Core executives and party policies: Privatisation in the Netherlands

West European Politics

Volumn 22, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 115-137

  deVries, Jouke ^a   Yesilkagit, Kutsal ^a  

^a LEIDEN UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECONOMIC POLICY; PLANNING PRACTICE; POLICY MAKING; PRIVATIZATION;

NETHERLANDS;

EID: 0032967094     PISSN: 01402382     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402389908425289     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. This article is an outflow of empirical research within the framework of the Whitehall Core Executive Project. The authors thank Rudy Andeweg, Jack Hayward, Frans Jorna and Vincent Wright for their valuable comments.
2. Vincent Wright (éd.) Privatization in Western Europe: Pressures, Problems and Paradoxes (London: Pinter 1994).
3. Vincent Wright, 'Privatization in Western Europe: Paradoxes and Implications for Institutions', Stato e Mercato 47 (1996) pp.191-234.
4. R.A.W. Rhodes, 'From Prime Ministerial Power to Core Executive', in idem and Patrick Dunleavy, Prime Minister, Cabinet and Core Executive (London: Macmillan 1995) p.2.
5. Patrick Weller and Herman Bakvis, 'The Hollow Crown: Coherence and Capacity in Central Government', in idem and R.A.W. Rhodes, The Hollow Crown, Counten'ailing Trends in Core Executives (London: Macmillan 1997) p.6.
6. R.H.P.W. Kottman, 'Horizontale taakverdeling en coordinate' (Horizontal task specialisation and coordination), in Andries Hoogerwerf (red) Overheidsbeleid (Government policy) (Alphen aan den Rijn: Samson 1982) pp.409-30.
7. H. Kaufman, The Forest Ranger: A Study in Administrative Behavior (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins UP 1960).
8. P. Self, Administrative Theories and Politics, An Enquiry into the Structure and Processes of Modem Government (London: Alien & Unwin 1979) p.192.
9. Ken Gladdish, Governing from the Centre. Politics and Policy-making in the Netherlands (London: Hunt 1991); Rudy B. Andeweg and Galen A. Irwin, Dutch Government and Politics (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1993).
10. Wright, 'Privatization in Western Europe' (note 3).
11. Wright, Privatization in Western Europe (note 2) p. 12.
12. Christopher Politt, Managerialism and the Public Sendees: The Anglo-American Experience (Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1990)
13. Jane Kelsey, The New Zealand Experiment: A World Model for Structural Adjustment? (Auckland UP 1997).
14. The Dutch word for this is 'verzelfstandigen.' The Dutch-English vocabulary of Van Dalen has no equivalent for this word, except 'privatisation.' The terms do not completely coincide.
15. Acts Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer), 1980-1981, 16625, No.l.
16. A list of privatisation items was already given during the first reconsideration round; Acts Second Chamber, 1980-81, 16625, Nos.2-3, p. 48.
17. See also Acts Second Chamber, 1982-83, 17938, No.l, p.l.
18. Letter from the Minister of Finance to the Prime Minister, 13 Aug. 1982, G82-470.
19. This cabinet was the third Van Agt cabinet which was in office from 29 May 1982 until 4 Nov. 1982. The start of the privatization program was actually given by a cabinet of Christian democrats and progressive liberals (Democrats 66).
20. Letter from the Minister to the Prime Minister, 13 Aug. 1982, p.2.
21. Letter from the first chairman of the IGCP to the permanent secretaries of all the departments, AV/MA/B163/51, 24 Dec. 1982.
22. Letter from the Minister of Finance to the Second Chamber (25 May 1983), Second Chamber, 1982-83, 17938, No.l.
23. Some of the working groups were granted six months and others nine months for their work.
24. Report of an IGCP meeting, 9 Feb. 1984.
25. Note from the Chairman of the IGCP to the Minister of Finance, 24 Feb. 1984.
26. Letter from the Minister of Finance to the Prime Minister, June 1985.
27. Letter from the Chairman of the IGCP to all permanent secretaries, 12 Sept. 1985, No.P190.
28. The foundations for the second round, however, dated from an earlier period. About six months before the elections in 1986 the minister of finance asked the IGCP to prepare an oversight of and plans for future privatization programs which would be mentioned in the minister's political testimony. An informal group consisting of (3 or 4) members of the IGCP took up this assignment and would work out a note for the minister. See also: report of IGCP meeting, 19 Dec. 1985, p.l; and report of 16 Jan. 1986, p.2.
29. Report of an IGCP meeting, 19 Dec. 1985, p.279, p.l.
30. Letter from the chairman of the IGCP to the permanent secretaries; draft letter added to the report of IGCP meeting, 18 Sept. 1986.
31. Note from the Chairman of the IGCP to the Minister of Finance, 27 Oct. 1986.
32. According to the permanent secretaries this factor played a significant role in the following departments: General Affairs; Welfare, Public Health, and Culture; Economic Affairs; Defence; Housing, Town and Country Planning, and Environment; and Justice.
33. As note 33, p.2; the Minister of Finance, Ruding, had already explicitly asked the IGCP that he should be informed on potential 'troublemakers'.
34. Letter from the Minister of Finance to the Chairman of the Second Chamber 4 May 1988, Acts Second Chamber, 1987-88, 17938, No.42.
35. Functionele Decentralisatie, Tweede Kamer, 21042.
36. Cited from: Acts Second Chamber, 1988-89, 21042, No.2, p.2; for the resolution Lauxtermann c.s. see Acts Second Chamber, 1987-88,20200, No.43.
37. Acts Second Chamber, 1990-91, 21042, No.4.
38. Interview with an informant at the Treasury.
39. A. van de Ven, 'Pragmatic programme approach of privatization to continue under new Dutch coalition', p. 18, in Privatization International, Dec. 1989, pp. 18-21. A. van de Ven was Secretary of the IGCP from 1982 until 1992.
40. Letter from the Minister of Finance to the Minister of Interior Affairs, 'Privatisering en bestuurlijke vernieuwing', IRF89-1560, 28 Dec. 1989.
41. Letter from the Minister of Interior Affairs, Mrs I. Dales, to the Minister of Finance, Mr W. Kok, IBI89/67/2, 9 Feb. 1990.
42. This is accomplished by the Minister of Finance's note 'Autonomisation and Privatisation', Acts Second Chamber, 1990-91, 21632, No.l.
43. The redefinition of privatisation and its abandonment has attracted a considerable amount of criticism from several academic experts who favored privatisation/incorporation during the last decade.
44. The chairman of the IGCP told us that on one occasion when he was visiting a permanent secretary to inform him about the coming of a new round of privatisations, the permanent secretary had stepped aside in the hallway for him saying ironically 'There we have the "Privatizer". This anecdote reflects the image of the IGCP -or of his chairman -in the eyes of the departments who had to deal with the privatisation program.
45. Letter from the Director-General of the Budget, J.K.T. Postma, to the chairman of the Assembly of Permanent Secretaries, G.J. van Dinter, 29 Jan. 1991.
46. Mentioned in the Director-General's letter of 25 April 1991 ; Letter from the chairman of the Assembly of Permanent Secretaries to the Director-General of the Budget, J.K.T. Postma, 10 April 1991.
47. One of the members of the visitation committee was a former member of the IGCP; see for the list of names of the visitation committee the letter of the chairman of the visitation committee of the RDW project to the assembly of permanent secretaries, 1 Feb. 1991.
48. Interview with a civil servant of the Dept. of Interior Affairs on 3 April 1996.