Conference ‘Shifts in Governance’

12 April 2011

On Thursday 31 March the Royal Theatre in The Hague attracted a crowd of scientists, civil servants employed by ministries, students and NWO employees. Contrary to what you may expect at a location like this, the audience did not come to enjoy a theatre performance. The luxury foyers of the Theatre staged the NWO conference ‘Shifts in Governance’.

With the sound of the rain outside in the background, professor Ronald van Kempen (chairman of the programme committee) welcomed the more than 100 participants to the plenary session in the morning. This conference marked the end of the NWO research programme ‘Shifts in Governance’: seven years of intensive research on ‘governance without government’ and ‘governance beyond the state’.

After explaining the general issues involved in this research programme, professor Van Kempen introduced professor Roel Kuiper. As a senator for the Dutch political party ChristenUnie in the Dutch First Chamber (House of Lords) he explained the connection between his expertise as a senator and the policy aspects of the Shifts in Governance research programme. He assured the conference participants that he would use the results of this research programme when preparing the parliamentary investigation about privatisation. It will be the first time ever in Dutch history that the Senate will hold a parliamentary investigation. “The studies conducted within the framework of this research programme are very valuable when preparing the investigation”, according to professor Kuiper. Professor van Kempen then presented him with the final report of this research programme.

All the participants, who had each received a copy of the final report in their conference packs, had the opportunity to listen to the author of the document. Professor Ioannis Papadopoulos, from the Université de Lausanne, highlighted the most important conclusions of the final report in his keynote speech. Professor Simona Piattoni, one of the five internationally acclaimed researchers who attended the conference, reflected critically on the final report. After that, the audience participated in the discussion that followed.

After lunch, which was a great networking opportunity, there were four workshops. Prior to the conference, participants had registered for one of these four parallel sessions, namely: ‘Regulation and Juridification of Governance’, ‘Networks and Actors’, ‘Governance as changing practice’, and ‘Multi-level Governance’. In each workshop two statements were discussed, based on the research related to the various themes. First, the researchers whose statements were discussed were given the opportunity to introduce their studies. After that, the international researchers, who each attended a different workshop, presented their views on the statement and finally, the audience joined in the discussion that followed.

At the end of the conference, four presentations were given in the plenary room about the key themes as discussed in the workshops. The keynote speakers were professor Colin Scott from the University of Dublin, professor Dirk Messner from the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, professor Guy Peters from the University of Pittsburgh, and professor Simona Piattoni of the Universität Inssbruck. During the drinks at the end of the conference, participants indicated that they were very pleased with this successful conference.

Please click HERE to read the final report and the PowerPoint presentations.