Dept Public Administration

EMERITUS PROFESSORS

Prof.dr. S.A.H. Denters (Bas)

Emeritus Professor of Public Governance

Bas Denters (1954) is Emeritus Professor of Public Governance. After having worked at our university for more than four decades, he retired in 2020. He has published extensively on topics such as local governance and local democracy, citizen participation, and political trust.

In 1987, Denters obtained his doctorate from the University of Twente and received the NKWP annual award for best political science publication (dissertation: Partijen, kiezers en gemeentelijke beleid). From 2000 to 2010, he was the convenor of the Standing Group on Local Politics and Government (LOGOPOL) of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). Between 2010 and 2019, he served as the managing editor of Bestuurswetenschappen, the oldest Dutch public administration journal, and as a member of the editorial board of Local Government Studies. From 2012 to 2019, he was scientific director of the Netherlands Institute of Governance (NIG), the Dutch-Flemish graduate school for public administration and political science. For 22 years, he was also active as a member of the board of the European Urban Research Association.

During his academic career, Denters twice received the NIG Best Supervisor Award. In 2009, he became an honorary member of the study association Sirius. At his farewell, he was awarded an honorary medal by the university. After his retirement, Denters remained active in academic publishing, serving as a reviewer and (until 2025) supervising PhD students.

Photo by Frans Nikkels, taken on the occasion of an interview with Bas Denters about his retirement in 2020.


Links


Selected publications (in chronological order) 

  • Denters, S. A. H. (1985). Towards a conditional model of coalition behaviour. European Journal of Political Research, 13(3), 295–309.
  • De Boer, H., Denters, B, & Goedegebuure, L. (1998). On boards and councils; shaky balances considered. The governance of Dutch universities. Higher Education Policy, 11 (2-3),153–164.
  • Denters, B. (2002). Size and political trust: Evidence from Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 20(6), 793–812.
  • Denters, S. A. H., van Heffen, O., Huisman, J., & Klok, P. J. (Eds.). (2003). The rise of interactive governance and quasi-markets. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  • Denters, S. A. H., & Rose, L. E. (Eds.). (2005). Comparing local governance: Trends and developments. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Denters, S. A. H., & Klok, P. J. (2005). The Netherlands: In search of responsiveness. In S. A. H. Denters & L. E. Rose (Eds.), Comparing local governance: Trends and developments (pp. 65–82). Palgrave Macmillan. 
  • Denters, B., & Mossberger, K. (2006). Building blocks for a methodology for comparative urban political research. Urban Affairs Review, 41(4), 550–571.
  • Denters, B., Gabriel, O. W., & Torcal, M. (2006). Political confidence in representative democracies: Socio-cultural vs. political explanations. In J. W. van Deth, J. R. Montero, & A. Westholm (Eds.), Citizenship and involvement in European democracies: A comparative analysis (pp. 66–87). Routledge.
  • Denters, B., Gabriel, O. W., & Torcal, M. (2006). Norms of good citizenship. In J. W. van Deth, J. R. Montero, & A. Westholm (Eds.), Citizenship and involvement in European democracies: A comparative analysis (pp. 88–108). Routledge.
  • Denters, B., & Klok, P. J. (2010). Rebuilding Roombeek: Patterns of citizen participation in urban governance. Urban Affairs Review, 45(5), 583–607.
  • Denters, B. (2011). Local governance. In M. Bevir (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of governance (pp. 313–329). SAGE.
  • Bakker, J., Denters, B., Oude Vrielink, M., & Klok, P. J. (2012). Citizens’ initiatives: How local governments fill their facilitative role. Local Government Studies, 38(4), 395–414.
  • Denters, B., & Klok, P. J. (2013). Citizen democracy and the responsiveness of councillors: The effects of democratic institutionalisation on the role orientations and role behaviour of councillors. Local Government Studies, 39(5), 661–680.
  • Denters, S. A. H., Tonkens, E., Verhoeven, I., & Bakker, J. (2013). Burgers maken hun buurt. Platform31. 
  • Denters, S. A. H., Goldsmith, M., Ladner, A., Mouritzen, P. E., & Rose, L. E. (2014). Size and local democracy. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Denters, S. A. H. (2016). Community self-organization: Potentials and pitfalls. In J. Edelenbos & I. van Meerkerk (Eds.), Critical reflections on interactive governance: Self-organization and participation in public governance (pp. 230–253). Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Denters, B. (2017). Participation and democratic accountability: Making a difference for the citizens. In C. Schwab, G. Bouckaert, & S. Kuhlmann (Eds.), The future of local government in Europe: Lessons from research and practice in 31 countries (pp. 79–100). Nomos.
  • Klok, P.-J., Denters, B., Boogers, M., & Sanders, M. (2018). Intermunicipal cooperation in the Netherlands: The costs and the effectiveness of polycentric regional governance. Public Administration Review, 78(4), 527–536.
  • Proszowska, D., Jansen, G., & Denters, B. (2022). On their own turf? The level-specificity of political trust in multilevel political systems. Acta Politica, 57(3), 510–528.
  • Proszowska, D., Jansen, G., & Denters, B. (2023). Political trust in a multilevel polity: Patterns of differentiation among more and less politically sophisticated citizens. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 89(1), 165–185.
Close
Suggestions