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Abstract

What can the political-administrative management of a government ministry do in order to bring about a substantial policy change? Public policy is shaped in networks that are characterized by pluriformity of actors, interests, perceptions, and resources, and by mutual instead of unilateral dependence among the actors. Uncertainty is high and concerns both the nature of societal problems, the strategic behavior of actors involved, and the various institutional backgrounds of these actors. Confronted with this three-fold uncertainty, the political-administrative management of the ministry will have to act strategically. Public housing in the Netherlands is a policy sector clearly bearing network features. In this book, the empirical material consists of three processes of successful, substantial policy change: the change in the policy regarding housing quality, the early urban renewal policy and the decentralisation of public housing (1970-1995). The three case studies show that the Dutch ministry of housing adopted a variety of strategic actions in its attempt to influence the course of the policy-making processes. These actions ranged from unilateral instructions and the presentation of sweeping visions to the maintenance of relations with influential politicians, the intelligent framing and coupling of issues, and experimentation in the implementation practice. The nature of some of these strategic actions was hierarchical, whereas other actions had a clear network character. Contrary to what is sometimes maintained in the policy science literature, interventions of a hierarchical nature are actually possible and can be effective in processes of substantial change in a network context. However, there is always some kind of mixture or combination with network strategies. It is by intelligently linking both types of strategies that the chance of effective change can be increased. This study identifies three main ways or patterns in which hierarchical and network strategies can effectively interact and be joined. These patterns are combination (at the same time), alternation (sequential) and 'frontstage/backstage' (hierarchical intervention in public, network strategies backstage).