Democratic reform policy in the Netherlands

Abstract

This chapter discusses occurrences of and explanations for democratic reforms in the Netherlands, distinguishing between vote-centric and talk-centric reforms. Vote-centric reforms introducing new electoral procedures or referendum legislation are often discussed but rarely implemented. Explanatory studies point to the high hurdles for constitutional change in the Netherlands, in addition to vested interests of pivotal political parties in the established system. Talk-centric reforms boosting participatory, deliberative, and interactive governance are comparatively abundant, with new variants layered on top of previous variants, primarily but not exclusively at the local level. Explanatory studies emphasize the relative ease of implementation and reformulation of such reforms, combined with a considerable supply-side push in compact and active public governance networks. In a final section, this chapter demarcates questions for future research. In particular, the wider-ranging impact of democratic reform, both vote-centric and talk-centric, has not received enough systematic scholarly attention.