The Essence of Dutch Local Governance

Building better futures in the Netherlands and beyond

What makes Dutch local governance stand out? Students undertaking a master’s degree at the University of Utrecht dig into this question every year, in cooperation with VNG International. Every year a different student, a different policy domain and different conversations. In their search for characteristics of Dutch local governance, the students carry out in-depth interviews with civil servants working at local governments. What do they say when asked what is typically Dutch about their local approach? The municipalities which we work with differ in size, degree of urbanization, and are situated in different parts of the Netherlands. Every research results in a case, which shows how these characteristics work out in practice. Based on the similarities across the different policy domains, this web page showcases the essence of Dutch local governance, summarized by the following four characteristics: cooperation, solution-oriented, consensus and stability.

Four characteristics of Dutch local governance highlighted

Cooperation

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.

Solution-oriented

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

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.

Stability

Dutch local governance is known for its stability. 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.

Go to characteristics

The four characteristics in practice

Show all cases
    dutch
    The Decentralisation of Social Policy
    dutch smart cities
    dutch approach
    dutch approach
    dutch approach

Case 1: Shelter for rejected asylum seekers: a pragmatic solution

In 2018, approximately 40 Dutch local governments offer a certain form of shelter for rejected asylum seekers. These shelters are often referred to as “bed-bath-bread” shelters (…

Read more Read more

Case 2: The Decentralisation of Social Policy

The Decentralisation of Social Policy – reinforcing intermunicipal cooperation As of January 1 2015, municipalities in the Netherlands have acquired important tasks and…

Read more Read more

Case 3: Getting ready for the future together: Dutch smart cities

An estimated number of 60 Dutch municipalities are currently working on experiments, projects and initiatives to give substance to the increasingly popular ‘smart city’ concept.…

Read more Read more

Case 4: The living lab approach: local stakeholders as co-creators of urban innovation

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities. According to the United Nations this number will rise to around 68% in 2050. This urbanization trend has been…

Read more Read more

Case 5: Megaprojects & water: preparing for rising water levels to prevent a flooded future

The Netherlands is known for the never-ending battle against the sea and the flooding of rivers. More than half of the Netherlands is positioned below sea level and large rivers…

Read more Read more

Case 6: How Dutch local governments contribute to less emissions and a climate-neutral EU

Ever since 1992, The EU Birds and Habitats Directive protects animals, plants and rare habitat types. The directive is aimed at maintaining and protecting the biodiversity in…

Read more Read more

Do you have questions or want to know more?

Background of the cases

The content of this web page is based on research done in several Dutch municipalities, by students of the Master’s programme on Public Administration and Policy of Utrecht University.

The municipalities which were included in the research differ both in size and in their degree of urbanization. Through interviews with practitioners from local governments, as well as desk research on different local policy domains, the students searched for characteristics of Dutch local governance.  Based on the similarities among the different policy domains, this web page showcases the essence of Dutch local governance in four characteristics.

To validate whether these characteristics are indeed typical for Dutch local governance, the results were discussed with practitioners from all over Europe (and beyond). This gave an insight in the differences and similarities between local governance in the Netherlands and in other countries.

Frans Mencke (picture), city manager of the municipality of Hoorn in The Netherlands, was strongly involved in the set-up of the concept of “The Essence of Dutch Local Governance”.
For more information on the concept and this webpage, please contact project manager Jessie Post (left) by sending an email to jessie.post@vng.nl.