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Johan Christensen

Dados Biográficos

ID4151977
NOMEJohan Christensen
PRENOMESJohan
SOBRENOMEChristensen
ASSINATURACHRISTENSEN J
AFILIAÇÕESLeiden University
ORCID0000-0002-2582-7827
VERIFICADOSim
TOTAL DE OBRAS30
TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES283
TOTAL COMO AUTOR30
TOTAL COMO EDITOR0
PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO2012
ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO2026
ÍNDICE H11
  • Beyond Democratic Backsliding

    Open Access•Kutsal Yesilkagit, Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Governance•2026•Referências: 27

    This paper examines how political and administrative elites shape regime transformations under authoritarian rule, proposing an elite‐centered analytical perspective that complements prevailing accounts of “democratic backsliding.” We show how embedding political–administrative relations within a broader elite‐theoretical framework clarifies the mechanisms through which elite reconfiguration underwrites institutional erosion. Drawing on classical…

  • Unpacking the Influence of Policy Advice Using Citation Network Analysis

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Petra Van Den Bekerom•ARTICLE•Public Administration Review•2025•Referências: 44

    Public policy often builds on a large body of policy advice—produced by bureaucrats, advisory bodies, scientists, and consultants—that has accumulated over time about a specific policy problem and appropriate policy responses. Yet, how this body of policy advice develops and which pieces of advice influence subsequent policy recommendations is poorly understood. We seek to fill this gap by proposing a novel conceptualization and methodological ap…

  • Evidence and Policy‐Making

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Public Administration Review•2025•Referências: 42

    Strengthening the role of evidence in policy‐making is increasingly seen as crucial for the quality and legitimacy of public policies. Both among practitioners and scholars, there is a growing awareness that evidence‐informed policy‐making not only depends on the rigor and relevance of the research, science communication or features of policy‐makers. It also depends on how expertise arrangements in public organizations are organized . Yet, we cur…

  • Gender Representation in Expert Advisory Bodies

    Open Access•Cathrine Holst, Johan Christensen et al.•ARTICLE•Politics & Gender•2025•Referências: 68

    Expert institutions are increasingly expected not only to provide the best professional expertise but also to ensure equal presence of women. Yet while descriptive gender representation in bureaucracies and courts is extensively researched, we largely lack studies of women’s presence on expert advisory bodies. Drawing on large-n data on the composition of Norwegian expert advisory commissions, the paper investigates and evaluates how the share of…

  • Experts in governance

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt et al.•ARTICLE•Policy & Politics•2025•Referências: 1

    The Nordic countries have traditionally been seen to share a distinct and successful governance model, combining high administrative capacity, extensive interest-group involvement and active channels for incorporating expert input in policy making. Starting in the 1980s, this model came under pressure. Yet, while changes to the statist and corporatist elements of this model are well documented, we know less about the changing role of expertise in…

  • Comparing ministerial evidence cultures

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•Policy and Society•2024•Citada por: 2•Referências: 20

    Evidence-informed policy-making is seen by many as crucial for formulating effective solutions to the complex challenges facing societies today. However, scholarship on evidence and policy-making has repeatedly noted that the use of evidence in government policy-making is highly uneven across policy areas and organizations. Still, we have surprisingly little systematic empirical knowledge about how government organizations actually differ in the …

  • The epistemic quality of expert bodies

    Open Access•Cathrine Holst, Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Acta Politica•2024•Citada por: 3•Referências: 49

    The ubiquity of experts in contemporary policy-making has been met with enthusiasm in some quarters, but has also faced severe criticism. Beyond the democratic concerns regarding expert power, critics have raised worries about whether experts actually contribute to increasing the epistemic quality of policies, in line with normative expectations. Yet, so far, limited attention has been paid to the specific conditions under which experts involved …

  • The influence of expert groups

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•Journal of European Public Policy•2024•Citada por: 14•Referências: 38

    Decision-makers rely extensively on expert groups and commissions for policy advice. Many see in this a growing technocracy or expertization of decision-making. Yet, we know little about the actual influence of these expert bodies in policy-making. When does expert group advice shape policy-making rather than being brushed aside? The article goes beyond existing research by measuring and explaining variation in expert group influence. Using the n…

