Dynamics in the Dutch policy advisory system: externalization, politicization and the legacy of pillarization

Berg, Caspar Floris van den

doi:10.1007/s11077-016-9257-x

Cited by 41 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…We know that policy advisors are located both inside and outside of government, and subject to more or less government control within the policy-advisory system (PAS) (Craft and Howlett, 2013;Halligan, 1995). Historically dominant sources of advice traditionally located in-house to government have been supplemented by other actors and outside knowledge (Van den Berg, 2016;Ve´sely, 2013). Despite available comparative studies, the policy-advisory literature remains biased, especially in three regards.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic policy advice in consensus-seeking countries: the cases of Belgium and Germany

Pattyn

Blum

Fobé

et al. 2019

International Review of Administrative Sciences

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Research on policy-advisory systems worldwide has shown that historically dominant sources of advice traditionally located in-house to the government have been increasingly supplemented by other actors and outside knowledge. However, the vast majority of research has concentrated on the anglophone context. Yet, countries with a consensus-seeking, neo-corporatist tradition provide a special case in terms of policy advice and merit more scholarly attention. What counts as evidence in these countries is the expert rationality of institutional representatives. The position and role of academic research in consensus-based systems is unclear, and is the focus of this article. Can we observe commonalities across consensus-style countries, or do differences prevail? We investigate two typical consensus-seeking countries: Belgium and Germany. To examine the supply side of policy advice, the article reviews current evidence regarding their policy-advisory systems. For the demand side, we present insights from a survey among federal ministerial officials. We find common trends between the two cases but their nature and extent are idiosyncratic. In Belgium, the supply of and demand for academic policy advice is comparatively lower, while the German case exhibits more change in the advisory landscape and institutionalisation of the supply of and demand for academic research. Points for practitioners • Countries with a consensus-seeking, neo-corporatist tradition provide a special case in terms of policy advice. • The findings suggest that there are common trends but their nature and extent are idiosyncratic. • In Belgium, the supply of and demand for academic advice is comparatively lower. • Germany’s policy-advisory landscape exhibits more change and institutionalisation of the supply of and demand for academic research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic policy advice in consensus-seeking countries: the cases of Belgium and Germany

Pattyn

Blum

Fobé

et al. 2019

International Review of Administrative Sciences

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“…Van den Berg 2017). In Norway, economic academic knowledge broke through within policy advice bodies despite the pronounced neo-corporatist and statist features of the political system.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the question of knowledge utilization is key to the whole endeavour of studying policy advisory systems (Hustedt and Veit 2017 , 42; Craft and Halligan 2017 ), this work has little to say about how the involvement of academic experts and expertise in advice-giving has developed over time. Some scholars mention “scientization” as one of the exogenous processes that may have affected policy advisory systems (Veit et al 2017 , 88–89), and others present results that suggest a greater reliance on universities and research institutes for advice (Van den Berg 2017 ). Yet, this literature does not provide theoretical concepts for understanding the evolving role of academic knowledge within advice institutions.…”

Section: Policy Advisory Systems and Academic Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While existing research on policy advisory systems centres on Westminster systems (Craft and Halligan 2017 ), recent studies have explored the particular patterns of policy advice in consensus-driven, neo-corporatist systems (e.g. Van den Berg 2017 ). It has been argued that scientific expertise is less likely to break through in neo-corporatist settings, given the central position of interest groups and the non-scientific knowledge and arguments that they provide (Blum et al 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice

Christensen

2018

Policy Sci

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The growing role of economic expertise in contemporary policy-making has received increasing scholarly attention. Yet, so far, this discussion has only been tenuously linked to relevant debates in public policy and administration, such as the work on policy advisory systems. The article attempts to bridge this gap by examining the changing reliance on academic economic knowledge within policy advisory bodies. It does so by analysing appointments and citation patterns in Norwegian advisory commissions in economic policy over the last 45 years. The analysis shows a marked increase in the number of academic economists appointed to commissions and in citations to economic literature. Moreover, it reveals an orientation towards the most prestigious outlets of the international economics discipline. This development can be interpreted as a scientization of policy advice in the economic field, that is, a growing reliance on academic expertise for analysis and arguments about public policy.

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“…Functional politicization, by contrast, is a notion that focuses on the degree to which political activities and politically oriented ways of thinking are moving into the administrative sphere. Th is includes giving precedence to political-strategic considerations over substantive or constitutional arguments in policy advisory activities and the politicization of the content of public-service communications to the media and the public (Aucoin 2012;van den Berg 2017). Authors have referred to this approach as providing advice in a political-tactical manner (Hustedt and Salomonsen 2014).…”

Section: Bureaucratic Power and Functional Politicizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional Politicization in the Dutch Senior Civil Service: Evidence from Longitudinal Surveys and Qualitative Research (2007 – 2019)

Belloir

Berg

2020

NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy

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Although substantial advances have been made in our comprehension of functional politicization – political capacities and activities being taken on by bureaucrats in their administrative duties – questions surrounding its causal mechanisms remain. To shed light on these questions, we here explore increasing political polarization (and fragmentation) in Dutch politics and functional politicization over the period 2007 – 2019 to see how the two are related. To do so, we adopt a cross-time approach that observes which skills – political-strategic insight, substantive expertise (Fachwissen), or procedural knowledge (Dienstwissen) – senior civil servants perceive to be the most relevant to successfully and correctly exercise their profession in a period of increasing polarization in the Dutch political landscape. Drawing from surveys conducted with senior civil servants in 2007, 2013 and 2019, combined with semi-structured interviews conducted in 2019, the data depicts the prevalence of political astuteness in the profession and highlights the factors for its causes: institutional, organizational, and interpersonal dynamics. This indicates an (in)direct link between political polarization and functional politicization of the administrative apparatus that serves as a basis for further cross-time and cross-country investigation.

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Dynamics in the Dutch policy advisory system: externalization, politicization and the legacy of pillarization

Cited by 41 publications

References 39 publications

Academic policy advice in consensus-seeking countries: the cases of Belgium and Germany

Academic policy advice in consensus-seeking countries: the cases of Belgium and Germany

Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice

Functional Politicization in the Dutch Senior Civil Service: Evidence from Longitudinal Surveys and Qualitative Research (2007 – 2019)

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