Abstract Objectives: The main objective of this thesis is to create and provide empirical data on the socio-demographic background of the top administrative elite in the Netherlands, the Top...Show moreAbstract Objectives: The main objective of this thesis is to create and provide empirical data on the socio-demographic background of the top administrative elite in the Netherlands, the Top Management Group of the Algemene Bestuursdienst. It furthermore seeks to connect elite studies literature to a public administration context. Methods: The thesis is based on a data set primarily constructed using LinkedIn data and data provided by the Algemene Bestuursdienst at times of new appointments. The thesis uses descriptive statistics to analyze some of its findings. Results: The thesis finds that in doing research on elites, discussing context is crucial. On the Top Management Group of the Algemene Bestuursdienst it finds that the people who occupy the top functions within the Algemene Bestuursdienst have a largely varying profile regarding their educational background. Most civil service elites grew their career inside the civil service. Data on whether elites were sticky was inconclusive as variances and standard deviations were too big relative to their respective mean.Show less
The European Commission has recently initiated a comprehensive Green Deal with the objective of enhancing the environmental sustainability of agriculture, promoting nature inclusivity, and...Show moreThe European Commission has recently initiated a comprehensive Green Deal with the objective of enhancing the environmental sustainability of agriculture, promoting nature inclusivity, and facilitating the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. However, much controversy has been surrounding the formulation of its Farm to Fork (F2) Strategy policy objectives due to incompatible perspectives regarding the envisioned future sustainable food system between the involved actors and the European Commission. This, therefore, raises the question of what is the role of expert knowledge in the realm of EU policymaking? Moreover, what factors influence the Commission’s utilisation of expert knowledge? The utilisation of expert knowledge has been a topic of academic debate in the social sciences. The scholarly discourse pertaining to the role of expert knowledge in the realm of public policymaking processes, and in particular in the EU context, is abundant in theoretical frameworks; however, it also lacks consistency in defining and explaining the role of expert knowledge in public policymaking. This study aims to address the gap in existing literature by improving the understanding of knowledge utilisation and its features in the context of a new EU policy case. The research question seeks to determine the Commission’s utilisation of expert knowledge in the preparation of the Farm to Fork Strategy and explain whether the combination of internal and external dynamics account for the anticipated type of knowledge utilisation. The study focuses on a single case to achieve the theoretical objectives of demonstrating a causal relationship and examining whether the causal process occurred as anticipated. The study focuses on the timeframe from 2016 to 2021, coinciding with the first mandate of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Waste (FLW) and its efforts towards food waste policies, which were subsequently integrated into the F2F Strategy.Show less
On average, expert influence is expected to have a marginal grip on policy-making processes in Italy. Plausibly, unless a set of enabling factors overturns the status quo, the outcome is not...Show moreOn average, expert influence is expected to have a marginal grip on policy-making processes in Italy. Plausibly, unless a set of enabling factors overturns the status quo, the outcome is not anticipated to meaningfully deviate from expectations. Previous research has shown the relevance of contextual characteristics for expert influence in Westminster, Nordic and EU policy advisory systems. However, studies focusing on Napoleonic systems such as Italy are few. The thesis addresses this knowledge gap by testing theory-driven expectations generated from academic studies in the abovementioned contexts. To study the conditions promoting expert influence in the Italian policymaking arena, this thesis adopted a within-case analysis research design. The study case selected is the 2022 policy advisory process derived from the Civil Service Department and Public Administration Ministry commissioning advisory guidelines from the Scuola Nazionale dell'Amministrazione. The task entailed redesigning the competence-oriented selection guidelines for Italian public managers. The entrusted public entity recruited and guided a board of experts. The overarching methodology, deployed through text reuse analysis, documentation analysis and interviews of board members, attempts to trace the advisory process from its inception to the final approval of the guidelines. Overall, the evidence points to the contextual characteristics profoundly shaping the policy advisory process that led to the creation of the selection guidelines. To begin