Political Advisors and Their Relations with Parliament

Political advisors became highly important in policymaking. Existing research on political advisors focuses on their role with the ministry or the cabinet. This paper aims to examine their interactions with the parliament and its members. Specifically, it seeks to examine the role of political advisors in legislation and the executive's response to parliamentary oversight. Answering this question is particularly interesting in countries with coalition governments, where coalition management is a primary political consideration for ministers. The paper is based on a unique dataset of the appearances of political advisors before Israeli parliamentary committees from 2013 to 2024. It also builds on in-depth interviews with political advisors responsible for the relations between the executive and the parliament. Initial findings suggest differences among ministries in the number of appearances by political advisors on parliamentary committees. In addition, ministerial advisors’ appearances are often intended to signal to members of parliament the importance the minister attaches to the issue. Therefore, in many cases, the advisors attend the meeting but do not speak.