Consultocracy and its discontents
A critical typology and a call for a research agenda
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7785852 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matti Ylönen (0000-0003-0024-0867, University of Helsinki), Hanna Kuusela (0000-0003-3845-8140, University of Tampere) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 241-258 |
| Publication date | 2019-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Governance (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0952-1895 • E-ISSN: 1468-0491 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/gove.12369 |
| OpenAlex | W2895185824 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 66 |
| References cited | 51 |
In the past few decades, many sector‐specific case studies have been conducted on the use of consultants in the public sector. However, the overall picture of the qualitative changes facilitated by consultants remains fragmented, and a comprehensive framework on how “consultocracy” affects governance is lacking. This article shows how the increased use of consultants has impacted the operational logics of public administration and governance at large. Drawing from a large multisectoral case study from Finland as well as existing studies, a fourfold typology of how consultocracy shapes public administration is introduced. We argue that increased reliance on consultants contributes to the monopolization and privatization of public knowledge and ensuing dependencies, erosion of tacit knowledge, weakening of accountability, and strengthening of instrumental rationality. This research emphasizes the importance of understanding the links between these developments and the need to implement a comprehensive research agenda on consultocracy
Accountability · Administration (probate law · Corporate governance · Economics · Knowledge management · Management · Monopolization · Political science · Public relations · Public sector · Rationality · Sociology · Tacit knowledge · Typology · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Policy Transfer and Learning · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research
Three Configurations of In‐House Government Consulting
From outsourcing to embeddedness
Consultocracy and the power of benchmarks in the French “startup nation”
Mundane technologies of educational policy consultancy
Beyond products and policies
In search of legitimacy
The Economic Logic of or Consulting Practice
Toward a Developmental State in Africa
Higher education in Nordic countries
Challenges of consultant-led planning in India’s smart cities mission
The making of the skyline
Challenges in outsourcing local spatial planning in Poland
Examining the consultocratisation of urban planning in the UK
Consultocracy and urban planning in Pakistan
The Bounded and Pragmatic Consultant
The outsourced planning of active mobility systems in Caracas
The rhetorical functions of invoking experts in legislative debates over social policy in Finland
Threadbare consultancy
A multi-stakeholder perspective to improve the efficacy of management consulting practice in the New Zealand public health system
Orchestrating public reforms through joint organizations
Consultancy firms’ roles in policy diffusion
When Consultants Come to Town
Selective Adoption or Comprehensive Learning? Domestic Policy Makers’ Use of International Organization and Global Management Consulting Firm Advice in Future Skills Policy Making in Canada
Framing and Shaming
Problematising professionalism
A critical analysis of international organizations’ and global management consulting firms’ consensus around twenty-first century skills
Recursive recognition in the international political economy
(Un)certainty for Sale? A Historic Exposé on Sida’s Use of External Experts 1960s–2020s
Depoliticisation and Repoliticisation of Feminist Knowledge in a Nordic Knowledge Regime
Consultancy State
Smart water? Corporate experiments and hybrid hydraulics in India
Getting Back to Basics
(In)visible everyday work of fostering a data‐driven healthcare and social service organisation
Unravelling the paradox of spatial homogeneity
What sustains flawed indicators? Unpacking the EU's administrative burden agenda
Beyond hollowing out
The management consultancy effect
Gaming country rankings
Consultancies in public administration
Professional expertise in policy advisory systems
Seeding the cloud
How legal scholars facilitate tax avoidance
Effective horizon management in transnational administration
Advice that resonates
Rethinking the commissioning of consultants for enhancing government policy capacity
Breaking All the Rules
Regulating the wild west? Management consulting reform in Canadian government
Navigating the pitfalls of outsourcing
Rediscovering the multinational enterprise
Outsourcing the brains
Marketization in Public Purchasing as a Route to Business Corporations' Institutional Power
More than just experts for hire
The role of scientific knowledge in dealing with complex policy problems under conditions of uncertainty
Move toward citizens
Toward intelligence or ignorance? Performativity and uncertainty in government tech narratives
The role of chief executive tenure for public organizations' hiring of management consultants
Beyond consultocracy and servants of power
The participatory turn in local policies
Commodified State Feminism
Economizing the political
Governing Austerity
Material flows as Earth politics
Outsourcing the Business of Development
Cities and Their Gurus
Covid-19 and the Pathologies of Australia's Regulatory State
Solving' the curriculum resource 'problem'? A critical policy analysis
The New Public Management
The Making of Economic Policy
The Consultancy Process — An Insecure Business?
The Uses of Evidence for Educational Policymaking
Building Theories from Case Study Research
Building the New Managerialist State
Reorienting a Nation
Transforming the public sector
Economic Action and Social Structure
The Nordic Welfare State in Three Eras
Seize the Moment
Consultants, consultancy and consultocracy in education policymaking in England
Management Consultants, the State, and the Politics of Administrative Reform in Britain and Canada
Convergence
Consultants, depoliticization and arena-shifting in the policy process
Branding South Korea in a Competitive World Order
In Praise of Bureaucracy
Managing Public Service Contracts
The New Managerialism and the Policy Influence of Consultants in Government
How Solutions Chase Problems
Learning from Abroad
Revisiting Politicization
Pitfalls of Contracting for Policy Advice
Making Sense of ‘What Works
Can the market help the forum? Negotiating the commercialization of deliberative democracy
Branding Consultants as Cultural Intermediaries
Economies of Expertise
| Unique citing works | 66 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 9,43 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2026 (8) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 65 |