Dutch local governments are aware that they do not necessarily have all the answers to the complex issues arising in their cities. Therefore, they choose to collaborate and cooperate with other relevant stakeholders from an early stage, to identify possible challenges and to jointly formulate answers to them. Stakeholders, including (semi-)public organizations, private parties, citizens or other local governments, are thus involved in the whole policy-making process. The strong cooperation with different actors makes it possible to access and capitalize on a broad range of knowledge, information and ideas. This leads to integrated, innovative and inclusive solutions, benefiting all stakeholders.

In general, Dutch local governments have a pragmatic and entrepreneurial attitude towards the problems in their territories. The local governments work towards the most efficient and achievable solution, reviewing current policies and approaches where necessary. This attitude enables different parties to work together and more importantly, it depoliticizes the debate. This characteristic is strongly related to ‘consensus’, as support of all different stakeholders is sought to make sure that policies work and solve the targeted issues.

Consensus is deeply rooted in Dutch local governance, but still sees innovation. An important element of consensus is that you actively search for broad support for policies and actions. This requires that the different involved actors are willing to seek compromises and to share power. Consensus will be reached more easily if the issue at hand is depoliticized, so that politicians and decision-makers can take a pragmatic approach. This practice is often referred to as ‘the Poldermodel’, a term that was established in The Netherlands, based on the practice in this country. It refers to a consensus-based manner of decision-making, in which different governmental and civil society organizations or private sector companies work together and cooperate on relevant issues.

Dutch local governance is known for its continuity. This characteristic builds on the previous three characteristics. Since policy decisions are based on broad involvement of stakeholders, pragmatic in character, and based on consensus, newly elected politicians feel less need to completely overturn the work of their predecessors. Instead they opt for building on what is already there. This way, a waste of resources is avoided and the sustainability of actions is warranted. Another factor contributing to this continuity is the fact that civil servants do not work in service of the state or of certain politicians, but in service of the municipality. Therefore, civil servants do not occupy their position for one political term only; they tend to stay for a longer period of time in their functions, enabling them to build close contacts with other organizations, groups and individuals which are important for their policy area. Moreover, they get the time to truly understand the opportunities and challenges within their policy domain and develop expertise, skills and knowledge within their function. These are crucial to serve and support the decision-making process.