More Experts - More Expertise? On the Use of Experts in Danish Official Committees 1980-2016

Denmark has - as the other Scandinavian countries - a long corporatist tradition according to which interest groups are integrated into the policy preparing processes. Membership of a committee or a commission has been one of the most common way of integrating interest groups into public policy making. During the latter decades an increasing number of committees have also had experts as members. Their presence and role are much less well analyzed than the role of interest groups. The paper traces the use of experts in these Danish commissions for the period 1980 through 2016. What type of experts is used for what type of committee work? Are they present in particular policy fields or are they scattered over a number of fields. And may be most importantly: What is the role of experts in committees? To what extend do they play the role as true experts, bringing scientifically substantiated knowledge into the policy process. And to what extent are they there in order to legitimize decisions that are deeply political?