Developments in Europe: the idea of policy generations

The diverse tendencies seen in Europe in the middle of the 1990s may seem fragmented. On the one hand, we see centralization from the national towards the European level and, on the other hand, decentralization from the national to the regional and municipal levels, with municipalities merging into larger unities. We see the classic mainstream parties still dominating the political spectrum but we also observe decreasing support for these mainstream parties. First the idea of policy generations is presented. This article argues that a policy generation is to be distinguished by (1) the basis of its objectives, (2) the policy instruments used and especially by (3) the problems that are neglected. Next, we go into the subject of the developments in Europe in the previous decades, in order to show whether any lasting dominant features, i.e. policy generations, can be distinguished in previous decades. Then, we will go into the drawbacks of the last policy generation and the way in which the present developments in Europe are a reaction to those drawbacks. This results in the argument that the diverse developments mentioned earlier can be explained and understood as being a reaction to the dominant mode of policy-making in the 1980s and early 1990s.