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
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
Global environmental assessments assume an increasingly central role in international policymaking. Among them, the IPCC stands out as the authoritative voice of climate science. According to...Show moreGlobal environmental assessments assume an increasingly central role in international policymaking. Among them, the IPCC stands out as the authoritative voice of climate science. According to reputation theory, the maintenance of such a positive reputation requires the communication of organizational strengths to its audiences. The theory predicts patterns of emphasis and change over time, but has yet to be tested in this institutional setting. This thesis contributes to reputational theory through testing and extending its theoretical expectations to the case of the IPCC based on GEA literature. It quantitatively analyses the IPCC outputs and communication material over the course of 1994-2022, and qualitatively investigates the experience of IPCC leadership during that time. The results suggest that the IPCC becomes more reputationally aware over time, but does not diversify its legitimization strategies along hypothesized dimensions to the public - despite leadership commitment to those dimensions – but rather reinforces its technical image.Show less
In the Netherlands, top civil servants have an important role, as they influence the policies that affect the daily life of the Dutch population. Among top civil servants, there is an elite group...Show moreIn the Netherlands, top civil servants have an important role, as they influence the policies that affect the daily life of the Dutch population. Among top civil servants, there is an elite group called the Top Management Group (TMG) which were established in 2000 and now consist of the 94 highest civil servants in the Netherlands. The TMG members are selected based on certain competences: political craft, managerial competencies, and subject-matter expertise. Each of these competences are influenced by the TMG member’s education. Post-educational institutes have also become more common for top civil servants to attend. Which could change the education background of the top civil servants. The aim of this research is therefore to evaluate the TMG members’ educational backgrounds and determine whether there is a difference between the educational background for the TMG members between 2000 and 2022. The following question is central to this research: ‘How and why has the educational background of the civil servants in the Dutch Top Management Group (TMG) changed between 2000 and 2022?’.Show less
The New Public Management (NPM) paradigm in the public sector has led to a shift in the roles of top civil servants among many European countries. This study aims to discover to what extent this...Show moreThe New Public Management (NPM) paradigm in the public sector has led to a shift in the roles of top civil servants among many European countries. This study aims to discover to what extent this new ‘managerial’ role has been internalized by top civil servants with regard to their educational background. Education plays an important role in the development of competencies, ideas, values, and role perceptions. Using this as a point of departure, the present study focuses on how different levels and fields of education may influence top civil servants’ orientation to NPM-related values and roles, or in other words, ‘NPM-orientation’. A survey dataset (N=6975) of high-level executives in 19 European countries has been used to discover if such a relationship exists. The results revealed that only business, management and economics related studies contribute to NPM-orientation, while studying law and medical science leads to low NPM-orientation. It was also established that there is no linear relationship between the level of education followed and NPM-orientation.Show less
This thesis uses a unique dataset of 200 current trainees for the Dutch government to investigate civil servant competencies. Using an inductive approach, typical civil servant qualifications are...Show moreThis thesis uses a unique dataset of 200 current trainees for the Dutch government to investigate civil servant competencies. Using an inductive approach, typical civil servant qualifications are detected and subsequently compared to civil servant competencies which are indicated by academic literature. The general trend found in the research is that in the case of the Netherlands, generalist expertise is valued highly. Furthermore, trainees show highly developed communicative and leadership skill. Matching qualifications and competencies proved to be quite a challenge due to the lack of research in that field.Show less
Accredited Parliamentary Assistants are ‘eyes and ears’ of Members of the European Parliament, yet their influence on MEPs and role as a backstage support has not been widely discussed. The scope...Show moreAccredited Parliamentary Assistants are ‘eyes and ears’ of Members of the European Parliament, yet their influence on MEPs and role as a backstage support has not been widely discussed. The scope of APAs tasks and employment status prevent unequivocal categorisation. This paper draws from the literature on ‘policy professionals’ and three types of knowledge provision: problem formulation; process expertise; information access to shed more light on their work and environment which they operate. To answer the research question, six hypotheses were formulated and descriptive statistics and statistical analysis were applied. The anonymous, online survey was conducted among APAs and the set of data was collected (N = 116). The thesis concluded that APAs share similarities with policy professionals – yet they differ in their attitude towards academic education and on-the-job training.Show less
