Week 6 - Policy Advisory Systems

What is a policy advisory system (PAS)?

An interconnected set of actors and organizations that provide policy analysis, recommendations, and advice to government decision-makers.

What is policy advice?

The analysis of policy problems and the development of recommendations or solutions for decision-makers.

Why is a policy advisory system broader than the public service?

Advice also comes from political staff, consultants, academics, think tanks, commissions, and special advisory bodies.

What is the traditional role of the public service in policy advice?

Providing professional, non-partisan analysis, institutional expertise, and recommendations to elected ministers.

Why do central agencies matter within the policy advisory system?

They coordinate policy advice, assess departmental proposals, and provide government-wide perspectives to executive decision-makers.

What role do partisan ministerial advisers play in policy advice?

They provide political perspectives, coordinate priorities, and help align policy development with the elected government's agenda.

Why are external consultants hired to provide policy advice?

They can supply specialized expertise, additional analytical capacity, or temporary support for complex government projects.

What is a commission of inquiry?

A body established to investigate a major public issue, gather evidence, and provide findings or recommendations.

What is a special advisory body?

A group established to provide targeted expertise or recommendations on a particular government policy issue.

How does a special advisory body differ from a Royal Commission?

Special advisory bodies generally have narrower or more immediate mandates, while Royal Commissions typically conduct substantial independent investigations.

What is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission an example of?

A commission investigating major historical and public issues and making recommendations for government and society.

Why is the CRTC not an example of a Royal Commission?

The CRTC is an ongoing regulatory institution, not a temporary commission of inquiry.

What is externalization in policy advisory systems?

The increasing reliance on policy advice produced outside the permanent public service.

What is politicization in policy advisory systems?

Increasing political control and the role of partisan appointees in directing, coordinating, or influencing policy advice.

What is deinstitutionalization in policy advisory systems?

The decline, weakening, or discontinuation of established policy advisory institutions and arrangements.

How does politicization differ from externalization?

Politicization expands political direction or partisan influence; externalization increases reliance on advice outside the public service.

Does externalization necessarily mean that the public service has lost all influence?

No. Public servants can continue evaluating, filtering, coordinating, and communicating external advice to policymakers.

What does Craft and Halligan mean by declining public service policy capacity?

The weakening of the public service's ability to produce substantial policy research and analysis compared with earlier periods.

What does uneven or lumpy policy capacity mean?

Analytical expertise is distributed unevenly across departments, policy fields, and government or non-government organizations.

What happened to Canada's public service analytical capacity after the 1970s?

Craft and Halligan describe a decline associated with expenditure reductions and public management reforms, although capacity remained uneven.

What is the central argument of Craft and Halligan (2017)?

Westminster advisory systems have changed through politicization and externalization, but countries differ in the speed, scale, and sequence of institutional change.

What does tempo mean in Craft and Halligan's framework?

The speed at which changes to advisory institutions and arrangements occur.

What does intensity mean in Craft and Halligan's framework?

The magnitude or extent of change experienced by an advisory institution or system.

What does sequencing mean in Craft and Halligan's framework?

The order in which institutional changes occur and how earlier changes shape later developments.

Why is tempo important for comparing Westminster advisory systems?

Two countries may introduce similar reforms at very different speeds, producing different institutional experiences.

Why is intensity important for comparing Westminster advisory systems?

Countries may follow similar reform directions while experiencing substantially different degrees of institutional transformation.

Why is sequencing important for comparing Westminster advisory systems?

Earlier changes, such as managerial reforms, may create conditions that influence later outsourcing or politicization.

How does Canada's political advisory workforce compare with the UK's in Craft and Halligan's data?

Canada had 566 partisan advisers in 2014, compared with 114 in the UK in 2013, illustrating different advisory staffing patterns.

What is the significance of Canada's expanding political advisory workforce?

It reflects an enlarged role for partisan advisers in coordinating government priorities and influencing executive policy development.

Why have some governments reduced reliance on Royal Commissions?

They have increasingly used alternative advisory mechanisms, including consultants, political advisers, and specialized advisory groups.

What is the significance of the former National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy?

Its discontinuation illustrates how established independent advisory institutions can lose government support or be abolished.

Why is the Parliamentary Budget Officer different from a government policy advisory body?

The PBO provides independent fiscal and economic analysis primarily to support Parliament's scrutiny of government.

What is the location-based approach to studying policy advice?

