Representatives and Bureaucracy in the Netherlands

Abstract

"Representativeness of bureaucracy has been a topic of research and discussion ever since it became a political issue. For The Netherlands this has been the case from the beginning of the 20th Century, more strongly however since the Second World War. This advent of an issue coincided with a marked increase in tasks taken up by local and central government respectively. Overall, government permeated society to a degree that was hitherto unknown. Related to this economic growth (industrialization) and political emancipation of non-involved Citizens (lower income groups, Catholics) made the larger public more aware of the importance of representative bureaucracy. Al l this is not to say that representation had not been important untill the late 19th Century. Indeed, applicants for political-administrative posts were discrimitated up to this time on political and (mostly) religious grounds."