The Public Servant in the Ministerial Office: a ‘Ghost in the Machine’?

The Westminster model can be viewed through the lens of the ‘core executive’, the collection of organisations and procedures that coordinate the government 'machine'. Through this lens, one can view a network of power relationships that extend further than the Prime Minister and Cabinet, which are viewed as the primary source of influence and power. The core executive lens enables a view encompassing a network of functional and power relationships within central government that also contribute to policy coordination. Defining the core executive in functional terms is a way of attending to the extent, efficacy, and range of mechanisms for coordinating policy in government, including political and bureaucratic structures. The breadth of core executive settings has yet to be exhaustively researched, and to date the literature has elevated prominent actors and settings such as Prime Ministers and Cabinet (Rhodes, 1995) or political advisors (e.g. Shaw and Eichbaum, 2015). Non-partisan advisors in Ministers’ offices are both ubiquitous and invisible. This paper will explore the role and function of these actors in one Westminster jurisdiction, New Zealand, and consider how they contribute to the core executive.