The demise of the participation society- Welfare state reform in the Netherlands: 2015-2020

The main research question that will be answered in this paper is in which direction the social protection system in the Netherlands is evolving and how this evolution of the Dutch social protection system is influenced by economic forces and economic reasoning? In answering this question attention is paid to the impact of the Economic and Monetary Union, the aging of the Dutch population, and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Facts and figures for the 2015-2020 period concerning the evolution of the Dutch economy and social protection, are compared with the previous 2010-2015 trends. The major recent reforms in health insurance, long-term care insurance, social support, social assistance, youth care and the pension system are reviewed. An outlook for 2021-2025 concludes the paper.