ABSTRACT
The Dutch welfare-state regime is under pressure. Established and expanded in the 1950s and 1960s, the first cracks were already visible in the 1970s, and in the 1990s few people believe simple repairs will suffice: the structure is in urgent need of complete renovation. Measures and proposals are aimed primarily at improving the Netherlands' competitive position and at stimulation of market forces—privatization and deregulation are the keywords here. The primary aim is economic growth and the prime tool is flexibilization. An extensive collective sector does not mesh with this image. Indeed, the search for a new economic and social order is also a search for a new distribution of responsibilities between the individual, the social partners, and the government.