  • « De nouvelles expertises pénètrent en continu l’État, on ne peut plus juste en rester aux économistes »

    Johan Christensen, Paul Cotton•ARTICLE•Revue Française de Socio-Économie•2023

  • Studying expert influence

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•West European Politics•2023•Citada por: 14•Referências: 31

    Expert communities, advisory bodies and expert bureaucracies are ubiquitous in national and international governance. Yet, we have surprisingly little systematic empirical knowledge about how much influence these experts actually have on public policies. This is partly due to limited methodological innovationin studies of expertise and policy making and a lack of relevant methodological guidance. The article presents a new methodological agenda f…

  • Political and administrative control of expert groups—A mixed‐methods study

    Open Access•Stine Hesstvedt, Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Governance•2023•Citada por: 14•Referências: 38

    Governments face a fundamental dilemma when asking expert groups for advice. Experts possess knowledge that can help governments design effective and legitimate policies. However, they can also propose different policies than those preferred by government. How do governments solve this conundrum? Through a mixed‐methods study, the article examines politico‐administrative control with expert advisory commissions in Norway. Arguing that both politi…

  • Expertise, Policy-making and Democracy

    Open Access•Cathrine Holst, Anders Molander et al.•BOOK•Expertise, Policy-Making and…•2022

    This book offers a concise and accessible introduction to debates about expertise, policy-making and democracy. It uniquely combines an overview of recent research on the policy role of experts with discussions in political philosophy and the philosophy of expertise. Starting with the fact that well-functioning democracies require experts and expert knowledge, the book examines two types of objections against granting experts a larger role in pol…

  • Explaining the role of expertise in the state

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Sara Forato•ARTICLE•Political Research Exchange•2022•Citada por: 1•Referências: 23

    The expert competences of the public bureaucracy are often seen as crucial for the quality and legitimacy of public policies. Yet, the role of expertise in the state varies greatly across countries. How can we explain the position of expert competences in the bureaucracy? The paper examines this question through a historical-institutional analysis of the Italian ministerial bureaucracy. Extending the 'public service bargains' framework, it argues…

  • When bureaucratic expertise comes under attack

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2022•Citada por: 19•Referências: 11

    Politicians need expertise to make public policies, and civil servants are principal and proximate providers of knowledge. Yet, what constitutes relevant knowledge and skills for bureaucrats is regularly contested—both by politicians and bureaucrats—and subject to change. How can we explain the processes of contestation and change in the expertise of policy bureaucracies? The article presents a theoretical framework for analyzing the politics of …

  • The technocratic tendencies of economists in government bureaucracy

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Ronen Mandelkern•ARTICLE•Governance•2022•Citada por: 11•Referências: 30

    Economists are by many accounts the most influential group of experts in contemporary political decision‐making. While the literature on the power of economists mostly focuses on the policy ideas of economic experts, some recent studies suggest that economists also hold particular technocratic ideas about the policy process. The article systematically tests this argument. Focusing on economists within government bureaucracy, the study is based on…

  • Expert knowledge and policymaking

    Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Policy & Politics•2021•Citada por: 68•Referências: 31

    The role of experts and expert knowledge in policymaking has attracted growing public and academic attention. Scholarship on the topic has, however, remained deeply fragmented. It is discussed in separate silos of the literature – such as evidence-based policymaking, epistemic communities, and ideas and politics – and this has hindered sustained empirical study. This article argues that to stimulate more systematic research on the role that exper…

  • Are Citizens More Negative About Failing Service Delivery by Public Than Private Organizations? Evidence From a Large-Scale Survey Experiment

    Open Access•Petra Van Den Bekerom, Joris Van Der Voet et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Public Administration…•2021•Citada por: 36•Referências: 33

    Citizens’ perceptions of the performance of public service providers are a central concern for academics and policy-makers alike. A growing body of behavioral public administration research emphasizes the psychological biases that shape the perceptions of citizens. This article makes a novel contribution to this debate by examining the interaction between politically motivated bias and cognitive bias in citizens’ performance appraisals. It asks: …

  • How Do Advocacy Think Tanks Relate to Academic Knowledge? The Case of Norway

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Cathrine Holst•ARTICLE•Scandinavian Political Studies•2020•Citada por: 2•Referências: 11

