The Netherlands: how “weak” prime ministers gain influence

Rhodes, R. A. W. and van Dorp, Erik-Jan (2022) The Netherlands: how “weak” prime ministers gain influence. In, Kolltveit, Kristoffer and Shaw, Richard (eds.) Core Executives in a Comparative Perspective : Governing in Complex Times. (Understanding Governance) 1st ed. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 189-208. (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-94503-9_8).

Abstract

We ask this research question: Has the Dutch prime minister (PM) become predominant, and if so, how has this impacted the workings of the core executive? We draw on original interviews with (prime) ministers, ministerial advisers, senior civil servants and journalists. The interviews reflected on the change and stability in the workings of the core executive in the decades leading up to 2017. We used the literature on the core executive and court politics to interpret the findings. The findings zoom in on the role of the prime minister. Four trends—Europeanisation, personalisation, crisis management and the changing party-political landscape—drive and sustain the relative ascendancy of the prime minister in Dutch governance. In everyday practice, cabinet ministers and civil servants see the PM as pivotal in any meaningful decision, despite limited formal competencies. While cabinet matters, it is also a closing ceremony to a process of decision-making in a wide variety of (informal) forums in which both politicians and civil servants have a seat at the table. This chapter contributes a fresh empirical and theoretical update that revises our understanding of how ‘cabinet government’ is practised by key actors.

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Contributors

Author: R. A. W. Rhodes

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