The Challenges of Policy Advice in a Turbulent Era. Legitimacy, Values and Politics

Policymaking is a collective process in which decision-makers dealing with a wide range of topics and issues rely on the advice they receive from other actors in deciding what to do. This advice concerns important aspects of policymaking, such as assessments of the nature and content of the problems decision-makers face and advice on the feasibility of the alternative courses of action from which they must choose. Even the most authoritarian and isolated dictators rely on some advice and guidance, and all governments exist in the midst of a system or ecosystem of advisors or a “policy advisory system” (Peters and Barker 1993). In both democratic and non-democratic regimes, the provision of advice is often politically charged and may be heavily partisan, and the operation of policy advisory systems is affected in many ways by the extent to which this is the case. Advice, for example, may be largely technical (legal or administrative in nature) but may also deal directly with concerns around the potential electoral or partisan gains or losses from proposed courses of action. Who is involved in providing such advice, and their numbers, are affected by this: advice may be more technical or legal in nature, requiring specialized expertise and knowledge, for example, or can emerge from party-led think tanks or party members directly.