading to calls for another overhaul of the system. This article chronicles the developments in public transport and discusses which new steps could be taken.