    Think tanks often present themselves as contributors to a more reflective and informed political debate and their policy advice as based on knowledge and research. Yet, they also claim to be alternatives to university research and research institutes and often use knowledge and expertise to pursue explicitly ideological agendas. How do think tanks handle this balancing act of knowledge provision and ideological commitment? How do they relate to a…

  • Representative bureaucracy, international organizations and public service bargains

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2019•Citada por: 5•Referências: 14

    Academic interest in the administrative aspects of international organizations is on the rise. Yet, an issue that has received little attention is bureaucratic representation—the extent to which international bureaucracies are representative of the polity that they serve. The article theorizes the rationales for and forms of representative bureaucracy in international organizations by combining insights from the representative bureaucracy literat…

  • International public administrations

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Kutsal Yesilkagit•ARTICLE•Journal of European Public Policy•2019•Citada por: 18•Referências: 33

    Recent decades have seen an expansion and proliferation of administrative bodies at the international level. An emerging literature on ‘international public administrations’ attempts to conceptualize and theorize these bodies, by applying a public administration perspective to international organizations. This essay critically examines how this literature addresses key issues relating to international administrative bodies: bureaucratic autonomy,…

  • Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Policy Sciences•2018•Citada por: 17•Referências: 14

    The growing role of economic expertise in contemporary policy-making has received increasing scholarly attention. Yet, so far, this discussion has only been tenuously linked to relevant debates in public policy and administration, such as the work on policy advisory systems. The article attempts to bridge this gap by examining the changing reliance on academic economic knowledge within policy advisory bodies. It does so by analysing appointments …

  • The role of advisory bodies in the emergence of cross-cutting policy issues

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Kathia Serrano Velarde•ARTICLE•European Politics and Society•2018•Citada por: 5•Referências: 8

    The article examines the role of policy advisory bodies in the emergence of national innovation policy. Cross-cutting policy issues such as innovation policy pose unique challenges to governments. Given that they do not fit neatly within the purview of existing government departments, it is often unclear who is responsible for dealing with a given issue. Issues may go unaddressed or else be subject to competing initiatives from different departme…

  • Expertisation or greater representation? Evidence from Norwegian advisory commissions

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•European Politics and Society•2018•Citada por: 17•Referências: 16

    Policy-making in democratic systems involves the consultation of affected interests as well as relevant expertise. Yet, who provides decision-makers with input and how this has changed over time is a matter of contention. Whereas society-centred accounts point to the involvement of interest groups in policy formulation, epistemic accounts emphasise the participation of academic experts in the analysis and design of policy. Yet, there are few syst…

  • Advisory commissions, academic expertise and democratic legitimacy

    Johan Christensen, Cathrine Holst•ARTICLE•Science and Public Policy•2017

    Commissions appointed to examine and propose solutions to major policy problems play a vital role in policy formulation in the Nordic countries. Whereas existing accounts emphasize the corporatist and statist features of these bodies, this article investigates the changing role of academic knowledge within commissions. It does so through an empirical and normative analysis of Norwegian ad hoc advisory commissions appointed during the period 1967–…

  • The Power of Economists within the State

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•BOOK•The power of economists within…•2017

    Why have some countries gone further than others in adopting market–conforming policies? Although previous studies have highlighted political parties, production regimes, and political institutions, this book points to the varying position of economic experts within the state to explain the persistent differences in economic policies across developed countries. Although economists were key agents of the turn toward the market in public policy, th…

Próximo
  • Expert knowledge and policymaking

    Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Policy & Politics•2021•Citada por: 68•Referências: 31

    The role of experts and expert knowledge in policymaking has attracted growing public and academic attention. Scholarship on the topic has, however, remained deeply fragmented. It is discussed in separate silos of the literature – such as evidence-based policymaking, epistemic communities, and ideas and politics – and this has hindered sustained empirical study. This article argues that to stimulate more systematic research on the role that exper…

  • Are Citizens More Negative About Failing Service Delivery by Public Than Private Organizations? Evidence From a Large-Scale Survey Experiment

