The history of the opening-up of marriage in the Netherlands is mostly portrayed as a fight started by the Gay Krant in the 1980ies resulting in a clear victory in 2001, the ‘purple’ government of Social Democrats and Liberals being pictured as the heroes. This one-dimensional and triumphalist narrative needs correction. Already in the 1970ies the COC initiated a discussion on law reform for non-marital relationships, but rejected marriage as the model to be followed. In the 1980ies both the gay movement and the feminist movement demanded legal individualisation. This avenue was closed off by the review of the social security system in 1987. A clear defeat. The role of the ‘purple’ coalition also needs revision. It was a more traditional cabinet of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats that in 1994 tabled the first proposal, be it not for marriage but for registered partnerships for couples of the same sex. Consensual politics found its limits in the demand for marriage equality. But also the ‘purple’ cabinet had to be forced by parliament to table this new legislation. The acceptance of marriage equality by the Christian Democrats – a decade later – fits in with integration of same sex relationships in a society where heterosexuality still is the dominant organizing principle.

This editorial offers an introduction to the current issue.

The most relevant part of a discussion is not what is discussed but what cannot be spoken of. The real taboos are those for which it is taboo to call them taboos. The status quo defines itself as non-ideological while denouncing any challenge to itself as radical. Therefore the column De blinde vlek frames the framers, politicizes the status quo and articulates what is not heard of.

During meetings, policy teams run the risk of producing false consensus and personal conflicts. Asserting one’s own viewpoint often reduces hearing those of others. Changing this requires developing recognition of the perspective of other team members, without depreciating one’s own. We aimed to study the effect of visualizing team members’ views of a problematic situation and their proposed policy approaches. We explored the feasibility of a network diagram visualization method, by assessing team members attitude towards it, expectations about the policy progress and its influence on their mental representation of the policy problem at hand. A field trial was conducted in two policy teams in two non-profit organizations: one healthcare and one financial. In both cases, we compared the newly developed visualization method with meeting as usual. Open and semi-structured interviews were used to collect team members’ views. The qualitative and quantitative analyses showed enhanced mental representations by means of visualization and positive ratings of both the method and its expected effect on consequent policy quality. In conclusion, the results warrant substantive investment into further large-scale research as to sample size, time window, and into its generalizability towards collaborative governance.

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.

In 2019, the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Netherlands (FIU-the Netherlands) celebrated its 25th anniversary. This article uses the occasion to reflect on the pivotal role of the FIU in financial surveillance and to describe its core practices of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating financial intelligence. What makes an FIU particularly interesting is that it operates at various intersections: not only on the nexus of finance and security, but also between private and public actors, by transforming unusual transaction information into suspicious financial intelligence. Given this pivotal position of the FIU, it is surprising that little is known about its core activities. Because its practices are often secret and its data are classified as state secrets, its daily operations and operational processes remain obscure. By drawing on interviews, public reports, and an online training programme this article aims to encircle the secrecy, zoom in on the case-study of FIU-the Netherlands and offer a fine-grained analysis of each of the three core FIU activities. Such a case-study is important not only for the study of finance and security as well as financial surveillance, but also for policy makers and the broader public who merit an understanding of how their financial behaviour is being surveilled.

Because of the existing conservative-religious set of values in a dominant bourgeois culture, as historian Von der Dunk concluded in 1975, a conservative political party never came to fruition. In this article the author examines this observation on the basis of politically pivotal years: 1868, 1917, 1950, 1972 and 2002. At these moments the connection of the conservative-religious values with the age-old regent administrative culture appears to be cast in iron.
The author considers Von der Dunk’s conclusion to be proven: in the Netherlands a conservative party has never been viable as long as the Christian political parties represent conservative values adequately. Today’s right-wing populist parties adorn themselves with conservative values, but are essentially and act non-conservative.

Research integrity has received increased attention, in the literature as well as in policy. A host of initiatives is supporting its promotion. However, misconduct will not cease to exist and needs to be reported, by whistleblowers. It takes a lot of courage to blow the whistle as it can have an enormous impact on the whistleblower’s career and personal well-being – and that of colleagues and researchers associated with the perpetrator. Therefore, it is important to be cognisant of the stressful process that accompanies the act of whistleblowing, to provide clear and accessible procedures to report misconduct, and to support whistleblowers throughout the process. Furthermore, it is essential that appropriate whistleblower protection measures are in place and enforced. Based on the current review of the literature, we provide some recommendations for policy and argue that an obligation to report scientific misconduct would currently do more harm than good.

