The Netherlands is engaged in reforming several of its public service provision sectors by limiting their hybrid (mixed public/private) character. This special issue deals with these reforms. We have a closer look at the systems of transport, education and housing, and also discuss reforms of the Dutch nation state. Each article poses three basic questions: why has the sector evolved as it has? Why is change seen as necessary? And how does this process take place? By doing so, we draw general lessons on how the Netherlands deals with system change and public management reform.

Since 1901, Dutch social housing is organized as a hybrid system. Over the years, this system has continually adapted to outside forces and demands. Lately it has come under pressure, especially as the negative side effects of housing associations becoming autonomous have become apparent. This article describes the history of social housing in the Netherlands since 1901, and discusses whether the negative side effects of hybridity should be used as an argument for a major overhaul of the system.

In the 1980s, the organizational autonomy of primary schools in the Netherlands was increased to improve the quality of education. Today, new restrictions are being imposed on this autonomy, again as a means to improve educational quality. This article discusses whether this change can be seen as a systemic change or rather a further streamlining of the policies started in the 1980s.

This text provides a summary of an interview we conducted with Roel in ’t Veld, who (as an academic, advisor and civil servant) is a veteran of public management reform in the Netherlands. In ’t Veld criticizes the approach often taken by these reforms, as they are often not based on an in-depth study of the problem in question and its historic background. Scholars in public administration should not only provide critical assessments of reforms from the side-lines but should also get their hands dirty and participate in them.

During the 1980s and 1990s, successive Dutch governments reformed public transport by introducing market-type mechanisms. However, these New Public Management-style reforms have only been introduced half-heartedly because governments also tried to avoid the negative effects of NPM. On some fronts, the reforms have undoubtedly led to improved quality (better and newer material) and more choice for governments regarding how to organize public transport because there are several new providers. But on other fronts, these positive effects have been hampered by fragmentation, leading to calls for another overhaul of the system. This article chronicles the developments in public transport and discusses which new steps could be taken.

The Dutch Minister for the Interior Ronald Plasterk has proposed far-reaching reforms for the structuring of the Dutch nation state. These reforms include decentralising tasks to municipalities and merging several provinces. So far, these plans have met with criticism and derision. This article discusses the tensions included in Plasterk’s plans and proposes several strategies for how change could still be possible.

This concluding article of our special issue on public management reform in the Netherlands summarizes the information presented in the individual articles. We conclude that reform is often an incremental process, aimed at streamlining existing governance arrangements rather than creating and rolling out grand new designs.

In the spring of 2013, the Dutch railway operator, High Speed Alliance, cancelled the acceptance procedures for V250 high-speed train sets they ordered from Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda after numerous problems with the build quality and safety systems. It is the latest chapter in a series of failed attempts to build and run a high-speed railway link between Amsterdam and Paris. Inevitably, the question of who was responsible for the decision to order the V250 has become prominent. We study 20 years of public decision-making by analysing the content of over 1,200 documents. Using David’s and Arthur’s theory of path-dependency, we conclude that all the decisions that were taken during those two decades created a situation in which the choice for the V250 was nothing more than an inevitable gamble. It can therefore be concluded that all parties involved, from the railway operator to Parliament, have contributed to the current failure.

Many tasks will be decentralized to municipalities in the Netherlands in the coming years. To deal with these challenges, central government encourages municipal mergers, while municipalities often prefer a light form of cooperation. Since municipal boarders are converging less and less with the boarders inhabitants experience in their daily lives, municipalities feel free to cooperate in a variety of ways with other partners. This poses new challenges to democratic legitimacy, effectiveness and the role local authorities play. Local governments therefore do not need new regulations or legal forms of co-operations, but rather a repertoire fitting their role. We argue that local governments need to analyse their tasks, choose the form of cooperation that fits best and develop a repertoire for their cooperation. Light forms of cooperation are very important for developing a variety of cooperative forms and roles local governments need to play.

In this contribution, Kees Breed of the Dutch Council for Public Administration reflects on Roel in ‘t Veld’s discussion of the 2012 Council’s report ‘Letting go and public trust’ in the previous issue of Bestuurskunde (vol. 22, issue 3, pp. 88-94). The discussion focuses on the report’s shortcomings regarding the analysis of tensions and conflicts between government, market, and society. In ‘t Veld regrets that understandings from complex systems’ theories were not used. In this reaction, Breed argues that in order to contribute to the current debates, theoretical and abstract concepts from systems’ theories will have to be confronted and matched with the actual experiences by practitioners. Reports as the one discussed, published by Advisory Coucil’s, stimulate debate and can thus contribute to bridge this gap.