The Long Council
Who was selected, and why
Has the Dutch Polder Model become a brake on innovation and growth, and should it be dismantled?
The central tension
Consensus-building versus speed of decision-making — whether deliberative governance that achieves broad stakeholder buy-in is compatible with rapid innovation and growth in competitive global markets.
Selected members
Helmut Schmidt
Will argue: Consensus can work but requires strong executive leadership to prevent paralysis; gradual reform preferable to dismantling
Governed a consensus-oriented European economy while maintaining competitiveness and navigating energy crises · His experience with German consensus politics, coalition management, and the balance between deliberation and decisiveness during the 1970s-80s economic challenges
Lee Kuan Yew
Will argue: Consensus models are luxury goods for wealthy societies; competitive pressure requires swift, merit-based decisions
Built a competitive economy through decisive, technocratic governance that explicitly rejected consensus-seeking as inefficient · His documented critique of Western democratic deliberation as too slow for development; the Singapore model of elite decision-making
Deng Xiaoping
Will argue: Keep what works, change what doesn't; ideological attachment to consensus is less important than economic results
Successfully reformed a command economy through experimental, pragmatic approaches while maintaining political stability · His "crossing the river by feeling the stones" approach and documented willingness to abandon failing consensus when results demanded change
Elinor Ostrom
Will argue: The question isn't consensus versus speed, but whether Dutch institutions retain capacity for adaptation and error-correction
Her framework on collective action provides analytical tools for understanding when consensus-building enhances versus hinders economic performance · Her research on when polycentric governance systems work and when they become sclerotic; design principles for durable institutions
Friedrich Hayek
Will argue: Consensus models suppress the price signals and entrepreneurial discovery that drive innovation; should embrace competitive market processes
His knowledge problem and spontaneous order arguments directly challenge the premise that coordinated consensus can allocate resources efficiently · His critique of central coordination and argument that market processes aggregate dispersed knowledge better than deliberative bodies
Considered but not selected
Konrad Adenauer: Rebuilt German consensus institutions but in post-war context very different from Netherlands' current innovation challenge
Margaret Thatcher: Would advocate dismantling but lacks direct experience with northern European social partnership models
John Maynard Keynes: Monetary/fiscal focus doesn't directly address institutional governance questions