Drs. J.C.V. van der Veer

Contact

Department of Governance Studies,
Faculty of Social Sciences
VU University Amsterdam

PhD Project

Manufacturing local governance: welfare state reform in Dutch municipalities

Against the background of large-scale changes involving demographic trends as well as changing views on the role of the state, The Netherlands are in the midst of major shifts in the allocation of rights and responsibilities for social care and welfare policy. One of the main features of these reforms is that they not only involve substantive policy changes, but also changes in the organization and management: the reforms affect the ‘what’ as well as the ‘how’ of welfare state arrangements. In this respect, the Local Social Support Act (Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning or Wmo) is a case par excellance. The Act requires Dutch municipalities to decide on how to provide care and welfare services, within a broadly defined national framework. The Act encourages municipalities to experiment and to build innovative arrangements that promote social participation of vulnerable citizens and active citizenship.

The research project Manufacturing Local Governance, addresses the puzzle of how municipalities carry out their designing task, focusing on the mechanisms that explain how operational arrangements to perform their new tasks and responsibilities come about. What does really matter: the actors involved, their interests and cognitions, the institutional rules? The black box of design processes will be opened using an exploratory case study approach. More specifically, the procedure of process tracing is used to determine developments and shifts in the course of events. The findings of the study will provide comprehensive material sketching the emerging landscape of design practises in local governance, thereby contributing to the body of knowledge on ‘new public governance’.

Link to CCSS personal PhD Programme

Publications