PETERS/VRIESENDORP second perspective concerns the aim, size, and working method in the case of bankruptcy( 3-4). By eventually making the perspectives converge, we can shed some light on the question of whether a government can go bankrupt in the Netherlands and respond to the questions posed in the Questionnaire( 5) Governments in sha pes and sizes If there has ever been a clearly defined idea of what government'is, in the present-day socal constellation, it is a vague concept. Not only new steering mechanisms like self-regulation and competition, but also socal ordering and role pattens like privatization and liberalization have caused a large number of actors to become involved in public tasks. Since these tasks, which concern the public interest, 8 are carried out by organization foms perta ining either to public or to private law, a clearly delim ited definition of govemment cannot be given, let alone in one form or another, an organogram That does not mean to say, however, that no kind of ordering can be applied with respect to the executors of public tasks. Three distinctions can be made which can be relevant in the framework of the problems under discussion 6 public-law and private-lawentities b. implementation of tasks and exercise of powers, c. exclusively public activ ities or also perfomance of other commercial activ ities 2.1 Public-law and private -law legalentities The first distinction that can be made has to do with the legal form ofan organization Private-law legal entities ha ve the legal forms regulated in Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code(hereafter DCC), which means that their organization is regulated by the provisions set forth in Book 2 DCC. The legal forms in question are the Naamloze Vennootschap or B. Private company with limited liability the vereniging assocation], and the Stichting [foundation]. The organizational form of public-law legal entities are set out in special laws rather than in the Civil Code, although the latter does refer to them in Article 2: 1. This placement has to do with the closed system of legal entities that the Civil Code was origina lly intended to be: it is only the legislator that can confer legal persona lity on organization forms In this respect Article 2: 1, first paragraph, DCC, explicitly provides that: "The State, the provinces, the municipalities, the water control authorities, as well as all bodies on which, by virtue of the constitution, regulatory authority is conferred, possess legal persona lity. The second pa of this Article again empha system:"Other bodies to which part of a public task is assigned only possess lega personality if this follows from what has been laid down in the law. Article 2: 1 DCC confers legal personality on public-law organization forms. As 8. Definition by C.A. Schreuder, Publiekrechtelipke taken, priate rechtspersonen [Tasks pertaining to pubhc law, legal entities pertaining to private lawl Deventer. Kluwer 1994, p 33 See, for example, IA. F. Peters, Publiekrechtlijike rechtspersonen [Legal entities pertaining to public law], Deventer. W.EJ. Tjeenk Willink 1997, pp 15ffPETERS/VRIESENDORP 2 second perspective concerns the aim, size, and working method in the case of bankruptcy ( 3-4). By eventually making the perspectives converge, we can shed some light on the question of whether a government can go bankrupt in the Netherlands and respond to the questions posed in the Questionnaire ( 5). 2 Governments in shapes and sizes If there has ever been a clearly defined idea of what `government' is, in the present-day social constellation, it is a vague concept. Not only new steering mechanisms like self-regulation and competition, but also social ordering and role patterns like privatization and liberalization have caused a large number of actors to become involved in public tasks. Since these tasks, which concern the public interest,8 are carried out by organization forms pertaining either to public or to private law, a clearly delimited definition of `government' cannot be given, let alone, in one form or another, an organogram. That does not mean to say, however, that no kind of ordering can be applied with respect to the executors of public tasks. Three distinctions can be made which can be relevant in the framework of the problems under discussion: a. public-law and private-law entities; b. implementation of tasks and exercise of powers; c. exclusively public activities or also performance of other commercial activities. 2.1 Public-law and private-law legal entities The first distinction that can be made has to do with the legal form of an organization. Private-law legal entities have the legal forms regulated in Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code (hereafter DCC), which means that their organization is regulated by the provisions set forth in Book 2 DCC. The legal forms in question are the Naamloze Vennootschap or N.V. [public company limited by shares], the Besloten Vennootschap or B.V. [private company with limited liability], the Vereniging [association], and the Stichting [foundation]. The organizational form of public-law legal entities are set out in special laws rather than in the Civil Code, although the latter does refer to them in Article 2:1. This placement has to do with the closed system of legal entities that the Civil Code was originally intended to be: it is only the legislator that can confer legal personality on organization forms.9 In this respect, Article 2:1, first paragraph, DCC, explicitly provides that: "The State, the provinces, the municipalities, the water control authorities, as well as all bodies on which, by virtue of the constitution, regulatory authority is conferred, possess legal personality." The second paragraph of this Article again emphasizes the closed system: "Other bodies to which part of a public task is assigned only possess legal personality if this follows from what has been laid down in the law." Article 2:1 DCC confers legal personality on public-law organization forms. As 8. Definition by C.A. Schreuder, Publiekrechtelijke taken, private rechtspersonen [Tasks pertaining to public law, legal entities pertaining to private law], Deventer: Kluwer 1994, p. 33. 9. See, for example, J.A.F. Peters, Publiekrechtelijke rechtspersonen [Legal entities pertaining to public law], Deventer: W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink 1997, pp. 15 ff