Examining where advice originates and how an adviser's proximity to decision-makers may influence access and authority.

What is the content-based approach to studying policy advice?

Examining the substance, purpose, and time horizon of advice rather than focusing only on its organizational source.

What is procedural policy advice?

Advice concerned with managing decision-making processes, coordination, political relationships, or administrative procedures.

What is substantive policy advice?

Advice concerned with the content of policy problems, evidence, alternatives, and proposed solutions.

What is short-term reactive policy advice?

Advice responding to an immediate problem, emerging controversy, or urgent policy decision.

What is long-term anticipatory policy advice?

Advice examining future risks, trends, challenges, and policy options before an immediate crisis arises.

What does speaking truth to power mean in policy advice?

Providing candid, independent, evidence-based professional advice even when it challenges political leaders' preferences.

What does sense-making mean in policy advice?

Interpreting complex or competing evidence so policymakers can understand uncertainty, disagreements, and possible consequences.

Why has sense-making become important in modern policy advisory systems?

Policymakers receive competing evidence from many sources and need help interpreting its significance.

What is the main argument of Craft (2015) about political staff?

Political advisers perform important policy coordination functions rather than serving only as partisan communicators.

How can political staff reduce policy duplication?

They identify overlapping departmental initiatives and help prevent unnecessary repetition of government activities.

How can political staff reduce policy inconsistency?

They help align departmental proposals with one another and with the government's overarching commitments.

How can political staff manage bureaucratic and political conflict?

They broker disagreements among departments, ministers, and political offices over proposed policies and priorities.

How do political advisers establish an ordering of priorities?

They help determine which government objectives should receive attention and resources before competing initiatives.

What does a whole-of-government approach mean for political advisers?

Coordinating policy around the government's broader agenda rather than allowing each department to pursue only its own interests.

What is the monocratic executive model discussed in the Week 6 lecture?

An executive arrangement in which substantial political power and strategic direction are concentrated around a single central leader.

Why is Canada associated with the monocratic executive model in the lecture?

The Prime Minister exercises significant influence over government priorities, Cabinet organization, and central political coordination.

What is synoptic coordination?

Coordinating individual policy initiatives through an overarching view of the government's priorities and strategic direction.

How can political advisers in a minister's office advance the Prime Minister's priorities?

They coordinate with the political centre and help ensure their minister's departmental proposals fit the government's overall agenda.

What is a think tank?

A non-university organization that produces research and policy analysis intended to inform public debate or influence public decisions.

Why can think tanks differ in ideological orientation?

Their research priorities, assumptions, funding, and policy perspectives may reflect different political or economic philosophies.

How is the Fraser Institute characterized in the Week 6 lecture?

As a right-leaning Canadian think tank.

How is the C.D. Howe Institute characterized in the Week 6 lecture?

As a centre-right think tank generally perceived as less explicitly ideological than some advocacy sources.

How is the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives characterized in the Week 6 lecture?

As a left-leaning Canadian policy research organization.

What distinguishes an advocacy organization from a think tank?

Advocacy organizations explicitly represent or advance particular interests, although both can produce research and policy recommendations.

What is the central research question in Doberstein (2017)?

Whether the organizational source attributed to policy research influences how credible government analysts perceive that research to be.

What research method did Doberstein use?

A randomized controlled survey experiment involving policy analysts in the British Columbia provincial government.

What two policy topics did Doberstein's experiment examine?

Minimum-wage policy and income-splitting tax policy.

What was the independent variable in Doberstein's experiment?

The organizational source label attributed to an otherwise unchanged research summary.

What was the dependent variable in Doberstein's experiment?

Government analysts' perceived credibility ratings and relative evaluations of the research.

What was the purpose of changing research source labels in Doberstein's experiment?

To isolate whether the perceived identity of the research producer affected credibility independently of the actual content.

What is a credibility heuristic?

A mental shortcut where someone uses an organization's reputation or perceived expertise to judge the trustworthiness of research.

How does bounded rationality relate to credibility heuristics?

Limited time and cognitive capacity encourage analysts to use shortcuts when evaluating large amounts of policy information.

What did Doberstein find about research attributed to universities?

Analysts generally rated university-attributed research as more credible than research attributed to think tanks or advocacy organizations.

What did Doberstein find about ideological reputations?

Research attributed to more visibly ideological organizations tended to receive lower credibility assessments than comparable research from less ideological sources.

