Whole of government in theory and practice: An exploratory account of how Australian and Dutch governments deal with wicked problems in an integrated way

Abstract

The governments of Australia and the Netherlands have to deal with wicked problems, that cut across neat departmental boundaries and exceed the problem-solving capabilities of individual governmental institutions. In this chapter, we discuss how they dealt with two pressing problems (child abuse, immigration and integration) by adopting so-called joined-up or whole of government approaches to policy-making. These entail coming to new ways of organizing by decoupling traditional governmental structures. We explore how joined-up government works in practice, discuss its limitations and develop an agenda for further research. © 2012 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.