    Open Access•Petra Van Den Bekerom, Joris Van Der Voet et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Public Administration…•2021•Citada por: 36•Referências: 33

    Citizens’ perceptions of the performance of public service providers are a central concern for academics and policy-makers alike. A growing body of behavioral public administration research emphasizes the psychological biases that shape the perceptions of citizens. This article makes a novel contribution to this debate by examining the interaction between politically motivated bias and cognitive bias in citizens’ performance appraisals. It asks: …

  • When bureaucratic expertise comes under attack

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2022•Citada por: 19•Referências: 11

    Politicians need expertise to make public policies, and civil servants are principal and proximate providers of knowledge. Yet, what constitutes relevant knowledge and skills for bureaucrats is regularly contested—both by politicians and bureaucrats—and subject to change. How can we explain the processes of contestation and change in the expertise of policy bureaucracies? The article presents a theoretical framework for analyzing the politics of …

  • International public administrations

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Kutsal Yesilkagit•ARTICLE•Journal of European Public Policy•2019•Citada por: 18•Referências: 33

    Recent decades have seen an expansion and proliferation of administrative bodies at the international level. An emerging literature on ‘international public administrations’ attempts to conceptualize and theorize these bodies, by applying a public administration perspective to international organizations. This essay critically examines how this literature addresses key issues relating to international administrative bodies: bureaucratic autonomy,…

  • Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Policy Sciences•2018•Citada por: 17•Referências: 14

    The growing role of economic expertise in contemporary policy-making has received increasing scholarly attention. Yet, so far, this discussion has only been tenuously linked to relevant debates in public policy and administration, such as the work on policy advisory systems. The article attempts to bridge this gap by examining the changing reliance on academic economic knowledge within policy advisory bodies. It does so by analysing appointments …

  • Expertisation or greater representation? Evidence from Norwegian advisory commissions

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•European Politics and Society•2018•Citada por: 17•Referências: 16

    Policy-making in democratic systems involves the consultation of affected interests as well as relevant expertise. Yet, who provides decision-makers with input and how this has changed over time is a matter of contention. Whereas society-centred accounts point to the involvement of interest groups in policy formulation, epistemic accounts emphasise the participation of academic experts in the analysis and design of policy. Yet, there are few syst…

  • The influence of expert groups

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•Journal of European Public Policy•2024•Citada por: 14•Referências: 38

    Decision-makers rely extensively on expert groups and commissions for policy advice. Many see in this a growing technocracy or expertization of decision-making. Yet, we know little about the actual influence of these expert bodies in policy-making. When does expert group advice shape policy-making rather than being brushed aside? The article goes beyond existing research by measuring and explaining variation in expert group influence. Using the n…

  • Studying expert influence

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•West European Politics•2023•Citada por: 14•Referências: 31

    Expert communities, advisory bodies and expert bureaucracies are ubiquitous in national and international governance. Yet, we have surprisingly little systematic empirical knowledge about how much influence these experts actually have on public policies. This is partly due to limited methodological innovationin studies of expertise and policy making and a lack of relevant methodological guidance. The article presents a new methodological agenda f…

  • Political and administrative control of expert groups—A mixed‐methods study

    Open Access•Stine Hesstvedt, Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Governance•2023•Citada por: 14•Referências: 38

    Governments face a fundamental dilemma when asking expert groups for advice. Experts possess knowledge that can help governments design effective and legitimate policies. However, they can also propose different policies than those preferred by government. How do governments solve this conundrum? Through a mixed‐methods study, the article examines politico‐administrative control with expert advisory commissions in Norway. Arguing that both politi…

  • Bureaucracies, Neoliberal Ideas, and Tax Reform in New Zealand and Ireland

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Governance•2013•Citada por: 12•Referências: 23

    Why did New Zealand adopt one of the most neoliberal tax systems in the world, whereas Ireland pursued a heterodox tax policy of low rates, deep deductions, and distortionary tax incentives? The diverging tax policy trajectories of these two small liberal market economies since 1980 are not well accounted for by conventional ideational, partisan, or political‐institutional explanations. The article argues that the varying degree of neoliberal ref…

  • The technocratic tendencies of economists in government bureaucracy

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Ronen Mandelkern•ARTICLE•Governance•2022•Citada por: 11•Referências: 30