What happened when Fraser Institute content was attributed to the University of Toronto?

The odds of receiving a higher credibility rating increased by approximately 292 percent, despite the content remaining unchanged.

What happened when University of Toronto content was attributed to the CCPA?

The odds of a higher credibility rating decreased by approximately 68 percent, despite identical research content.

Why must Doberstein's reported percentage effects be interpreted carefully?

They describe changes in odds of credibility ratings, not equivalent percentage-point changes in probability.

What is the supply side of an externalized policy advisory system?

The organizations and individuals producing and distributing research or recommendations outside the public service.

What is the demand side of an externalized policy advisory system?

How government analysts and decision-makers evaluate, select, accept, and use externally produced policy advice.

What does Doberstein mean by bureaucratic gatekeeping?

Public servants influence which external research receives attention by filtering information according to perceived credibility.

Why does externalization not automatically produce a pluralistic policy advisory system?

More organizations can supply research, but government analysts may systematically trust or discount certain sources.

Why does Doberstein's study not establish actual political influence?

It measures analysts' credibility judgments, not whether research ultimately changes Cabinet decisions or government policy.

What is a major limitation of Doberstein's experimental design?

Participants assessed short summaries in two policy areas, so the results cannot automatically be generalized to all research or policymaking.

Why is the McKinsey contracting controversy relevant to Week 6?

It raises questions about outsourcing advice, procurement oversight, value for money, internal government expertise, and public accountability.

What is hollowing out of public service capacity?

The weakening of internal government expertise when departments increasingly outsource functions previously performed by public servants.

How can repeated consulting contracts contribute to hollowing out?

Departments may lose personnel and expertise, leaving them increasingly dependent on external firms for analysis and evaluation.

What is accountability asymmetry in government consulting?

Contractors can influence public decisions without having the same institutional accountability obligations as ministers and senior public servants.

What does value for money mean in government contracting?

Assessing whether public spending produces appropriate quality, benefits, and results relative to its cost.

Why is inadequate documentation of consulting needs a problem?

Government may struggle to explain why services were purchased or evaluate whether a contractor delivered what was required.

What does an audit's inability to establish value for money mean?

Available evidence was insufficient to verify value received; it does not necessarily prove that the contractor delivered no value.

Application: A government obtains more think tank reports but its analysts consistently privilege university research. Which concept applies?

Doberstein's credibility heuristics, which influence which sources government analysts trust.

Application: Two countries expand political staff, but one does so much faster. Which Craft and Halligan concept applies?

Tempo, because the comparison concerns the speed of institutional change.

Application: Government replaces a long-standing independent advisory council with temporary outside advisers. Which process applies?

Deinstitutionalization, because an established advisory institution has been discontinued or weakened.

Application: Political advisers coordinate competing departmental initiatives around the Prime Minister's priorities. Which Craft concept applies?

Whole-of-government policy coordination through partisan advisers.

Application: A department repeatedly outsources analysis and then struggles to evaluate consultants' reports. Which concept applies?

Hollowing out, because the department has lost internal analytical capacity.

Application: Consultants develop influential recommendations but departmental officials remain answerable for public spending. Which concept applies?

Accountability asymmetry, because contractors and public officials have different accountability obligations.

How can external policy advisers provide more independent perspectives?

They may challenge departmental assumptions and institutional habits because they are not embedded in the same organizational relationships.

Why might external consultants tell government what it wants to hear?

Consultants depend on government contracts and may face incentives to satisfy clients rather than challenge their preferred policy direction.

Why does the location of policy advice influence its content?

Advisers emphasize different problems, evidence, and priorities depending on their professional expertise, institutional responsibilities, and interests.

Why can relying on only one advisory source distort a policy decision?

A single source may emphasize one dimension of a problem while excluding other perspectives, affected interests, or relevant evidence.

Why can externalization create accountability problems beyond hollowing out?

Advice may enter decision-making outside traditional ministerial and public service accountability structures, making responsibility for its influence harder to trace.

Why is perceived research credibility different from actual policy influence?

An analyst may consider research credible without recommending or adopting it, because policy decisions also involve political priorities, implementation constraints, and competing evidence.

How does government control differ from the institutional independence of an advisory organization?

Government control concerns the ability to direct or influence advice, while institutional independence concerns an organization's capacity to develop and communicate recommendations without direct government intervention.