Gedogen

Gedogen is a Dutch word which means something like, allowed, but illegal…. But allowed. This strange Dutch phenomena is what’s at the basis of many strange quirks of culture in the Netherlands.

It can be found in Dutch public policy, in construction, in companies, in how people live together. They tolerate one another, but sometime even actively ignore behavior that actually crosses boundaries. Dutch boundaries are pretty much always up for debate. Although there are ‘law and order’ parties in the Netherlands like there are elsewhere, there is a certain sense of Dutch pride in the fact that there rules are there to be broken - to see if improvements can be made to society by allowing them before they become the norm.

“Gedogen” means systematically ignoring and tolerating certain forbidden types of behavior. Everyone knows the forbidden behavior takes place, but if everyone just behaves a certain way - and no complaints are filed by neighbors - everybody will sort of keep their mouths shut.