    Economists are by many accounts the most influential group of experts in contemporary political decision‐making. While the literature on the power of economists mostly focuses on the policy ideas of economic experts, some recent studies suggest that economists also hold particular technocratic ideas about the policy process. The article systematically tests this argument. Focusing on economists within government bureaucracy, the study is based on…

  • Representative bureaucracy and specialist knowledge in the European Commission

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Petra Van Den Bekerom et al.•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2017•Citada por: 9•Referências: 18

    The article addresses an issue that has received little attention in the literature on representative bureaucracy, namely the relationship between representativeness and specialized expertise in public administration. While representation may strengthen the legitimacy of public bureaucracies, what implications does it have for expert knowledge in these organizations? This issue is examined by looking at the recruitment of civil servants to the Eu…

  • Recruitment and Expertise in the European Commission

    Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•West European Politics•2014•Citada por: 9•Referências: 9

    The article examines the changes in the European Commission's recruitment practices from its creation in the 1950s until today. Based on the insight that recruitment shapes the role of professional experts in public bureaucracies, the article traces the emphasis on specialist skills and qualifications in the Commission's recruitment competitions (the concours) over time. It finds that the selection of policy staff to the Commission has become mor…

  • Bringing the bureaucrats back in

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Journal of Public Policy•2012•Citada por: 6•Referências: 14

    New Zealand moved further in neo-liberal tax reform than most other advanced economies over the last three decades. The article investigates this extreme case to address the question of what explains major neo-liberal economic reform. Comparing tax policy-making in two periods, the 1980s and 2008–10, we argue that neo-liberal tax reform in New Zealand is best understood as the product of “autonomous bureaucratic action”. That is, bureaucratic org…

  • Representative bureaucracy, international organizations and public service bargains

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2019•Citada por: 5•Referências: 14

    Academic interest in the administrative aspects of international organizations is on the rise. Yet, an issue that has received little attention is bureaucratic representation—the extent to which international bureaucracies are representative of the polity that they serve. The article theorizes the rationales for and forms of representative bureaucracy in international organizations by combining insights from the representative bureaucracy literat…

  • The role of advisory bodies in the emergence of cross-cutting policy issues

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Kathia Serrano Velarde•ARTICLE•European Politics and Society•2018•Citada por: 5•Referências: 8

    The article examines the role of policy advisory bodies in the emergence of national innovation policy. Cross-cutting policy issues such as innovation policy pose unique challenges to governments. Given that they do not fit neatly within the purview of existing government departments, it is often unclear who is responsible for dealing with a given issue. Issues may go unaddressed or else be subject to competing initiatives from different departme…

  • The epistemic quality of expert bodies

    Open Access•Cathrine Holst, Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Acta Politica•2024•Citada por: 3•Referências: 49

    The ubiquity of experts in contemporary policy-making has been met with enthusiasm in some quarters, but has also faced severe criticism. Beyond the democratic concerns regarding expert power, critics have raised worries about whether experts actually contribute to increasing the epistemic quality of policies, in line with normative expectations. Yet, so far, limited attention has been paid to the specific conditions under which experts involved …

  • Comparing ministerial evidence cultures

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•Policy and Society•2024•Citada por: 2•Referências: 20

    Evidence-informed policy-making is seen by many as crucial for formulating effective solutions to the complex challenges facing societies today. However, scholarship on evidence and policy-making has repeatedly noted that the use of evidence in government policy-making is highly uneven across policy areas and organizations. Still, we have surprisingly little systematic empirical knowledge about how government organizations actually differ in the …

  • How Do Advocacy Think Tanks Relate to Academic Knowledge? The Case of Norway

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Cathrine Holst•ARTICLE•Scandinavian Political Studies•2020•Citada por: 2•Referências: 11

    Think tanks often present themselves as contributors to a more reflective and informed political debate and their policy advice as based on knowledge and research. Yet, they also claim to be alternatives to university research and research institutes and often use knowledge and expertise to pursue explicitly ideological agendas. How do think tanks handle this balancing act of knowledge provision and ideological commitment? How do they relate to a…

  • Explaining the role of expertise in the state

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Sara Forato•ARTICLE•Political Research Exchange•2022•Citada por: 1•Referências: 23

