Lack of Vision.
The new Dutch government called it a failure in communication, after she was forced to change her plans on care premiums. However, it is more likely that a lack of common ground and Vision is the real issue.
The conservative right winged party and the socialist party appeared to be able to form a coalition in a unprecedented short period of time. Both parties were praised for their drive and sense of urgency. After almost two years of far right winged politics, which proved to be very unsuccessful, such performance was deeply welcomed. But both parties ended up in the old common pitfall of speed before quality.
The two political parties more or less played the game of trading off. Exchanging policy issues and accepting the consequences, even though if that would mean that one of the parties had to hand in a major election issue. So income levelling became the buzz word for the socialist party, as were the conservative right wing party accepted her loss. A major loss as it touches the fundamentals of this party. The followers and members had a different view on this trade off. They rejected it loudly. As a result, the new coalition agreement needed to be brought back to the drawing board. Both party leaders losses their moral authority before the coalition actually took off.
With such mistakes, poor communication is just a part of the problem. It shows that both parties did not carefully evaluated the consequences of their agreement. On previous occasions, coalition parties always took their time in order to analyse their preliminary findings and assay the results with their party and followers. Such process leads to a more worn agreement and prevents undesired surprises when the final agreement is presented. Surveying preliminary results allows to find common ground among parties. It allows followers to raise their objections in advance, thus pointing out what the limits of the agreements are. As it works from both ways, both parties slowly move closer to one another and more or less forced into finding the common ground.
Building a vision entails such a similar way of working. Creating and developing a vision is not about wheeling and dealing, but going deep down into the cave of fundamentals and find those which parties share. On top of that common ground and vision, parties can work on a agreement that suits both parties and were consensus politics bonds both sides. It is clear that the present Dutch government lacks such a fundamental. It is like two managers from different departments, that agree upon the fact that they need eachother, without knowing why. As a result, they agree not counter work eachother and accept that they might disagree on issues. But as those disagreements arise from a fundamental different view, it can only lead to a sudden collapse of the present government. The chance that this government will last for four years is doubtful. It is not the first time that a lack of a shared vision, leads to a premature collapse of either governments or organisations.
Related articles
- New Dutch government reopens coalition negotiations (news.terra.com)
