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Policy advice as policy work: a conceptual framework for multi-level analysis

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Abstract

This article argues that policy advice can be understood as a special kind of “policy work” that depends upon a diverse set of factors operating at different levels. The basic aim of the article is to disentangle this multi-level and multifaceted phenomenon into a conceptual framework that can be used for empirical analysis and theory building. In that framework, policy advice is conceptualized as a never-ending interaction among various actors in a specific institutional context, through which routines and norms are both reproduced and abolished. First, it is explained why policy advice is most fruitfully understood as a special kind of policy work, and then how it relates to other policy work activities. Second, problems with single-level approaches are discussed and the need for a multi-level approach is explained. Third, a multi-level conceptual framework is formulated and described. Fourth, some possible applications of the framework are illustrated with examples from current empirical research. The article concludes with implications for research and theory building.

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Notes

  1. Various authors use different labels. Meltsner (1976) wrote about “bureaucratic policy analysts,” Page and Jenkins (2005) used the term “policy bureaucracy” and “policy bureaucrats.” Howlett (2009) sometimes uses the term “public sector analysts,” while in more recent articles he follows Colebatch (2006) and calls them “policy workers.” (For more discussion, see Veselý 2013b).

  2. In our research we initially aimed to include only people from some particular units (such as policy units, strategy units and analytical units). However, we soon realized that policy work activities (including policy advice) are widely distributed. Sometimes, the most influential people came from unexpected departments (such as the “personnel unit”), while the “advisory” units were inferior to them. At one ministry, we were even told that the “strategy and policy unit” was a repository or “parking spot” for “unusable people” who were not taken seriously.

  3. Another important dimension is, for instance, to what extent a given type of activity is routine or non-routine.

  4. The concept of “system” might be defined as “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole” (System 2015). Some argue that a system behaves in a way that fulfills its function and purpose.

  5. In fact, based on the argument about “optimality” and “structure,” we find the term “structure” more appropriate than “system.” Alternatively, perhaps an even better term would be “policy advisory network.”

  6. Note that in this framework we distinguish between norms, beliefs and values in the broader societal context and norms, beliefs and values in the institutional context, which is conceptualized here as the proximate environment of PWs.

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Acknowledgments

The work on this article was supported by a grant from Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (No. TD03000018).

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  1. Head of Department of Public and Social Policy, Institute of Sociological Studies and Center for Social and Economic Strategies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, U Kříže 8, 158 00, Praha 5, Jinonice, Czech Republic

    Arnošt Veselý

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Veselý, A. Policy advice as policy work: a conceptual framework for multi-level analysis. Policy Sci 50, 139–154 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-016-9255-z

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