Uncertain Safety

Flood prevention, food safety, transport of hazardous materials, infectious diseases, the risks posed by new technologies, and many other threats to public health and the environment call for ongoing public alertness. However, the ways in which these safety risks are currently assessed and managed fall short of addressing the uncertainties of future threats. The contributors to this essential volume argue that in order to ensure future-proof safety policies, we should be adopting a new paradigm, one based on the precautionary principle: i.e. the notion that the vulnerability of humans, society and the natural environment requires a proactive approach to uncertainties. In this vital report, the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy outlines ways to embody this principle in both private and public law and in various institutional arrangements.Het voorkomen van overstromingen, de betrouwbaarheid van de kwaliteit van voedsel, het transport van gevaarlijke stoffen, besmettelijke ziekten, het risico van nieuwe technologieën en tal van andere bedreigingen voor de volksgezondheid en het milieu roepen om een voortdurende alertheid. Echter, de wijze waarop deze veiligheidsrisico's die momenteel worden beoordeeld en beheerd, blijven achter bij de aanpak van deze onzekerheden en mogelijke toekomstige bedreigingen. De Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid, de officiële denktank voor de Nederlandse regering, stelt dat met het oog op veiligheidsbeleid in de toekomst, er een nieuw paradigma gewaarborgd moeten worden. Dit nieuwe paradigma zou gebaseerd moeten worden op het voorzorgsbeginsel, dat wil zeggen dat de kwetsbaarheid van mensen, samenleving en natuurlijke omgeving, een proactieve aanpak van onzekerheden vereist. In dit verslag stelt de Raad voor om dit principe belichamen, zowel in privé- als publiekrecht en in verschillende institutionele regelingen

Uncertain Safety

Flood prevention, food safety, transport of hazardous materials, infectious diseases, the risks posed by new technologies, and many other threats to public health and the environment call for ongoing public alertness. However, the ways in which these safety risks are currently assessed and managed fall short of addressing the uncertainties of future threats. The contributors to this essential volume argue that in order to ensure future-proof safety policies, we should be adopting a new paradigm, one based on the precautionary principle: i.e. the notion that the vulnerability of humans, society and the natural environment requires a proactive approach to uncertainties. In this vital report, the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy outlines ways to embody this principle in both private and public law and in various institutional arrangements

Climate Strategy

This seminal and challenging analysis of the current global climate change suggests three courses of action for solving the climate problem: adaptation to the changed climate, selection of worldwide hopeful strategies for mitigation until 2050 and international coordination necessary to implement these strategies

iOverheid

How does the use of ict affect the relationship between government and its citizens? This book analyses the developments of networking information and concludes that in everyday practice an iGovernment has gradually come into existence, overtaking the old paradigm of the eGoverment. The iGoverment, effectively running at full speed on information flows and networks, is however seriously out of step with the self-image of the digital government, and the existing structure and division of responsibilities. This book is based on the report on iGovernment that the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) presented to the Dutch Government in March 2011. "This book contributes powerfully to the understanding and evaluation of the development - beyond 'eGovernment' - of 'information Government', centred on highly complex flows and uses of information for public services, care and control, rather than technology itself. Sound empirical research and a concern to create better governance of iGovernment enable the authors to bring a sharply critical eye to their call for greater awareness by policy-makers, and for a strategic, reasoned and institutionalised relationship among the principles involved. These include ones that are often neglected: privacy, freedom of choice, accountability and transparency. Their recommendations are important, not only for the Netherlands". Charles D. Raab, Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professorial Fellow, University of Edinburgh "This book will be a valuable resource for researchers and scholars seeking to understand the possibilities, dilemmas and challenges of bringing the Internet and related technologies to centre stage in government and public services. It offers a fascinating case study of electronic government and 'information government' in the Netherlands, with examples from local, national and eu government, a wide-ranging literature review and a number of recommendations as to how iGovernment should develop". Helen Margetts, Professor of Society and the Internet and director of the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford "Not only does this book offer an insightful analysis of the problems that ongoing digitization poses for citizens and the goverrnment itself (such as creeping loss of data quality), it also places highly valuable markers for the decisions that must be taken on the challenging path that lies ahead for iGovernment, in providing a new model for weighing up the various fundamental interests at stake". Alex Brenninkmeijer, National Ombudsman, The NetherlandsHet biometrisch paspoort, de Verwijsindex Risicojongeren, het Elektronisch Patiëntendossier, nationale en internationale gegevensuitwisseling tussen organisaties of het gebruik van digitale profielen van burgers: deze en vele andere toepassingen staan beleidsmakers en uitvoerders ter beschikking dankzij de inzet van ict. Maar wat betekent de inzet van ict in beleid en uitvoering voor de relatie tussen overheid en burgers? Wat zijn de gevolgen voor het functioneren van de overheid zelf? Hoe wordt in het proces van voortgaande digitalisering een afweging gemaakt tussen beginselen als veiligheid, privacy, efficiëntie en transparantie? In dit rapport concludeert de Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid (wrr) dat in de dagelijkse digitale praktijk een iOverheid is ontstaan die volop 'draait' op nieuwe informatiestromen die door ict mogelijk zijn gemaakt. Die nieuwe iOverheid loopt echter flink uit de pas met de bestaande structuur en de verantwoordelijkheden van de overheid. De wrr doet in dit rapport inhoudelijke en institutionele aanbevelingen om de noodzakelijke paradigmawisseling van eOverheid naar iOverheid in goede banen te leiden

