EXPANSION AND DIVERSIFICATION OF PUBLIC-ADMINISTRATION IN THE POSTWARWELFARE-STATE - THE CASE OF THE NETHERLANDS

Until the 1960s, the Dutch state was characterized and limited by ''pi llarization,'' ''corporatism'' and ''consensus-democracy.'' Its public administration reflected the juridical perspective that dominated con tinental European administration during the 19th and 20th centuries. T he rise of Dutch administrative science in the 1960s is related to the postwar expansion of its welfare state. The growing welfare state nee ded scientific support for policy making and planning. Legal expertise alone was no longer sufficient. The one-sided orientation in U.S. lit erature in the 1970s made way for a growing self-identity and self-con fidence. Dutch administrative research today has reached a relatively high level of maturity which might possibly contribute to the developm ent of a new kind of European thinking about public administration.