Vulnerability in (Dutch) Administrative Law

This contribution introduces the Special Issue ‘Vulnerability in (Dutch) Administrative Law. It brings together a number of contributions written by experts in specialized fields of administrative law who were challenged to reflect upon the way in which legal measures, practices, and policies place citizens in vulnerable positions. We have selected a number of domains of administrative law for our analysis, spanning fields where the concept of the ‘vulnerable citizen’ is central, such as social security law, youth law, and migration law, to fields where citizen vulnerability is not typically considered a core concern, such as access to government information, education law, and digital identity. Interestingly, a domain like open government law, for example, was originally conceived to empower citizens who are, in various ways, vulnerable to government actions. This selection is justified by the belief that vulnerability is not necessarily inherent to individuals. It is primarily a social construct. Any individual can become vulnerable at some point in life, depending on the bureaucracy, time restraints, personal and socioeconomic conditions this person is faced with. This Special Issue is focused on the concept of administrative vulnerability as a reality which can be both experienced by a low-income citizen who applies for a social security benefit, and by a wealthy and highly educated parent who is applying for appropriate education for a child who has behavioral problems and requires additional attention. Administrative vulnerability is not about who we are as individuals, but where life take us, and how many ‘crocodiles’ we run into during this trip. Life is a trip with many uncertainties and government can make this trip worse or make more pleasant.