
PhD defence
The irrevocable urge to innovate. Governance of the countryside in the Netherlands after the hegemonic Green Front
Summary
The dissertation covers the efforts of the
Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Fishery (LNV) to achieve major changes
since the Commission Kroes in 1992 concludes that the Ministry of LNV must make
major changes, away from the strongly top-down mode of steering. It is an
investigation of plans to innovate the countryside policy from three
consecutive minsters of LNV in the period 1994-2006 (Dynamics and Renewal,
1994-1998; Strength and Quality 1998-2002, and Agriculture and Transition
2002-2006). The plans are studied looking at both the official storyline and
also the stories from behind the scenes of officialdom. It is shown that
results are hard to achieve due to often hidden resistance, leading to a lack
of clarity, struggle for influence and insufficient collaboration, but the
Ministry of LNV does open up the agenda to more than just agriculture, and new
ways of working are introduced.