Local state society relations in the Netherlands

Abstract

Dutch municipalities have a long tradition of incorporating societal actors in their governing infrastructure. This chapter analyses three cases of institutionalized local state-society relations today. In particular, since the 1970s, sub-municipal bodies in villages and districts (dorpsraden and wijkraden) have been launched to foster citizen participation. Local advisory councils for social and health affairs have been established following recent decentralizations of health and social policies. Regional employment platforms (regionale werkbedrijven) involve social partners and have been created in 2015 for the reintegration of people with disabilities into work. The cases show that the societal actors involved have rather limited influence on local policy-making. Additionally, these local state-society relations have often been launched in response to national policy developments, and the societal actors involved are less rooted in society than in the pillarized past. Therefore, doubts exist whether the state’s legitimacy among the mass public has been maintained through these relations.