The Sisyphus paradox of cutting red tape and managing public risk The Dutch case

Cutting red tape has been topical in Dutch debates on legislative politics ever since the beginning of the 1990s, but has gained impetus – since 2003 – in the political arena as the combined consequence of the regulatory reform policies of the Balkenende II-IV administrations (2003-2010) to innovate the Dutch economy and efforts to meet the European Lisbon Agenda. The general aim of these policies is to simplify the regulatory environment by cutting red tape and making law more practicable, thus fostering economic growth. The new elements of these policies – compared to the recent pre-2000 pas... Mehr ...