ABSTRACT
German politics are being challenged by new external developments no longer handled successfully by traditional politics of the Modell Deutschland. Poldermodell as a synonym for reform in the Dutch welfare-state has spread through the German media, politics and scientific communities since 1997. The history of the polder model started in 1982, with the tripartist agreement of Wassenaar. At the same time, the polder-model success story was a good argument for the Netherlands to strengthen their position in Europe. Finally, the polder-model success story functioned as a kind of vanguard. In Germany, the change into a more service-oriented society is taking much longer than in Netherlands or the Anglo-American countries. In the German-Dutch comparison, it is necessary to emphasise the importance of making a clear distinction between the concepts of consensus and compromise. The strength of the Dutch society and politics in the past seems to have been in its capability of avoiding a radical choice between pure state-or market-oriented models.
