The Politicisation of Policy Advice

Abstract

The debate among Public Administration scholars about the politicisation of policy advice in executives addresses mainly two types: On the one hand, it refers to one of the core questions of the research field, analysing the monopoly of ministerial bureaucracies to provide policy advice to their political masters. This traditional prerogative has come under pressure from various sources, most notably external challenges such as the internationalisation, Europeanisation, and mediatisation of governmental policy-making, but also the increasing time pressure on political and executive actors in these processes. On the other hand, and closely related, another phenomenon which is increasingly discussed in the scholarly debate refers to the organisation and role of "extra policy advice", provided by various arrangements that range from full-fledged line divisions for policy and planning, ministerial cabinets and special advisers to various forms of external experts, consultants and (politically affiliated) think tanks. These advisory arrangements receive increasing scholarly attention as both complementary and competing actors for policy advice within central government organisations. Accordingly, this panel examines the politicisation of policy advice as both the (potentially partisan) recruitment of advisors within and into the executive, with apparent effects on the functional politicisation of the civil service, as well as the reliance on external (potentially political) advisors; and their role in government policy-making. It aims to discuss the similarities and differences of these types of policy advice within executives from a comparative perspective. The panel discusses the causes of the politicisation of policy advice as well as the effects on governmental policy-making, the relationship between politics and administration and democratic accountability etc. The panel is seeks to discuss how the politicisation of policy advice could be theoretically developed and empirically measured, thus favouring papers with a strong theoretical and methodological reasoning.

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