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Local governments, especially in decentralised states, are increasingly performing tasks previously the responsibility of national government as well as new tasks. This research studies the conditions affecting the adoption of a mandated e-government innovation -'Basic Registration Addresses and Buildings' (BAG), in Dutch municipalities (N = 429) between 2008 and 2011. In contradiction to what theory suggested, a great deal of variation in the timing of adoption was found. The results of Event History Analysis (EHA) show that early adoption of BAG was primarily the result of a municipality's command over resources. More resourceful municipalities, that is, with better past e-government performance, that are better informed, and included in more extensive policy networks were more likely to adopt this innovation relatively early. Of the motivational factors included in our study, the degree of political alignment between the municipal council and national government proved an important factor in the timing of a municipality's adoption. This is a surprising finding, as it is an uncontroversial and technical governance innovation. This research also shows that classical diffusion explanations play a role, even in the case of a mandated innovation for which the time frame, and thus the time to learn from other governments, was relatively short.

In many countries "one-stop shops" have been considered an innovative mode of integrated service delivery in case of cross-cutting problems in fields such as sustainability, social exclusion, and youth policy. In this article, we explore how the Dutch national government implemented the innovative "one-stop shop" concept in municipal youth policies (Center for Youth and Family; CYF). In particular, we examine the conditions affecting the timing of the realization of these centers in Dutch municipalities between 2008 and 2012. We found considerable differences among municipalities in the timing of the realization of CYFs. In explaining these differences, we assumed motivations to be more important than obstacles and resources, because municipalities received financial compensation, and because CYFs can be considered a social policy innovation. Our findings indicate that the degree of political alignment between the municipal council and national government is an important motivation, and that increasing numbers of adopting municipalities in the same policy network and organizational capacity were important resources. Thus, opposite to what theory suggested, we found that resources were more important than motivations for the realization of CYFs. These findings challenge the decentralization thesis. BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS Beginning in the 1990s, various European countries have implemented local government reforms aimed at establishing joined-up or holistic governance in the light of so-called cross-cutting issues (

This article examines to what extent Dutch municipalities have adapted new local prostitution regulations to local needs and demands following decentralisation in 2000. We examined the extent to which a national template is locally adapted, and which factors inspired such adaptations. We found that many municipalities extensively copied the regulatory template developed by the Dutch Association of Municipalities. Our analyses show that – unexpectedly and contrary to popular arguments on the merits of decentralisation – local needs and demands played no major role in explaining local policy-adaptations. Political fragmentation and size-related municipal resources however do explain differences in local adaptations.