The Advisory Roles of Political Scientists in Southern Europe. An empirical classification

This paper focuses on the advisory role of political scientists in Southern European countries. Studying the social and policymaking impact of political scientists in Southern Europe is relevant from at least three points of view: firstly, because they are social scientists who make policymaking one of their main fields of investigation; secondly, because political scientists are usually considered to have little ability to influence policy choices in their countries; thirdly and finally, because this tendency is expected to be particularly evident in Southern European countries. Based on the answers to an online questionnaire given by over 400 political scientists from Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, the paper reconstructs the advisory roles of political scientists in the investigated countries. In doing so, it also proposes a classification of them, based on a principal component analysis (PCA) that highlights frequency, type, recipient(s) and institutional level of governance of their (potential) policy advice. Empirical findings allow for the identification of four empirical types of advisory roles in Southern Europe: i) international expert; ii) parliamentary expert; iii) CSOs consultant; iv) interest group consultant. The paper contributes originally to the literature on policy advice and paves the way for future research on how political scientists play their intellectual role within the society.