Public administration in the Netherlands: Expansion, diversification and consolidation

The rise of Dutch administrative sciences is related to the post-war expansion of the country's welfare state. The growing welfare state needed scientific support for policy-making and planning. Legal expertise alone was no longer sufficient. After the initial separation from administrative law, the post-war policy and administrative sciences in The Netherlands were strongly oriented towards our American 'big brother'. Since the 1980s, a growing self-identity and self-confidence has developed. The period from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s witnessed a steady expansion and diversification of Dutch PA sciences. The subject is now taught at 11 of the 13 Dutch universities. The enormous growth of the early 1990s is over, and student numbers have now stabilized - and at a substantial level, thus consolidating the position of PA departments in most universities. From the mid 1990s onwards Dutch administrative sciences have gone through a process of internationalization. Dutch PA sciences have as a result acquired a status of recognized quality in the international scientific community.

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