The spy who loved me? Cross‐partisans in the core executive

Askim, Jostein; Karlsen, Rune; Kolltveit, Kristoffer

doi:10.1111/padm.12392

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Policy experts provide elected elites with tailored policy advice by drafting legislative documents and writing briefings (Maley, 2000;Busby and Belkacem, 2013;Gouglas et al, 2015;Pittoors et al, 2017;Wolfs and De Winter, 2017). In ministerial offices, they often coordinate with policy experts from other coalition parties (Maley, 2011;Askim et al, 2018) and civil servants (Askim et al, 2017;Connaughton, 2015). Communication experts help elected elites to connect with voters effectively in a mediatized political environment.…”

Section: Staff Typologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional activists? Party activism among political staffers in parliamentary democracies

Moens

2021

Party Politics

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Although the position of the party on the ground has been weakened by cartelization, grassroots activists remain an important recruitment pool for political professionals. Based on unique survey data collected among the staff of 14 Belgian and Dutch parties (N = 1009), this article offers an in-depth analysis of party activism among this under-researched population. Introducing a new supply and demand framework, I argue that staff recruitment is shaped by candidate preferences (supply) and party preferences (demand). The findings demonstrate that most political staffers are high-intensity activists with a strong commitment to their party. Moreover, the theoretical model accurately predicts that non-activists are more common among policy and communication experts, ministerial staff, and those working for ideologically moderate parties. These findings show that paid staffers do not necessarily widen the gap between parties and activists. They also raise normative questions about internal congruence within parties in coalition governments.

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Section: Staff Typologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional activists? Party activism among political staffers in parliamentary democracies

Moens

2021

Party Politics

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“…This is a fourth potential resource factor for future employment. Across and within countries, some MAs are primarily media officers or mere bag carriers for ministers, while others work closely with policymaking and/or have executive responsibility in the ministry (Askim et al, 2017(Askim et al, , 2018Goplerud, 2015). Those who have experienced considerable executive responsibility in a ministry attain more knowledge and skills than those without such experience.…”

Section: Resources and Careersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Office as a Stepping-Stone? Investigating the Careers of Ministerial Advisors

Askim

Karlsen

Kolltveit

2020

Political Studies Review

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Ministerial advisors have become an essential aspect of executive branches worldwide, thus making the ministerial advisor office a potential route for young politicians aspiring to an expanding political class. The article studies which professions ministerial advisors migrate to following their ministerial careers, how ministerial advisors’ post-ministerial careers compare to their pre-ministerial careers, and if the variance in careers can be explained by the resources that ministerial advisors obtain while in government. Empirically, the article draws on a cohort of 139 ministerial advisors in Norwegian governments between 2001 and 2009; it covers positions in the political sphere and the public, private and voluntary occupational sectors over a period from each ministerial advisor’s youth to the end of 2017. The bibliographic data are combined with surveys and elite interviews. The results show that more than expanding the political class as a recruitment ground for future Members of the Parliament and ministers, ministerial advisor appointments serve as stepping-stones to careers outside of politics. Most ministerial advisors experience shifts between occupational sectors and upwards to higher positions. However, ministerial advisors’ attractiveness in the labour market is surprisingly unaffected by what they actually did in office; rather, it rests on resources such as insider knowledge and networks.

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“…This type becomes increasingly prominent in studies exploring MAs' relative power. For example, Askim et al (2018) find that interactions between MAs and other political staff are affected by their relative power resources, chiefly by their standing in the hierarchy. Finally, Type IV politicization setting is where the extent of formal political appointments is low, but the level of appointments into regular bureaucracy is high.…”

Section: Rethinking Politicization Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing ministerial advisers across politicization settings: Still hiding in the shadows?

Staroňová

Rybář

2023

Governance

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The article examines the proposition that the characteristics of ministerial advisers are shaped by specific settings of the politicization of ministerial administration. Four types of politicization settings are identified, resulting from variation in the scope of formal political appointments and appointments into bureaucracy. Using data from an original expert survey and semi‐structured expert interviews, the contribution analyses eleven cases from Central and Eastern Europe. It documents that the functional differentiation of advisers from other administrative actors, and their political and policymaking roles, are conditioned by the politicization settings in which they operate. The political roles of advisers are most pronounced where they do not face other formal political appointees, and appointments into bureaucracy are low. Policymaking roles are strongest where formal political appointees manage high politics, and bureaucratic appointments are limited. The article also identifies “invisible” advisers as a new type of player unknown in established Western bureaucracies.

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The spy who loved me? Cross‐partisans in the core executive

Cited by 10 publications

References 54 publications

Professional activists? Party activism among political staffers in parliamentary democracies

Professional activists? Party activism among political staffers in parliamentary democracies

Public Office as a Stepping-Stone? Investigating the Careers of Ministerial Advisors

Comparing ministerial advisers across politicization settings: Still hiding in the shadows?

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