The Relational Turn in Dutch Administrative Law

Abstract

The traditional structure of most continental systems of administrative law is determined by the notions of strict legal verticality and the undivided public interest. In the present era of individualization, privatization, decentralization and internationalization, these notions have come under increasing pressure. The continental model of administrative law typically developed from the idea of the state as a sovereign master, holding sway over its legal subjects by an unbound and indivisible public imperium.1 Modern times, however, have seen a break-up of this imperium into separate pieces, not only left in the hands of supranational or subnational authorities but also entrusted to private actors. Meanwhile, individuals tend to perceive themselves not merely as subjects, but also or even primarily as customers or partners of the state, depending on public services and organizing themselves in non-governmental organizations or pressure groups that aim to influence or co-create public policy. These trends contribute to a ‘fragmentation’ and ‘horizontalization’ of public law that is strongly at odds with the idea of a clear vertical hierarchy that still serves as continental administrative law’s typical fundament.2 In search of a proper response to such developments, many jurisdictions have tended to revise their administrative law systems, enriching administrative law with all kinds of ‘horizontal’ elements but leaving the ‘vertical’ and abstract grammar of the classical model virtually intact.3 Other than Baron Münchhausen, however, administrative law has proven unable to pull itself out of the swamp by its own hair. Only a multidimensional and critical re-examination of the underlying values and concepts of the system itself may finally result in a stable and legitimate model of administrative law that lives up to its modern institutional and socio-cultural context.4