This paper examines the relation between recent major social policy reforms in the Netherlands and relatively new forms of activation for the most marginal groups in society: rough sleepers, users of shelters for the homeless and drug addicts. The initiatives main features are presented, and some indicators for their continuation and extension, including the conditions (laws and regulations, political support, et cetera) set by the local and national government.
Also this paper discusses the question what changes have been brought about by these bottom-up initiatives, and which new conditions for a new governance regime can be distilled from the bottlenecks we have determined, as well as from the potential factors for success. At last the authors deal with the question whether the actual developments in policymaking harbour any impetus towards the development of effective new governance regimes.
This paper was presented at the ASPEN / ETUI Conference, Brussels, October 20-21, 2006.