It is well known that politicians often use expertise, knowledge and information as means to reach political ends. However, current research provides little systematic and empirical insight into whether and how political political parties in power make use of academic expertise in ways that suit their political agenda. This paper contributes to filling this lacuna by studying why and when incumbent parties decide to consult ‘technocrats’ when formulating policies. It asks: When do politicians choose technocrats as policy-makers, and what types of technocrats do they prefer? How does the political color and strength of governments guide their choice of technocrats? With their long and strong tradition for ‘rational’ and technocratic policy-making, the Scandinavian countries serve as a fruitful case to explore these questions. Drawing on a dataset of more than 2500 governmental inquiry commissions and 20 000 members of commissions appointed in Denmark and Norway between 1972 and 2018, the paper provides a systematic and comprehensive investigation of the link between politics and technocratic policy-making.