This article describes the relationship between central government and municipalities and to what extent this relationship has an impact on local decision-making. The commonly used characterization of this relationship as a principal-agent relationship offers many leads but has some shortcomings. That is why this is compared with the stewardship theory, assuming a more equal and constructive cooperation. Both theories have been incorporated into a broader model on management styles, which creates a more nuanced description of the cooperation in public administration. The article focuses on the case of Rotterdam in 2015, at a time of political turmoil in the Netherlands about the shelter of people without residence permit. The analysis is carried out using a measuring instrument for policy freedom, as policy freedom is a good determinant for which management style is used. The research is conducted from a local perspective, with emphasis on the position of councilors. The national government sometimes profiles itself as a principal to them, but in practice council members resist and turn the relationship around, hereby holding the government accountable for its role and responsibility.

Regionalization is foregrounded among policymakers as a solution to the complex problems elderly care is facing, such as a pertinent staff shortage, a greying population and a lack of suitable accommodation. In this article, following a decentered approach, we analyze how field parties like nursing homes and policymakers in interaction give shape to regional collaborations within a market-oriented institutional healthcare context. Our findings show the emerging frictions, due to layered institutional arrangements and the proliferation of policy initiatives and partnerships. We find different responses of institutional actors to these frictions; actors holding off closer regional cooperation, actors creating urgency and commitment to organize care regionally, creating interstices in rules and regulations and building regional networks and care infrastructures. We argue that a focus on the iterative processes through which actors on different layers of the healthcare system give shape to policies adds a valuable perspective to the study of policy changes. We conclude that ‘layered work’ – mobilizing and working with and between different organizational and policy layers simultaneously – is required to develop appropriate (layered) ways to deal with complex problems.

Promoting societal engagement with nature is an important policy ambition of Dutch nature policy. This article provides an overview of how the provinces together with stakeholders have shaped their policy to increase the societal engagement of citizens with nature in recent years. The goals and governance modes embedded in the policy programs were analyzed, and results and experiences of the various involved parties with the policy were reviewed. Based on a national review and in dept study of three cases, this article describes different regional approaches for increasing societal engagement. In addition it discusses the recent developments within this policy field.
The analysis shows that provinces pursue different goals with societal engagement. It is both a policy goal in itself – provinces would like to increase the number of citizens involved – as well as a means of achieving a broader range of other goals (welfare, health, quality of life, shared responsibility, funding, support for nature policy). Provinces use different governance modes; they act as responsive and increasingly networking government. They use various policy instruments; financial support for initiatives and intermediaries, network building and communication. Furthermore, the analysis shows that past experiences have shaped provinces’ governance mode and that these are adapted accordingly. A shift is noted from leaving the initiative with communities to more direct facilitation by the government. Also governing based on performance, linked to new public management, is on the rise, as there is increasing demand for accountability of provincial expenditure.

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

In this feature authors discuss recent research findings that are of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.

In the period 2018-2021 the municipality of Amsterdam conducted an experiment with beneficiaries of social assistance. Benefit recipients could voluntarily participate in the experiment. They were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions, viz. ‘extra attention’ (in which they received more frequent counseling and support), ‘self-direction’ (which offered the participants the freedom to make their own choices), and the ‘comparison group’ (the control group which received the customary treatment). Under all three conditions, participants who worked part-time could earn up to €200 a month on top of their social assistance benefit. A little over 800 participants (of the 5,000 in total) were followed closely by researchers of the Amsterdam University of Applied Science (HvA) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Although the participants who got ‘extra attention’ did not significantly flow out more frequently from the social assistance system than participants in the other two conditions, they did more often have a part-time job at the end of the experiment. There were no significant differences between the conditions with respect to participation in other non-paid activities, such as voluntary work and informal care. In-depth interviews with a selection of the participants showed, among other outcomes, that they considered the financial uncertainty as a main hindrance for doing (more) part-time work.

In this feature authors discuss recent research findings that are of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.

In this feature authors discuss recent research findings that are of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.

New ict and robots in the workplace may raise productivity but can have negative effects on people. A human-centered approach and human-centered technology may prevent negative outcomes. In the present article, this is outlined for the diverse and vulnerable group of ‘people with distance to the labour market’.
These people face difficulties in getting a job and holding a job for a long period of time. For getting a job, they may need support in getting motivated and acquiring the necessary skills. For holding a job, support may be needed for adequate task performance, for staying healthy and vital, for personal development and for being able to switch from one job to another.
Various technologies may provide one or more of these types of support. In particular, cognitive support technology has a great potential to make difficult work easier and therefore more accessible to more people. In three case descriptions we illustrate the application of a human-centered approach and the potential of operator support technology for cognitively impaired people.
The case description shows the surplus value of the human centered approach, analyzing first the barriers and needs of the people involved, before iteratively testing and developing the technology with an active involvement of end-users. The described cases as well as other small-scale pilots contribute to our insight in the potential of operator support technology in increasing the accessibility of jobs for cognitively impaired people. The quantification of effects on work participation requires application of this type of technology on a much larger scale.

In this feature authors discuss recent research findings that are of interest to readers of Beleid en Maatschappij.