HOLLAND FOR GOLD ON THE SUPERHIGHWAY: A FAIRY-TALE?

摘要

The historical role of the public authorities as regulator of the economic and social playing field has changed drastically. The legitimacy of their role as providers of the rules according to which the game has to be played is questioned. In this light, the introduction of national and European plans concerning the future electronic highways can be interpreted as a first testcase for governments to find a way of dealing with this new position. They have to explore their new possibilities and look for the right balance between regulation, deregulation and reregulation. In addition they also have to renegotiate societal arrangements that traditionally were part of the public domain. In this contribution the Dutch Action Program "Electronic Highways" is used as a casestudy to discuss the problems governments and society are currently confronted with surrounding the societal change processes due to the emergence of the electronic highways. It is argued that while finding a new balance the Dutch Government could adopt a wait-and-see-attitude, to prevent too hasty decisions with unforeseeable consequences.