with, the Scuola Nazionale dell'Amministrazione strong credibility and close proximity to the government acted as enabling forces for the exertion of expert influence. Moving to policy domain features, the process tracing approach ascertained that the high level of technical complexity similarly enabled the experts to enter the drafting of the guidelines and profoundly shape its contents. On the other hand, the mixed evidence on levels of policy uncertainty and pressure on decision-makers could not confirm nor refute the expected directionality of the effects. Finally, the evidence on the remaining two policy advisory system institutional dimensions, formalisation and codification, is as follows. On one hand, the research design confirmed the enabling role of high formalisation. On the other hand, the mixed evidence on the levels of codification could not confirm nor refute the expected directionality of the effects. The strengths and the limitations of the mixed methodology selected were starkly evident plausibly due to the within-case analysis it was applied to. The wide array of evidence collected allowed us to effectively probe part of the well-established theoretical expectations. The inability to definitely rule on the directionality of the other expected effects could hint at the limits of other well-established explanations grounded in Westminster and EU PAS systems in effectively explaining PAS processes in Napoleonic countries such as Italy.Show less
With the war in Ukraine, the role of NATO in Europe and its enlargement towards the east is relevant more than ever. This study looked at the enlargement of NATO since the end of the Cold War. The...Show moreWith the war in Ukraine, the role of NATO in Europe and its enlargement towards the east is relevant more than ever. This study looked at the enlargement of NATO since the end of the Cold War. The main reason for NATO’s existence, to deter Soviet aggression, no longer exist. So why did NATO continue to exist in the 21st century and why did it expand to the east? The purpose of this study is to look at a specific part of this enlargement, the bureaucracy of the alliance. The following research question has been used: To what extent did the bureaucracy of NATO influence the organisation’s Eastern enlargement since the collapse of the Soviet Union? To answer this question, research has been done on the different enlargement steps since the fall of the Berlin Wall up to the present. The role of the bureaucracy, including the secretary general of NATO, in relation to the member states was examined step by step. The analysis shows that the bureaucracy of NATO itself had almost no say in its enlargement. The fall of the Berlin wall symbolizes the beginning of the change NATO had undergone. However, it was the United States that played the most influential role on the alliance’s enlargement towards east with initiating NATO’s most important documents for allowing new member states.Show less
This research has examined to what extent the hiring practices of the EU Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) contribute to the creation of an epistemic community. Classifying this...Show moreThis research has examined to what extent the hiring practices of the EU Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) contribute to the creation of an epistemic community. Classifying this group of employees as an epistemic community requires a shared knowledge base and degree of socialisation, which practically means a large degree of overlap in knowledge, normative beliefs, and interests. The results do not indicate that ACER has a preference for hiring individuals with the same type of expertise, degree of socialisation, or shared interests, which means that ACER’s hiring practices are not responsible for the possible formation of an epistemic community. This could alleviate societal concerns about sub-optimal decisions being made by an organisation that they have no direct control over and adds a new perspective on the external factors of norm internalisationShow less
Around the world, scientific discourse and experts have become more prevalent and influential. Although successful policymaking involves a lot of expert input, there are also concerns in societies...Show moreAround the world, scientific discourse and experts have become more prevalent and influential. Although successful policymaking involves a lot of expert input, there are also concerns in societies regarding the issues that are emerging from the expanding involvement of experts in policymaking. Furthermore, experts frequently disagree with one another, which may lead the general public to interpret expert disagreement as a reason to distrust experts in public discourse. On the other hand, more expert disagreement can make it easier for politicians to pick and choose the knowledge they like to support their agenda. This study focusses on the role of expert knowledge through advisory commissions in the Dutch Nitrogen case and how expert disagreement relates to this role of expert knowledge. Governments often set up commission to help assist them with crises which implies a problemsolving function of a commission. However, this study argues that expert disagreement enables the advisory commissions' role to be recognized equally for its legitimizing or substantiating function. The results show that expert disagreement does not necessarily leads to a substantiating or legitimizing function of expert knowledge but that both advisory commissions contain elements of all of the three functions of commissions.Show less
