The politics of accountability in the Netherlands

This chapter provides an overview of accountability in Dutch politics and public administration. Accountability is understood as a relational mechanism linking power holders as account givers to power controllers as account holders. There are three overarching trends in public accountability in the Netherlands: (1) a rising number of account holders and account givers, following various sidewards and downwards shifts in governance; (2) an increase in and tightening of accountability standards in terms of legal requirements and financial management; (3) the use of accountability mechanisms in a more activist and critical way by many account-holding entities, from the European Parliament to local councils to voters. The proliferation of accountability in practice has spurred a burgeoning accountability scholarship, ranging from explaining accountability deficits to the consequences of accountability for performance, learning, and trust. Overall, the different studies conducted suggest there may be something of a Dutch accountability style, with power holders operating in broad accountability regimes with multiple account holders who interact relatively informally. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research.