Creation of conventions in a decentralized population

Abstract

This thesis studies how adaptive orientations in policy making are being constructed to deal with contemporary societal problems. It does so by applying and merging theories of complex adaptive systems and transition management on a decentralized population, testing hypotheses on the creation of consensus within that population. The policy change was enacted in 2015 in the Netherlands, and involved decentralization of health care provision from the national to the city level. This required nationally operating healthcare organizations to establish and negotiate hundreds of new relationships with individual cities. Two hypotheses were tested. The first being that the decentralization of healthcare in 2015 in the Netherlands and the accompanied increase in amount of communication channels, has left nationally operating organizations with a larger amount of complexity to deal with and a rise in administrative burdens as a result. The second being that shared conventions, in terms of performance arrangements between these nationally operating healthcare organizations and locally operating municipalities, have emerged between 2015 and now. Results show support for the first hypothesis, but reject the second hypothesis. More studies applying theories of transition management and CAS are required to further develop knowledge on how these theories constitute in real life policy cases.