oa De ‘polder’-strategie van de natuurbeschermingsbeweging in Nederland, 1930-1960

The ‘polder model’ strategy of the nature conservation movement in the Netherlands, 1930-1960

This article analyses the strategies applied by the early nature conservation movement in the Netherlands to exert influence at the political level. Before the 1970s, conservationist civil society organisations preferred informal deals, advisory committees, and negotiated agreements with government departments and state agencies. It is argued that the balance between urging for formal legislation, on the one hand, and agreeing to informal deals, on the other, conformed to specifically Dutch forms of governance known as the ‘polder model’. The nature conservation movement was indeed successful in the period 1930-1960 to secure a place for itself in policy negotiations regarding nature and landscape. The strategy of informal deals and policy consultations was not interrupted by the German occupation during the Second World War, but conservationists discovered its limitations in the 1950s: without formal legislation, they did not have enough leverage in negotiations with other stakeholders.