Towards a cohesive country

Auteur(s): Bettina Bock, Henri de Groot, Gert-Jan Hospers, Eveline van Leeuwen en Frank Cörvers

This volume presents a collection of essays that provide a fascinating perspective on growth and decline policy in the Netherlands. The five academic essays in this volume address demographic developments in the broadest sense of the term, as well as what these developments imply for the future of the Netherlands. For example, you will see that we take a much broader perspective on ‘decline’ than just ‘rural population decline’ and that there is a wide range of opportunities and solutions to deal with declining regions.

Together with Platform31, the Action Plan on Population Decline of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations asked five academics to set up a Scientific Reflection Group for Population Decline. In doing so, this group strengthens the relations between science and national policy. Professors Bettina Bock, Henri de Groot, Gert-Jan Hospers, Eveline van Leeuwen and Frank Cörvers each authored an essay examining the government's current policies addressing population decline from a different perspective. Aside from taking stock of the current state of affairs, the authors share their views on the options to improve the country's policies. These points of view are brought together in the concluding reflections, in which the authors have developed a shared perspective addressing the central government. As such, this first-ever product of the Scientific Reflection Group wastes no time in holding up a mirror to the authorities.