Recently the Scientific Council for Government Policy, a major advisory board in the Netherlands published a report on the state of regulation. Based on his many years of experience as a practitioner and academic, the author reviews and critically assesses this report.

In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.

In this contribution, Kees Breed of the Dutch Council for Public Administration reflects on Roel in ‘t Veld’s discussion of the 2012 Council’s report ‘Letting go and public trust’ in the previous issue of Bestuurskunde (vol. 22, issue 3, pp. 88-94). The discussion focuses on the report’s shortcomings regarding the analysis of tensions and conflicts between government, market, and society. In ‘t Veld regrets that understandings from complex systems’ theories were not used. In this reaction, Breed argues that in order to contribute to the current debates, theoretical and abstract concepts from systems’ theories will have to be confronted and matched with the actual experiences by practitioners. Reports as the one discussed, published by Advisory Coucil’s, stimulate debate and can thus contribute to bridge this gap.

In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.

In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.

The manifest Governing Governance: A Liberal-Democratic View on Governance by Relationships, Bureaucracies and Markets in the 21st Century aims to please a wide range of audiences. Yet in trying to do so it does not seem to please any. The manifest may be applauded for its clear and concise discussion of the complicated concept of governance. Yet, it falls short in being a truly engaging text as it is somewhat outdated, it lacks interaction with the wider world beyond the Netherlands (and Belgium), and it is too optimistic in terms of what may be achieved through collaborative or new governance and deliberative democracy. All this may very well explain why the manifest has, as of yet, not received a great deal of attention.

This article is a critical review of four books: Bok, 2010 (‘The politics of happiness’); Van Campen, Bergsma, Boelhouwer, Boerefijn, & Bolier, 2012 (‘Sturen op geluk’); Diener, Lucas, Schimmack, & Helliwell, 2009 (‘Well-being for public policy’); Ott, 2012 (‘An eye on happiness’). Based on these works, we conclude that the quality of government is highly correlated with the happiness of citizens. In countries with high levels of freedom (economic, democracy, press), low levels of corruption and good public services, people appear to be the happiest. In this way governments can be seen as ‘happiness machines’. However, precise causal relationships need to be further clarified; which policies do improve happiness and which don’t? In this context, education is an important area in which government plays a role; people should leave school with the right set of competencies to be able to adequately cope with life. Governments cannot solve everybody’s unhappiness, though, but are important for creating the right circumstances.

In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.

In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.