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.