Is Government Setting a Good Example?: Rule Breaking by Government in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

To what extent and in which manner do government bodies break laws and rules? What are the reasons for doing so and what are the consequences? Are public bodies less law and rule abiding than private organizations and corporations? This book discusses these issues based on research in the Netherlands and the UK. The book pays attentions to rule and law breaking in areas such as environmental protection, fire safety, and working conditions. It concludes that government bodies, at all levels, break rules across the board and in all policy sectors. Government organizations regularly violate administrative law regulations and - to a lesser extent - commit criminal law violations. The reasons not only relate to deliberate intent, but are also increasingly linked to the complexity of managing and delivering public functions. Thus, rule and law breaking warrants more attention in policy and regulation, as well as in research in public administration, criminology, public ethics, law, and political science. Governments that do not set a good example could seriously jeopardize their own credibility and integrity.