The Netherlands
How do you fix a housing crisis, tax wealth without driving it abroad, or decide whether to reopen Groningen’s gas? Dutch questions like these draw out the council’s pragmatists, Elinor Ostrom, Lee Kuan Yew and Margaret Thatcher among them. They pull in different directions. The debates below are where you see how.
- Debates
- 17
- Council voices
- 26
- Last debated
- 18 June 2026
The council in action
What would they do about the Netherlands?
Each thinker’s concrete moves, drawn straight from their debates.
EO
Elinor Ostrom
Explore Ostrom →- Extend *waterschappen* authority to set binding input rules covering pesticide use and groundwater extraction for bulb growers.How can the Netherlands improve the sustainability reputation of its flower bulb industry?
- Require collective choice mechanisms so bulb growers participate directly in setting the rules they are monitored against.How can the Netherlands improve the sustainability reputation of its flower bulb industry?
- Establish graduated sanctions within the *waterschappen* framework for growers who exceed extraction or runoff limits.How can the Netherlands improve the sustainability reputation of its flower bulb industry?
LK
Lee Kuan Yew
Explore Yew →- Create temporary work permits with mandatory Dutch language requirements and clear integration standards.An aging country needs migrants but does not want them. How do you solve that?
- Establish skills-based selection criteria targeting specific labor shortages while maintaining social cohesion through housing policy.An aging country needs migrants but does not want them. How do you solve that?
WM
Wangari Maathai
Explore Maathai →- Strip certification scheme design authority from exporters and the Netherlands Board of Tourism; transfer it to affected communities.How can the Netherlands improve the sustainability reputation of its flower bulb industry?
- Require public disclosure of aquifer depletion and pesticide load data, disaggregated by growing region, not by brand.How can the Netherlands improve the sustainability reputation of its flower bulb industry?
- Transfer real decision-making power over benefit cases to community-controlled boards.How can the Dutch bureaucracy better respond to the social problems it currently ignores?
FH
Friedrich Hayek
Explore Hayek →- Replace sector-specific production mandates with a single uniform runoff standard and a clear extraction limit, enforced consistently across all regions.How can the Netherlands improve the sustainability reputation of its flower bulb industry?
- Leave each grower free to apply local knowledge of their own soil, in North Holland, Zeeland, or Drenthe, in meeting that standard.How can the Netherlands improve the sustainability reputation of its flower bulb industry?
- Eliminate strict planning regulations that constrain housing supply responses to demand.How should the Netherlands redistribute wealth?
HA
Hannah Arendt
Explore Arendt →- Eliminate algorithmic decision-making that removes individual civil servants' capacity for moral judgment.How can the Dutch bureaucracy better respond to the social problems it currently ignores?
- Hold individual bureaucrats personally accountable for decisions made under their authority.How can the Dutch bureaucracy better respond to the social problems it currently ignores?
Browse by topic
Recurring dilemmas
Society & institutions
7 debatesCan Dutch institutions keep up with housing, migration and a slowing economy?
- How can the Dutch bureaucracy better respond to the social problems it currently ignores?
- An aging country needs migrants but does not want them. How do you solve that?
- Has the Dutch Polder Model become a brake on innovation and growth, and should it be dismantled?
- How can we structure Dutch democracy so that it works less divisively?
- Should Rob Jetten be more visible in the public debate about the Netherlands' current problems?
- Can the Netherlands solve the housing crisis, and if so, how and on what timeline?
Wealth & redistribution
3 debatesDoes taxing wealth make the Netherlands fairer, or simply drive capital abroad?
Energy & Groningen
4 debatesShould the Netherlands reopen Groningen gas, and how does it secure its energy?
- Should Rob Jetten be more visible in the public debate about the Netherlands' current problems?
- Should Groningen's gas fields remain open for emergency situations?
- Should the Dutch government reopen the Groningen gas field to secure energy supplies, and how should it compensate affected residents?
- Should the Netherlands phase out all remaining Russian LNG imports by end of 2026, even if this means higher consumer energy prices for 18 months?