Table Of Content"FORCE OF ORDER AND METHODS ... "
AN AMERICAN VIEW INTO THE DUTCH
DIRECTED SOCIETY
STUDIES
IN SOCIAL LI FE
XIX
EDITOR:
GUNTHERBEYER
ADVISORY BOARD:
P. J. BOUMAN,
University 0/ Groningen
JEAN GOTTMAN,
University 0/P aris
WAL TER HOFFMANN,
University 0/ Münster
LIVIO LIVI(t),
University 0/ Rome
"FORCE OF ORDER AND METHODS ... "
AN AMERICAN VIEW INTO THE DUTCH
DIRECTED SOCIETY
by
MAURICE C. BLANKEN
•
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1976
©1976 by Martinus Njjhoff, The Hague, NetherJonds
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
ISBN 978-94-015-0151-4 ISBN 978-94-015-0638-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-0638-0
T ABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface VII
I. THE DUTCH "MIRACLE" I
11. THE INSTRUMENTS OF DECISION
Government and Ideology 12
Stewards of Order 23
IH. MANAGEMENT OF AN EcONOMY
Forging a Commonwealth 33
Instituting Profesionalism 43
Omens of the Future 54
IV. THE PATROON SYSTEM - MODERN STYLE
The Compassionate Society 62
Social Health 73
V. HOUSING AND URBAN PLANNING
Public Housing 80
City Planning in the Randstad 9°
VI. PHYSICAL PLANNING
Nationwide Planning 99
The Grand Design -lJsselmeer and the Delta 109
VII. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Land 118
Water 124
VIII. THE ENGINES OF CHANGE
Social Development
The Schools
Universities and Social Research
IX. " ... OF ORDER AND MEmODS"
MAPS AND CHARTS
Organization Chart of the Government of the Netherlands 15
The Provinces of the Netherlands 28
The Position of the Central Planning Bureau in the Government
of The Netherlands 44
The Netherlands National Physica1 Planning Bureau 104
The Usselmeer Project III
The Delta Project 114
Pollution Levels of the Rhine River 131
PREFACE
The Netherlands is an unusual nation in many ways. It is not only
that nearly half her land is below sea level. Nor is it that she is one of
the world's most crowded lands; her more than 13 million people
create a population density of about 1000 per square mHe. Nor is it
that half her national income is dependent upon world trade. Nor is it
that so small anation could achieve peace and prosperity with so little
natural resources. What is most unusual is that the Netherlands has
made such a rapid and total adjustment to the demands of modern
technological society. In no small measure this was achieved by a
deliberate policy of planning, direction, control and development. Its
postwar history teIls how a determined people under intelligent govern
ment leadership rose from a broken economy to a level of economic
and social development that places their society among the most
modern in the world. The Netherlands is a success story that in some
measure has been overlooked by a wider world. This will be an attempt
to record her story, touching upon some of the causes and results of
this success.
The Netherlands is undoubtedly one of the most planning conscious
of modern nations. This is not to say that the Dutch government or its
people have any concept comparable to the totality of Soviet Five Year
Plans. It might be more accurate to see Dutch planning as similar to
America's Tennessee Valley Authority project - direction and economic
contribution by the government, participation and cooperation by the
people involved. Dutch action was multiple and continuous - aseries
of TVA s - not a solitary accident. Moreover, Dutch planning repre
sents a more flexible form of social effort than what one usually con
ceives planning to be. The Dutch government suggests lines of approach
and the people concerned react. Frequently interest groups and or
ganizations initiate programs and government plans are always open
vm PREFACE
to changes resulting from public pressures. While there is considerable
flexibility within planning arrangements, the government is highly
professional in its planning. It remains largely outside the political
arena. This is true on all politicallevels. PIanning is thorough, attempts
to cover all foreseeable contingencies and de1ves into all phases of
Dutch life. Throughout, planning in the Dutch society remains a form
of social control directed towards improving the economic and social
living standards of the entire society. It is done with a modicum of
fanfare and social friction.
