Cover design: Lisa KeijzerCover photo: Edwin Wiekens (made in Breda, the Netherlands; not one of the cases included in this book) Layout and printing: Optima Grafische Communicatie, Rotterdam, the Netherlands ISBN 978-94-6169-356-3
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Decide and Defend
Regaining authority for controversial decisions through rendering accountProefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan Tilburg University op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. Ph. Eijlander, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de aula van and suddenly you are doing the impossible." Most of the mayors and aldermen discussed in this thesis have done just that. They have managed to establish necessary, but highly controversial facilities for the homeless and have regained authority for their location decisions through explaining and justifying why they made these particular decisions. They have effectively shown directive leadership in a context that is particularly ill-disposed towards such a leadership style. Considering the controversiality of human service facility location decisions and the general mistrust of directive leadership, political-executives' ability to regain authority was unexpected. And indeed, not all succeeded in doing so to the same extent. The aim of this thesis was to gain understanding of how making controversial decisions affects executives' authority, more specifically, whether and how the rendering of account influences mayors and aldermen's authority. My attempt to answer that question has been an unforgettable experience, a true journey of discovery in the realm of locational conflict.Back in 2008, the project started out as a predominantly theoretical enterprise that focused on the relationship between the call for stronger leadership and the call for responsiveness. If it had not been for my supervisor, prof. Frank Hendriks, this thesis would have contained a multitude of intricate conceptual explorations of 'leadership', 'accountability', 'authority', 'political support', and the like. What I will remember most of Frank's supervision is the 'tja…' he occasionally wrote in the margins of sections of my work that I mistakenly thought of as original, though-provoking, and relevant pieces. I have taken 'tja…' to be the Frankian euphemism for 'I cannot say it is wrong', or even 'well thought out, well-written, but utterly irrelevant'. My sincere thanks, Frank, for reminding me to "really say something about really something", as you like to phrase it. A second word of thanks goes out to my co-supervisor, dr. LinzeSchaap, who has also played his part in 'keeping things real' by encouraging me to go out into the field, and at the same time keeping me sharp on non-subst...
