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

Social policy has to be legitimate. But what is legitimacy? And what makes policy legitimate? This article argues that in order to be legitimate policy needs to answer to three different logics: the logic of the policy system, of external conditions, and of societal preferences. However, these three logics are often not coherent and point in different directions. Also, signs are often not coherent and are ambiguous at best. Therefore, following the three logics is not merely a matter of reading the signs, but of interpreting and balancing them. This article shows how policy makers in the Netherlands are balancing for responsiveness in three cases of social policy: social assistance policy, sheltered work policy and labor migration policy. The cases learn that responsiveness does not come from large decisive reforms, but from a wide range of small and often hardly politicized steps. Also, we see that in balancing the various logics, policy makers have a strong bias towards the logic of the policy system and that of public preference, and pay far less attention to external conditions. However, on the longer term external conditions cannot be neglected and policy makers face tough decisions about short term responsiveness towards public preferences and more longer term actions that make for policies that are more balanced with external conditions and therefore sustainable on the longer term.

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