Policy Consultancy in Comparative Perspective

Patterns, Nuances and Implications of the Contractor State

Caspar van den Berg, Michael Howlett, Andrea Migone, Michael Howard, Frida Pemer, Helen M. Gunter

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781108496674
• eBook ISBN: 9781108752107
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Many Western countries have seen an increase in the volume and importance of external consultants in the public policy process. This book is the first to investigate this phenomenon in a comparative and interdisciplinary way. The analysis shows who these consultants are, how widely and for what reasons they are used in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands and Sweden. In doing so, the book addresses the positive and negative implications of high levels of external policy consultancy, including its implications for the nature of the state (transforming into a contractor state?) and for democratically legitimized and accountable decision-making (transforming into consultocracy?). It provides valuable new insights for students and practitioners in the fields of public administration, public policy, public management, political science and human resource management.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Author Biographies
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Policy Consultancy in Comparative Perspective
• 2 Consultancy in the UK Government: Modernizing Privatism
• 3 Policy Consulting in the USA: Significant but in Decline?
• 4 Entrenched and Escalating: Policy-Relevant Consulting and Contracting in Australia, 1987–2017
• 5 From Corporatist to Contractor State? Policy Consulting in the Netherlands
• 6 Policy Consultants for Substance and Process: A Review of the Supply and Demand for Canadian Policy Consulting
• 7 Swedish Government Agencies’ Hiring of Policy Consultants: A Phenomenon of Increased Magnitude and Importance?
• 8 Conclusion: Policy Consulting in Comparative Perspective
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C
• Appendix D
• Appendix E
• Appendix F
• References
• Index