A large part of the population has little faith and tends to move away from democracy. This is what Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema says in BNR’s Big Five. However, Halsema doesn’t think Dutch democracy is faltering. He calls the democratic constitutional state “strong” with a functioning bureaucracy and judiciary, little corruption, a free press and fair elections.
Hear the full BNR Big Five conversation here
Halsema doesn’t want to be alarmist for these reasons, but notes that a large part of the population has lost faith. Halsema finds it worrying that the very group dependent on the government is losing confidence. “Especially citizens who sometimes depend a lot on that government for their income or their titles. People who therefore find themselves in a situation of further disadvantage ».
Serious crisis of confidence
According to Halsema, this problem is not only a problem in rural municipalities, but also in large cities, especially in vulnerable neighborhoods ‘where people actually need help more often than others’. Earlier, Minister of State Herman Tjeenk Willink expressed his concerns about the decline in confidence, Halsema also speaks of ‘a very serious crisis of confidence’ in which politicians and administrators should mainly consult ‘instead of blaming the population’.
The mayor is asking for real improvements in the administration, in our bureaucracy, in relations with citizens. Because we’re not doing well enough. One symptom of this decline in confidence is voter turnout. According to Halsema, citizens who no longer trust politics no longer bother to vote. And again, this is particularly true for the most vulnerable residents.
Dramatic
‘We have neighborhoods in Amsterdam where the turnout is less than twenty percent and that’s really dramatic. And those are also places in our city where the poorest people live, where the houses are the worst and where crime is highest”.
“Many residents feel how powerful you are as a government and the government seems to have forgotten this a little”
As an example of this decline in trust and the question of guilt, Halsema cites a snack bar owner who, due to his poor literacy, fills out a form incorrectly and is therefore considered a criminal by a public official. Consequently, his license is not renewed. Although the official did nothing wrong, Halsema reversed the decision: “the rules must aim for justice and legality”.
Mistrust through marketing
Halsema draws a parallel between this example and the supplementary deal. He therefore finds it symptomatic of the way governments approach their citizens with distrust. According to her, this is a direct consequence of the commercialization of government and society that spread from the US and UK in the 1980s and 1990s. ‘That’s the problem.’
According to Halsema, the idea that government should be run like a business, where citizens are rational individuals who think and act and who, if they don’t like it, simply walk away, took hold at the time. According to Halsema, however, this dominant idea has three rather fundamental shortcomings: government is not a business, citizens are not customers, and citizens cannot leave.
‘A plan must be an answer to daily worries and for this you need to know your daily worries very well’
Compulsive relationship
‘As a government you often have a coercive relationship with your citizens due to laws and regulations. That means you shouldn’t treat them like calculating customers, like walkers who are just making profit and loss statements.’ According to Halsema, the government has for years behaved like a business that wants to win from its citizens.
This governing philosophy is best expressed by the term that came into use at the time: “The Netherlands BV”. Crucial to this shift to utility thinking within government is the replacement of lawyers by economists in ministries. Because where lawyers mainly check if the laws are correct and legal, economists check if the policy is efficient.
Response to the explosion of the welfare state
According to Halsema, this reification was in turn an understandable reaction to the expansion of the welfare state in the early 1980s, in which the various arrangements of the welfare state had become so vast that they themselves became a market. Including social workers, youth workers and street workers who have gone in search of demand. The result: an explosive welfare state that has not only become too expensive, but in which people have also become too dependent on government. ‘Logically it was recalled, but it went too far.’
‘A government must truly serve. This means that you have to be very critical of yourself and you have to accept that citizens sometimes deceive you.
But how do you restore that trust? Halsema emphasizes that first the quality and feasibility of decisions must be good. “What you see all too often in the House of Representatives (…) is that decisions are made primarily because they are politically desirable and not because they also lead to greater justice.” Another obstacle: Decisions, such as on nitrogen, asylum and Groningen, are not made, so that crises can run their course and thus get worse. “This doesn’t build confidence.”
Have the courage to make mistakes
Policy makers must also have the courage to reconsider their decisions and admit that they have made a mistake. Preferably in the earliest stage possible. Halsema therefore believes it is important to record the mistakes made to be allowed to become. Because that also makes it easier for an officer or director to recognize and correct a mistake. “We need administrators who allow their officials to make mistakes.”
‘What you see too often in the lower house (…) is that decisions are made primarily because they are politically desirable and not because they also lead to greater justice’
Street level bureaucracy
Finally, it’s important to leave the drawing board in the ivory tower and hit the road. “Take to the streets and don’t sue your citizens. Don’t send letters, go talk.’ We know too many bureaucrats who make a very conceptual plan from behind a table and spread it across the population, says Halsema. “But a plan has to be an answer to everyday worries, and for that you have to know everyday worries very well.” By the way, when civil servants take to the streets more often and resolve issues with residents, the large number of legal cases decreases.
“As a public administrator, in the end I have to side with the man against the machine for which I am responsible”
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
