Corona Crisis: National Approach of the Dutch Government
'How is the Dutch government tackling the corona crisis?' and 'what are the most important aspects for such approach to succeed?' are questions that Dr. Sanneke Kuipers and Mr.drs. Wouter Jong explore in their article for the Montesquieu Institute.
Currently, the state government and all municipalities are cooperating on all levels to tackle the crisis. However, the committal of authorities and strong communication have been identified as the most crucial requirements for successful cooperation.
Crisis management
This is no usual case for governors, crisis managers and directors. Normally, crisis managment works on reestablishing the situation to its older state, but, in this case, the question is whether that is possible and how long it will take. Eventually, this unpredicatbility is what worries people. They worry about the spread of the virus, what is awating them down the road and how this whole situation could end.
Society and communication
Kuipers and Jong conclude that 'the total crisis image cannot be seperated from the societal role of the crisis communication from Premier Rutte and the King. They have the responsibility to give The Netherlands confidence in the near future and in that all will return back to normal again. According to the authors, Rutte and the King have succeeded in this, but there still lies a long way before the effects of communication on the Dutch society are explored.
Read the article on the website of the Montesquieu Instituut [Dutch only].
Wouter Jong is lecturer Crisis Communication at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University and a crisis consultant for the Dutch Association of Mayors. He advises mayors during and in the aftermath of crises in The Netherlands. From small incidents up to larger crises, such as a ProjectX-birthday party invitation which went viral on Facebook and ended in riots. His daily work focuses on crisis communications strategies, taking into account the legislative powers of mayors and the public perceptions and impact of incidents, crises and disasters.
Sanneke Kuipers, associate professor in Crisis Governance, combines crisis management scholarship with practical experience as a consultant. She publishes on crisis management, institutionalization, organizational survival, and crisis accountability in international scholarly journals and books. Sanneke has extensive experience as senior advisor at Crisisplan BV in crisis research, evaluation, training and teaching projects, advising national ministries, safety regions and executive agencies. Current research projects include projects on risk and crisis management, institutionalization of public organizations, blaming and accountability after crises and organizational survival.