Vertrouwen in burgers

Public administrationActief betrokken burgers zijn van groot belang voor een levende democratie. Ze houden volksvertegenwoordigers en overheidsinstanties bij de les, vernieuwen de samenleving met hun ideeën en initiatieven en geven het beleid draagvlak. Het is daarom zorgelijk dat slechts kleine groepen burgers zich aangesproken voelen door de wijze waarop beleidsmakers hen pogen te betrekken. Door middel van literatuurstudie en veldonderzoek heeft de raad de kansen en mogelijkheden om burgers te verleiden tot actieve betrokkenheid in kaart gebracht. De raad onderscheidt drie velden van burgerbetrokkenheid: beleidsparticipatie, maatschappelijke participatie en maatschappelijk initiatief, en doet aanbevelingen voor het vergroten van de burgerbetrokkenheid op alle velden. Essentieel voor de rol van beleidsmakers daarbij zijn twee uitgangspunten: denk vanuit het perspectief van burgers en vergroot de kaders voor betrokkenheid. Dit onderzoek van de WRR leidt tot suggesties en adviezen over hoe beleidsmakers en beleidsuitvoerders meer en beter gebruik kunnen maken van kennis, kunde en voorkeuren van (individuele) burgers

Reformation of Islamic Thought

Ever since the dramatic events of September 11, 2001 the fundamentalist and exclusivist trend prevails in most presentations of Islamic thinking. Indeed, these events have given extremists and fundamentalists a much more prominent position than they might ever have dreamt of. In Reformation of Islamic Thought, the prominent Egyptian scholar Nasr Abû Zayd examines the positive, liberal, and inclusive reaction embedded in the writings of Muslim thinkers. He takes the reader on a critical journey across the Muslim World, where Muslim thinkers from Egypt and Iran to Indonesia seek to divest Islam of traditionalistic and legalistic interpretation. Instead, these thinkers stress the value of a cultural, enlightened Islam, and an individualistic faith. For many, the dogmatic Islam established by the conservatives and supported by totalitarian political regimes is outdated; they want it replaced by a spiritual and ethical Islam. To what extent are these reformist thinkers engaged in a genuine renewal of Islamic thought? Do they succeed in escaping the traditionalist trap of presenting a purely negative image of the West

De Europese Unie, Turkije en de islam

Does the fact that the majority of Turkey's population is Muslim form a hindrance to its EU membership? According to a recent policy advice by the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), the answer is an adamant 'no'. Why is this issue of Turkish Islam relevant? After all, Turkey should not be judged by standards other than the Copenhagen criteria. The answer is that the public debate outside 'Brussels' will not be limited to these official criteria. Many people in Europe are worried about Turkey's 'Islam factor'. They believe that Muslims are (potentially violent) fundamentalists who want to establish a theocracy. By explicitly examining the role of Turkish Islam and Muslims in Turkey, the WRR wants to contribute to a well-informed European public debate on Turkey's accession

Infrastructures

Modern societies cannot exist without roads, dams, drinking water, telephone networks and electricity. The recent decades of privatization and globalization have put infrastructural providers at a distance from the influence of government. A lot of the actors in this field no longer act on a regional or national level alone, but are simultaneously active on multiple levels. The essays in this timely book consider the various intersections of public interest, strategic activity and private equity from economic, legal, administrative and technical perspectives. The contributors outline the challenges which future governments will need to meet nationally and globally, such as climate change, reduction of CO2 emissions and global capital flows, to name but a few