Why the government doesn't learn
If many policies don't work, why does the government remain so attached to them?
In 2008 I wrote a blog post with this title. Seventeen years later, the answer hasn't changed much.
Hans Vermaak calls them "tough issues" — problems that cannot be solved with the methods with which they were created. The government is full of it. Not because officials are incompetent, but because the system is designed to reproduce, not learn.
Consider policy evaluations. They are written, read by no one, and archived. The next cabinet starts again. The Tax Authorities, the UWV, youth care — the same pattern everywhere: reorganization as a ritual, not as a remedy.
Entertainment distinguishes three approaches. Design — create a blueprint and roll it out. Develop — learn by doing. Breakthrough — redefine the problem itself. The government almost always chooses option one. The result: a new organizational chart, the same problems.
What fascinates me is the persistence of this pattern. It's not that no one sees it. Every civil servant I speak to recognizes it. But the system rewards conformity over innovation, certainty over experiment, control over trust.
There is a way out. But it does not start with yet another reorganization or yet another policy plan. It starts with the recognition that some issues cannot be solved — only manageable. That is not defeatism. That is the first step towards fair policy.