    The expert competences of the public bureaucracy are often seen as crucial for the quality and legitimacy of public policies. Yet, the role of expertise in the state varies greatly across countries. How can we explain the position of expert competences in the bureaucracy? The paper examines this question through a historical-institutional analysis of the Italian ministerial bureaucracy. Extending the 'public service bargains' framework, it argues…

  • The Organization of Professional Expertise in the European Commission

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Politics and Governance•2015•Citada por: 1•Referências: 5

    What kind of professional experts dominate within the European Commission—lawyers, economists or others? Driven by the notion that the role of professional experts is shaped by organizational features, the article examines how different kinds of expertise are inscribed in the Commission’s recruitment system and organizational structure. The analysis shows that while economics may have overtaken law as the most common educational background in the…

  • Bringing the bureaucrats back in

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Journal of Public Policy•2012•Citada por: 6•Referências: 14

    New Zealand moved further in neo-liberal tax reform than most other advanced economies over the last three decades. The article investigates this extreme case to address the question of what explains major neo-liberal economic reform. Comparing tax policy-making in two periods, the 1980s and 2008–10, we argue that neo-liberal tax reform in New Zealand is best understood as the product of “autonomous bureaucratic action”. That is, bureaucratic org…

  • Bureaucracies, Neoliberal Ideas, and Tax Reform in New Zealand and Ireland

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Governance•2013•Citada por: 12•Referências: 23

    Why did New Zealand adopt one of the most neoliberal tax systems in the world, whereas Ireland pursued a heterodox tax policy of low rates, deep deductions, and distortionary tax incentives? The diverging tax policy trajectories of these two small liberal market economies since 1980 are not well accounted for by conventional ideational, partisan, or political‐institutional explanations. The article argues that the varying degree of neoliberal ref…

  • Recruitment and Expertise in the European Commission

    Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•West European Politics•2014•Citada por: 9•Referências: 9

    The article examines the changes in the European Commission's recruitment practices from its creation in the 1950s until today. Based on the insight that recruitment shapes the role of professional experts in public bureaucracies, the article traces the emphasis on specialist skills and qualifications in the Commission's recruitment competitions (the concours) over time. It finds that the selection of policy staff to the Commission has become mor…

  • The Organization of Professional Expertise in the European Commission

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Politics and Governance•2015•Citada por: 1•Referências: 5

    What kind of professional experts dominate within the European Commission—lawyers, economists or others? Driven by the notion that the role of professional experts is shaped by organizational features, the article examines how different kinds of expertise are inscribed in the Commission’s recruitment system and organizational structure. The analysis shows that while economics may have overtaken law as the most common educational background in the…

  • Advisory commissions, academic expertise and democratic legitimacy

    Johan Christensen, Cathrine Holst•ARTICLE•Science and Public Policy•2017

    Commissions appointed to examine and propose solutions to major policy problems play a vital role in policy formulation in the Nordic countries. Whereas existing accounts emphasize the corporatist and statist features of these bodies, this article investigates the changing role of academic knowledge within commissions. It does so through an empirical and normative analysis of Norwegian ad hoc advisory commissions appointed during the period 1967–…

  • The Power of Economists within the State

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•BOOK•The power of economists within…•2017

    Why have some countries gone further than others in adopting market–conforming policies? Although previous studies have highlighted political parties, production regimes, and political institutions, this book points to the varying position of economic experts within the state to explain the persistent differences in economic policies across developed countries. Although economists were key agents of the turn toward the market in public policy, th…

  • Representative bureaucracy and specialist knowledge in the European Commission

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Petra Van Den Bekerom et al.•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2017•Citada por: 9•Referências: 18

    The article addresses an issue that has received little attention in the literature on representative bureaucracy, namely the relationship between representativeness and specialized expertise in public administration. While representation may strengthen the legitimacy of public bureaucracies, what implications does it have for expert knowledge in these organizations? This issue is examined by looking at the recruitment of civil servants to the Eu…

  • Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Policy Sciences•2018•Citada por: 17•Referências: 14

