The Scientific Council for Government Policy (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid, WRR) is an independent

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

of the

Government of the Netherlands The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, ...

based in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, whose members include prominent social scientists, economists and legal scholars.

Mission

The Council's objective is to identify and advise the government on "future trends and developments" on issues that are of great importance for society by taking a

multidisciplinary approach Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

. In addition to its 88 reports, it has published more than 170 preliminary studies and investigations as well as more than 250 working documents; several of the reports and studies on agriculture, development cooperation, and foreign policy have been disseminated internationally.

History

The WRR was founded by the "Act Establishing a Scientific Council on Government Policy of 30 June 1976" (known as "''Instellingswet WRR''") and began activity on 20 November 1972, as a temporary advisory council of the government. The first council took a predominantly theoretical approach based on science as well as the "emerging disciplines of

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

". In the 1990s, under the chairmanship of

Piet Hein Donner Jan Pieter Hendrik "Piet Hein" Donner (born 20 October 1948) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. He was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 21 December 2018. Early life and care ...

, a number of changes were formalised—WRR's focus shifted "from substantive policy...to shaping those parameters of policy". The first external evaluation of WRR was carried out in 2001 by the

Alexander Rinnooy Kan Alexander Hendrik George Rinnooy Kan (born 5 October 1949) is a Dutch politician, businessman and mathematician who served as Chairman of the Social and Economic Council from 2006 to 2012. A member of the Democrats 66 (D66) party, he was a memb ...

Commission, after which WRR "raised its public profile"—meaning its composition became more flexible, with foreign experts invited in addition to Dutch ones. It also started delivering oral presentations of reports to various stakeholders.

Membership

The Council consists of five to eleven members and is a working council, this means the members themselves do research and write reports. They do this in cooperation with the scientific staff. Decisions of the Council are made collectively. Council members are appointed for a term of five years. They may serve a maximum of two terms. The present Council term expires at the end of 2017. The Council falls under the responsibility of the

Ministry of General Affairs , type = Department , logo = Ministerie van Algemene Zaken Logo.png , logo_width = 250x250px , logo_caption = Logo of the Ministry of General Affairs , image = Ministerie Algeme ...

. The Council has at least five members who are appointed to five-year terms.

Chairs

Council chairs have been: * Sjeng Kremers (1972–1977) *

Wim Schut Wim is a masculine given name or a shortened form of Willem and other names and may refer to: * Wim Anderiesen (1903–1944), Dutch footballer * Wim Aantjes (1923–2015), Dutch politician * Wim Arras (born 1964), Belgian cyclist * Wim Blockman ...

(1977–1978) * Theo Quené (1978–1985) * Cees de Wit (1985) *

Wil Albeda Willem "Wil" Albeda (13 June 1925 – 6 May 2014) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and later of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist. Albeda attended a gymnasium in Leeuwarden from Ma ...

(1985–1990) * Frans Rutten (1990–1993) *

(1993–1997) *

Michiel Scheltema Michiel is a Dutch masculine given name equivalent to Michael and a Venetian surname. Given name *Michiel Andrieszoon (died 1684), Dutch pirate *Michiel Bartman (born 1967), Dutch rower * Michiel Borstlap (born 1966), Dutch pianist and compos ...

(1998–2004) *

Wim van de Donk Wilhelmus Bernhard Henricus Josephus "Wim" van de Donk (born 17 May 1962) is a Dutch former politician and former academic, who served as the King's Commissioner of North Brabant from 1 October 2009 to 1 October 2020. He is a member of the Chr ...

(2004–2009) *

André Knottnerus André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...

(2010–2017) * Corien Prins (2017–present)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scientific Council For Government Policy Government agencies of the Netherlands Think tanks based in the Netherlands