This thesis explores the case of the International Monetary Fund’s bailout agreement with the Lebanese state in 2022 to understand if it is guided by expertise or politics. Looking at two main...Show moreThis thesis explores the case of the International Monetary Fund’s bailout agreement with the Lebanese state in 2022 to understand if it is guided by expertise or politics. Looking at two main contested theories on the behavior of International Organizations (IO’s): whether they are autonomous entities where staff have authority and autonomy over their work, or are lack autonomy and are instead pressured by powerful member states. To explore this theoretically, this thesis utilizes the epistemic communities framework to explore the role of the staff in the IMF. Additionally examining asymmetries that may exist within epistemic communities and how this may affect expertise. It also uses the concepts of organizational slippage and risk ignorance to study the influence of member states on the IMF. The methodology followed in this thesis is qualitative and uses a process tracing of the evolution of IMF as an IO and its policies, as well as the IMF’s work in Lebanon. To assess the extent to which the IMF’s bailout is guided by expertise or policies the thesis uses the Lebanon staff-agreement as a case and examines how closely this agreement aligns with the internal policies of the IMF, as well as previous policy recommendations for the Lebanese state issued by the IMF. With close compliance to these policies indicating high autonomy of the staff with their work guided by expertise. Low compliance indicating high influence from member states, and thus being guided by politics.Show less
Dit onderzoek verkent de gevolgen van de uitspraak van het Poolse constitutioneel hof op de legitimiteit van de Europese Commissie. In de uitspraak wordt gesteld dat het primaat van het Europese...Show moreDit onderzoek verkent de gevolgen van de uitspraak van het Poolse constitutioneel hof op de legitimiteit van de Europese Commissie. In de uitspraak wordt gesteld dat het primaat van het Europese recht – het juridisch fundament van de EU- niet geldt in Polen. Het Poolse recht heeft juist voorrang boven het Europees recht. Deze uitspraak volgde na verschillende inbreukprocedures die de Europese Commissie tegen Polen heeft aangespannen, omdat de Poolse regering regels heeft gemaakt die indruisen tegen de onafhankelijkheid van de rechterlijke macht en de media. De commissie ziet dit als een aantasting ‘rule of law’ en de democratische rechtsstaat. Dit leidt tot de onderzoeksvraag: ‘In hoeverre is de legitimiteit van de Europese Commissie aangetast door de uitspraak van het Poolse constitutioneel hof dat het Pools recht boven het Europees recht gaat? In het theoretisch kader wordt uiteen gezet wat de legitimiteit en autoriteit van een internationale organisatie (IO) zijn. De autoriteit van een IO is hier bepalend voor hoe de legitimiteit wordt opgevat. Legitimiteit wordt beïnvloed door de hoe mensen de ‘performance’ en de procedure van een IO zien. Dit bepaalt namelijk delegitimatie en legitimatie praktijken. Door de rechtstreekse aanval van het Poolse hof op de autoriteit van de Europese Commissie, kan verwacht worden dat dit een negatieve uitwerking zal hebben op de legitimiteit van de Europese Commissie. De onderzoeksvraag wordt behandeld aan de hand van het theoretische kader van Tallberg en Zürn (2019). Daarbij is de intensiteit, toon en het narratief van de delegitimerende/legitimerende praktijken in kaart gebracht aan de hand van een inhoudelijke analyse van krantenartikelen die gaan over de politieke communicatie en gedrag. Op basis van het systematisch invoeren van zoektermen zijn deze artikelen waardoor dit onderzoek betrouwbaar en valide is opgesteld. Uit de analyse komt naar voren dat het aantal gepubliceerde artikelen over de Poolse kwestie zich in intensiteit niet heeft voortgezet in de maanden na de uitspraak. De communicatie die de Europese Commissie delegitimeert, is gebaseerd op het narratief dat de autoriteit van de Europese Commissie zich niet uitstrekt over de binnenlandse politiek van een soevereine natiestaat. Het ingaan tegen het primaat van het Europese recht is overigens niet uniek Pools. Dit is ook eerder aangevochten in Frankrijk en Duitsland (en Verenigd Koninkrijk). De Europese Commissie, op haar beurt, heeft door middel van kritiek op de onafhankelijkheid, legaliteit en legitimiteit van het Poolse tribunaal deze uitspraak gedelegitimeerd. De delegitimatie en legitimatie zijn in dit opzicht te herleiden naar hoe ver de autoriteit van de Commissie strekt. Uit de analyse en voortgaand onderzoek blijkt wel dat de legitimiteit van de Europese Commissie negatief is beïnvloed door delegitimatie die gericht is op de bevoegdheden van de Commissie.Show less
