Slotsholmen and the Square Mile: Thriving and Surviving in Political-Administrative Ecosystems

What makes ministers and senior civil servants survive, or even, thrive in the political-administrative ecosystem they are a part of? For almost forty years, researchers have analysed political-administrative interactions in terms of ‘village life’. In this paper, we set out to explore the everyday life of such village life in two European villages: Slotsholmen (Denmark) and the Square Mile (the Netherlands). We provide a most-similar comparison of Danish and Dutch government elites’ beliefs about how they effectively navigate their turbulent political environments. We ground our analysis in the literature on political-administrative relationships and seek to advance our understanding of the beliefs and practices that form the craft-in-use of key government elites. Methodologically, we contribute a rare elite perspective through extensive and recent elite interview material and additional ethnographic evidence from both countries. In the Danish case, we find xx. The Dutch case shows xx. In comparison, we explore differences and similarities in political-administrative cultural codes and ground rules that government elites adhere to. Implications of the cultural codes for policy outcomes are discussed.