Strategizing in agency reform: a longitudinal case study from The Netherlands

This paper presents a longitudinal case study of a series of reforms affecting Dutch government agencies. It contributes to the developing literature on strategizing in processes of agency reform by identifying and explaining several tactics that agencies use to influence these reforms. Several previous findings on agency strategizing were replicated in the research, but the paper also presents new observations—most notably about the effect of the procedural legitimacy of a reform process and processes of learning. Furthermore, it shows that a parent ministry will also employ its own tactics to affect reforms imposed by a supranational body and will sometimes partner with agencies in doing so.