    The growing role of economic expertise in contemporary policy-making has received increasing scholarly attention. Yet, so far, this discussion has only been tenuously linked to relevant debates in public policy and administration, such as the work on policy advisory systems. The article attempts to bridge this gap by examining the changing reliance on academic economic knowledge within policy advisory bodies. It does so by analysing appointments …

  • The role of advisory bodies in the emergence of cross-cutting policy issues

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Kathia Serrano Velarde•ARTICLE•European Politics and Society•2018•Citada por: 5•Referências: 8

    The article examines the role of policy advisory bodies in the emergence of national innovation policy. Cross-cutting policy issues such as innovation policy pose unique challenges to governments. Given that they do not fit neatly within the purview of existing government departments, it is often unclear who is responsible for dealing with a given issue. Issues may go unaddressed or else be subject to competing initiatives from different departme…

  • Expertisation or greater representation? Evidence from Norwegian advisory commissions

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•European Politics and Society•2018•Citada por: 17•Referências: 16

    Policy-making in democratic systems involves the consultation of affected interests as well as relevant expertise. Yet, who provides decision-makers with input and how this has changed over time is a matter of contention. Whereas society-centred accounts point to the involvement of interest groups in policy formulation, epistemic accounts emphasise the participation of academic experts in the analysis and design of policy. Yet, there are few syst…

  • Representative bureaucracy, international organizations and public service bargains

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2019•Citada por: 5•Referências: 14

    Academic interest in the administrative aspects of international organizations is on the rise. Yet, an issue that has received little attention is bureaucratic representation—the extent to which international bureaucracies are representative of the polity that they serve. The article theorizes the rationales for and forms of representative bureaucracy in international organizations by combining insights from the representative bureaucracy literat…

  • International public administrations

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Kutsal Yesilkagit•ARTICLE•Journal of European Public Policy•2019•Citada por: 18•Referências: 33

    Recent decades have seen an expansion and proliferation of administrative bodies at the international level. An emerging literature on ‘international public administrations’ attempts to conceptualize and theorize these bodies, by applying a public administration perspective to international organizations. This essay critically examines how this literature addresses key issues relating to international administrative bodies: bureaucratic autonomy,…

  • How Do Advocacy Think Tanks Relate to Academic Knowledge? The Case of Norway

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Cathrine Holst•ARTICLE•Scandinavian Political Studies•2020•Citada por: 2•Referências: 11

    Think tanks often present themselves as contributors to a more reflective and informed political debate and their policy advice as based on knowledge and research. Yet, they also claim to be alternatives to university research and research institutes and often use knowledge and expertise to pursue explicitly ideological agendas. How do think tanks handle this balancing act of knowledge provision and ideological commitment? How do they relate to a…

  • Expert knowledge and policymaking

    Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Policy & Politics•2021•Citada por: 68•Referências: 31

    The role of experts and expert knowledge in policymaking has attracted growing public and academic attention. Scholarship on the topic has, however, remained deeply fragmented. It is discussed in separate silos of the literature – such as evidence-based policymaking, epistemic communities, and ideas and politics – and this has hindered sustained empirical study. This article argues that to stimulate more systematic research on the role that exper…

  • Are Citizens More Negative About Failing Service Delivery by Public Than Private Organizations? Evidence From a Large-Scale Survey Experiment

    Open Access•Petra Van Den Bekerom, Joris Van Der Voet et al.•ARTICLE•Journal of Public Administration…•2021•Citada por: 36•Referências: 33

    Citizens’ perceptions of the performance of public service providers are a central concern for academics and policy-makers alike. A growing body of behavioral public administration research emphasizes the psychological biases that shape the perceptions of citizens. This article makes a novel contribution to this debate by examining the interaction between politically motivated bias and cognitive bias in citizens’ performance appraisals. It asks: …

  • Expertise, Policy-making and Democracy

    Open Access•Cathrine Holst, Anders Molander et al.•BOOK•Expertise, Policy-Making and…•2022

    This book offers a concise and accessible introduction to debates about expertise, policy-making and democracy. It uniquely combines an overview of recent research on the policy role of experts with discussions in political philosophy and the philosophy of expertise. Starting with the fact that well-functioning democracies require experts and expert knowledge, the book examines two types of objections against granting experts a larger role in pol…