Lately there have been high levels of public concern on ecological
issues of air and water pollution, use of space, preservation of natural
areas and population control. Government awareness of the need for
planning, and public acceptance of this need, arose from the particular
historie, geographie and economic conditions of Dutch life. Planning
is not new to the Netherlands. The building and maintenance of dykes
and drainage systems has an ancient lineage. Economic regulation of
crafts and trade go back far in her history. Housing regulations and
sociallegislations came to the Netherlands before many western na
tions. Numerous lessons of restraint and cooperation were learned in
the process. However, the more significant, and now increasingly total
direction of Dutch society, is new. Post World War Two is the water
shed. The inter-war depressions of the thirties, and the harshness of
the Nazi Occupation almost destroyed Dutch economic life. These
events also broke up the social order and local parochialism so indi
genous to the pre-war Holland. In its place there was created a wider
feeling of nationalism and a heightened popular insistence upon greater
social equality. Neither the government nor the people could ignore
their economic plight. Their amazing post-war recovery, although the
Dutch are extremely grateful, cannot be totally attributed to Marshall
Plan Aid. Their economic successes whetted their optimism and gave
the Dutch a forward looking attitude which supports the planning and
direction for social and economic development still underway in Dutch
society. A new Netherlands has been born. She is now a complex in
dustrial, technological society - more a wave of the future than a
sleepy backwater of windmills and wooden shoes.
Growing dilemmas - perhaps not fully apparent to the Dutch people
and their leaders - are developing from these changes. The Netherlands
is, for the most part, enjoying a booming economy that undergirds her
hopes for continued economic and social development. Still her eco-
PREFACE IX
nomy is geared to the exigencies of the world market - or at least the
economy of Western Europe. Willy-nilly, the Netherlands is tied to
the vagaries of world trade. Her horne market cannot sustain her
domestic labor force who come seekingjobs. It is saddening to contem
plate how greatly her people may suffer in a world depression. Another
equally critical dilemma arises also from her post-war boom. Economic
well-being has encouraged a population growth that was a decade ago
the highest in Europe. The Netherlands has fought the sea, has wrested
from it more land for her people, and held back the ever recurring
threat offioods. The new fioods she mustdread will be the sea ofpeople
that will strain her land resources to the bursting point. What dykes
and Delta Projects are there for this threat? These two dilemmas are
parents to the third. Increased industry and population are making
exigent demands upon the physical environment of the Netherlands
so that ultimately ecological collapse may ensue. Already land, fresh
water, natural beauty, open space, quiet privacy and "breathing room"
for sane living are at a premium. Seemingly industrial and population
growth can persist only if the technological replaces the natural en
vironment. Perhaps the Dutch are prepared for this eventuality more
than people in any other society. Still there is always a lurking vulner
ability in technological complexity. Is the Netherlander any more
responsible or capable than any one else of maintaining the degree of
sophistication and self-control that a technological society demands?
Recently, as throughout the world, events in the Netherlands have
moved rapidly. What began in this study as social comment seems al
ready to have become history. The former comfortable stability of
Dutch Society appears to be confronting the greatest challenge to its
traditions and institutions. The capacity of her advanced technology
to continuously solve her economic, social and ecological dilemmas
seems overstrained. In the long run more may depend upon the
character and social philosophy of her citizenry than upon 20th cen
tury technology. Despite the best of intentions, and the kind assistance
of both the editor and publisher, which the author now wishes to
acknowledge, it has been virtually impossible to keep abreast of the
attempts the Dutch have made to cope with their problems. Regret
fuHy, by the time of publication, this study may inevitably contain some
elements of outdated fact which may affect its findings. For this the
author alone takes responsibility.
The Dutch are a fine people. They are sincere, honest, industrious
x
PREFACE
and in no way malicious. Their dogged industry and unfailing courage
in overcoming the challenges of their past, their general goodwill to
mankind in the present, ought to be rewarded by good wishes in return.
Their future is important to us all. Since the Netherlands is the most
demographically concentrated society, has the highest mean level of
technological development, and is the most planned and directed
society, there is a high probability that her fate portends mankind's
future.
Description:The Netherlands is an unusual nation in many ways. It is not only that nearly half her land is below sea level. Nor is it that she is one of the world's most crowded lands; her more than 13 million people create a population density of about 1000 per square mHe. Nor is it that half her national inco
