Comparing sub-national policy workers in Canada and the Czech Republic: Who are they, what they do, and why it matters?

Abstract

This article compares profiles and policy-related activities of policy workers (PWs) in thirteen Canadian provinces and territories with PWs in the Czech Republic regions. Canadian data come from 13 separate surveys conducted in provinces and territories in late 2008 and early 2009 (N = 1357). The Czech data are from analogical large-scale survey carried out at the end of 2012 (N = 783). First, the paper compares basic characteristics of Canadian and Czech PWs. In the two countries the proportion of men and women is similar and PWs are equally highly educated. Examining other characteristics, however, reveals substantial differences. When compared with the Czech PWs, Canadian PWs tend to be older, more often having social science educational backgrounds, more frequently recruited from academia, stay in a single organization for a shorter period of time and anticipate staying in their current position for only a short time. Second, a comparison of policy-related work activities discerns three basic clusters of policy tasks: policy analysis work, evidence-based work, and consulting/briefing. Canadian PWs are much more involved in evidence-based work, especially in evaluation and policy research. They also deal more with policy analysis activities such as identification of policy issues and options. In contrast, Czech PWs are more engaged in consulting with the public and briefing managers and decision-makers. The article concludes with implications for further research and theory building.

A Comparative Assessment of Elite Policy Recruits in Canada

“…A few findings are worth reviewing in detail here. First, consistent with the pattern found in other jurisdictions, most elite policy recruits in Canadian government primarily engage in process-related tasks and activities without a great deal of training or effort devoted to more formal policy appraisal techniques (Page and Jenkins 2005;Tiernan 2011;Evans and Veselý 2014;Carson and Wellstead 2015;Veselý et al 2014). Additionally, like Canadian policy workers more generally, both sets of recruits engage in primarily internal policy work with other public service actors, with little contact to external stakeholders (Howlett and Wellstead 2012;Howlett et al 2016).…”

Preserving fertility in pseudomyxoma peritonei, a novel approach

“…In the Czech Republic (and also in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe), this problem is currently being neglected. An exception is the recently published study by Czech authors Veselý (2014) or Veselý et al (2014) and the study by Nekola & Kohoutek (2016), which was devoted, however, to the issue of the government (regions). Their analysis is based on an empirical investigation carried out in the framework of a research project of the Czech Science Foundation Nr.…”

Academic research and engagement with the Canadian public service: Insights from three surveys

“…The scholarship itself evolved considerably in its description and analysis of the field. The two communities metaphor has been abandoned as a much more complex approach to the policy system has been introduced (Howlett and Wellstead ; Veselý, Wellstead and Evans ; Cherney et al ), where the:

main focus is no longer to improve the uptake of academic research for the sake of research salience; it is now to improve the use of relevant research because it is believed that policy fully informed by research evidence will produce better outcomes for citizens (Newman and Head : 384).

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