  • Explaining the role of expertise in the state

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Sara Forato•ARTICLE•Political Research Exchange•2022•Citada por: 1•Referências: 23

    The expert competences of the public bureaucracy are often seen as crucial for the quality and legitimacy of public policies. Yet, the role of expertise in the state varies greatly across countries. How can we explain the position of expert competences in the bureaucracy? The paper examines this question through a historical-institutional analysis of the Italian ministerial bureaucracy. Extending the 'public service bargains' framework, it argues…

  • When bureaucratic expertise comes under attack

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Public Administration•2022•Citada por: 19•Referências: 11

    Politicians need expertise to make public policies, and civil servants are principal and proximate providers of knowledge. Yet, what constitutes relevant knowledge and skills for bureaucrats is regularly contested—both by politicians and bureaucrats—and subject to change. How can we explain the processes of contestation and change in the expertise of policy bureaucracies? The article presents a theoretical framework for analyzing the politics of …

  • The technocratic tendencies of economists in government bureaucracy

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Ronen Mandelkern•ARTICLE•Governance•2022•Citada por: 11•Referências: 30

    Economists are by many accounts the most influential group of experts in contemporary political decision‐making. While the literature on the power of economists mostly focuses on the policy ideas of economic experts, some recent studies suggest that economists also hold particular technocratic ideas about the policy process. The article systematically tests this argument. Focusing on economists within government bureaucracy, the study is based on…

  • « De nouvelles expertises pénètrent en continu l’État, on ne peut plus juste en rester aux économistes »

    Johan Christensen, Paul Cotton•ARTICLE•Revue Française de Socio-Économie•2023

  • Studying expert influence

    Open Access•Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•West European Politics•2023•Citada por: 14•Referências: 31

    Expert communities, advisory bodies and expert bureaucracies are ubiquitous in national and international governance. Yet, we have surprisingly little systematic empirical knowledge about how much influence these experts actually have on public policies. This is partly due to limited methodological innovationin studies of expertise and policy making and a lack of relevant methodological guidance. The article presents a new methodological agenda f…

  • Political and administrative control of expert groups—A mixed‐methods study

    Open Access•Stine Hesstvedt, Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Governance•2023•Citada por: 14•Referências: 38

    Governments face a fundamental dilemma when asking expert groups for advice. Experts possess knowledge that can help governments design effective and legitimate policies. However, they can also propose different policies than those preferred by government. How do governments solve this conundrum? Through a mixed‐methods study, the article examines politico‐administrative control with expert advisory commissions in Norway. Arguing that both politi…

  • Comparing ministerial evidence cultures

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•Policy and Society•2024•Citada por: 2•Referências: 20

    Evidence-informed policy-making is seen by many as crucial for formulating effective solutions to the complex challenges facing societies today. However, scholarship on evidence and policy-making has repeatedly noted that the use of evidence in government policy-making is highly uneven across policy areas and organizations. Still, we have surprisingly little systematic empirical knowledge about how government organizations actually differ in the …

  • The epistemic quality of expert bodies

    Open Access•Cathrine Holst, Johan Christensen•ARTICLE•Acta Politica•2024•Citada por: 3•Referências: 49

    The ubiquity of experts in contemporary policy-making has been met with enthusiasm in some quarters, but has also faced severe criticism. Beyond the democratic concerns regarding expert power, critics have raised worries about whether experts actually contribute to increasing the epistemic quality of policies, in line with normative expectations. Yet, so far, limited attention has been paid to the specific conditions under which experts involved …

  • The influence of expert groups

    Open Access•Johan Christensen, Stine Hesstvedt•ARTICLE•Journal of European Public Policy•2024•Citada por: 14•Referências: 38

    Decision-makers rely extensively on expert groups and commissions for policy advice. Many see in this a growing technocracy or expertization of decision-making. Yet, we know little about the actual influence of these expert bodies in policy-making. When does expert group advice shape policy-making rather than being brushed aside? The article goes beyond existing research by measuring and explaining variation in expert group influence. Using the n…

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Ethnos_APP • Projeto Open Source • Licença MIT • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacidade e Cookies • Documentação da API: api.ethnos.app/docs • Código da API: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Código do Frontend: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae