Policy advice
Political advice refers to the entire complex of political advice activities , but especially the transfer of knowledge from science to political practice.
Basics
Jürgen Habermas came up with the classic definition at the end of the 1960s:
"Policy advice has the task of interpreting research results from the horizon of guiding interests that determine the actors' understanding of the situation on the one hand, and evaluating projects on the other hand, and initiating and choosing programs that steer the research process in the direction of practical questions."
Policy advice is increasingly establishing itself alongside the original definition as a collective term for a broader range of advisory services.
There are two types of policy advice:
- Policy consulting , English policy advice : occurs mainly by consulting bars (like the cabinets of leadership politician) with professionals in politics, Juristik or diplomacy, by scientists, but increasingly by business consultants and lobbyists . The scientific policy advice takes on a dual switching function. On the one hand, political advice mediates between politics , business and civil society . On the other hand, itbuilds the bridge between political science and political practice(e.g. in think tanks or "think tanks").
- Communicative policy advice , English political consulting : This is primarily aboutadvisingpoliticians on campaigns and election campaigns as well as other aspects of communication and public relations (activities of political consulting agencies and spin doctors ).
Some political advisors also lobby :
- Public affairs (more rarely “political contact work”) works in a similar way to public relations at the interface between politics , business and society . PA helps organizations improve their relationships with the political field.
- Government Relations : geared towards direct interaction with the legislature.
A large part of policy advice is provided by political employees and scientists in a wide variety of committees, e.g. B. Expert commissions , in think tanks and foundations . This scientific policy advice has repeatedly been the subject of heated debates since Habermas' essay. In 2008 the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences developed and published guidelines for good policy advice .
National
Germany
history
The move of the government from Bonn to Berlin gave political advice a strong development boost. Many associations stayed in Bonn - for example because of the relative proximity to Brussels - and commissioned agencies or external consultants to maintain contacts in Berlin. Many of them have settled in Berlin's government district.
Report of the Federal Audit Office
On April 1, 2008, the Federal Court of Auditors (BRH) sent a report entitled “On the work of employees from associations and companies in the highest federal authorities” to the budget committee of the Bundestag.
The guiding principle is:
“During its investigation, the Federal Audit Office did not come across any facts that would substantiate a specific suspicion of intentional abuse of the use of external workers in the federal ministries or noticeable damage to the federal government and the common good for which it is responsible.” that in some areas there are increased risks of conflicts of interest . ""
Although “based on its audit results, the Federal Audit Office sees no need to fundamentally question the personal exchange between administration and companies”, but in order to reduce the “existing risks” to a minimum, it gave the parliamentarians ten recommendations for action, including: a .: "Loan officers" should
- are not allowed to “lead the way in drafting laws and other legal acts” (up to now, 20 percent of external employees had the opportunity to do so).
- no longer be involved in public procurement procedures (up to now this was more than 25 percent of the approximately 100 “lobbyists” who were active in the highest federal authorities from 2004 to 2006).
- no longer create line templates (which up to now more than 60 percent of the "loan officers" did) and no longer represent the federal government externally
On June 13, 2009 the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) presented the “Draft of a general administrative regulation for the deployment of non-public employees (external persons) in the Federal Government”. It bundled the resolutions of the budget committee of April 9 and June 4, 2008 “in the interests of the integrity and the functionality of the federal administration.” The “General Administrative Regulation of the Federal Government” including “ Code of Conduct for External Persons Working in the Federal Administration” was based on the recommendations of the Federal Audit Office formulated. According to the general administrative regulation for the deployment of non-public employees (external persons) in the federal administration, the Federal Ministry of the Interior must report to the budget and interior committee every six months in writing about the respective staffing levels of the "external positions".
“In fact, the“ Changing Sides ”program with these administrative corsets and the enforced transparency measures is“ done ”, as a top official in the Federal Ministry of the Interior bitterly said. The “Bundesrechnungshof method” and the lengthy but ultimately effective control mechanisms of the budget committee could be a model for solving all other “parliamentary hot spots in connection with lobbying”. This effective blueprint of a self-assertion by Parliament has (so far) rarely been used in the other cases. "
literature
- Susanne Cassel: Political Advice and Political Advice. 2001, ISBN 3-258-06277-3 .
- Florian Busch-Janser et al. (Ed.): Political consulting as a profession . 2007, ISBN 978-3-938456-30-9 .
- Althaus, Marco (Ed.): Campaign! 2002, ISBN 978-3-8258-5292-4 ; as well as campaign 2! 2004, ISBN 978-3-8258-5995-4 .
- Thomas Hofer : The tricks of the politicians . Ueberreuter , Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-8000-7448-8 .
- Hartmut Ihne: Global governance and evidence-based policy advice - tendencies and principles. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2007, ISBN 978-3-8329-2452-2 .
- Clemens Kuhne: Policy advice for parties. Actors, forms, need factors . VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-15746-7 .
- Birger P. Priddat : Politics under influence. Networks, publics, consultations, lobby. Wiesbaden, VS 20092007.
- Birger P. Priddat: Policy advice: processes, logic and economics. Metropolis, Marburg 2009.
Scientific Advice:
- Jürgen Habermas : Scientific politics and public opinion. In: Technology and Science as Ideology. Frankfurt / Main 1968/2003, pp. 120-145
- Svenja Falk, Andrea Römmele, Dieter Rehfeld, Martin Thunert (eds.): Handbuch Politikberatung. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-531-14250-0 .
- Harald Heinrichs: Policy advice in the knowledge society: an analysis of environmental policy advice systems. German University Publishing House, Wiesbaden 2002.
- Gunther Hellmann (Hrsg.): Research and advice in the knowledge society. The field of international relations and foreign policy. Baden-Baden 2007.
- Margret Kraul , Peter-Tobias Stoll (Ed. On behalf of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences): Scientific policy advice , Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2011 ISBN 978-3-8353-0643-1
National:
- Steffen Dagger, Michael Kambeck (Ed.): Policy advice and lobbying in Brussels . VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007. ISBN 978-3-531-15388-9 ( online in the Google book search)
- Lobbying and policy advice . Supplement to the magazine Das Parlament , 2010 ( online , bundestag.de)
- Steffen Dagger: Employees in the German Bundestag: political managers, public relations workers and consultants. Ibidem, Stuttgart 2009. ISBN 978-3-8382-0007-1 .
- Steffen Dagger, et al. (Ed.): Political advice in Germany , practice and perspectives, VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004. ISBN 978-3-531-14464-1 . ( Online in Google Book Search)
- Christian H. Schuster: Policy advisory agencies in Germany . Diploma thesis, published in the series J + K Wissen , poli-c-books, Berlin / Munich 2005.
- Peter Weingart , Justus Lentsch, knowledge, advice, and decision-making. Form and function of scientific policy advice in Germany. Weiterswist 2008. ISBN 3-938808-51-9
- Feri Thierry (Ed.): "Policy advice in Austria. Challenges, strategies, perspectives." 2nd, extended edition, new academic press, Vienna 2013. ISBN 978-3-7003-1844-6
Web links
- dradio.de: Ghostwriters of politics: From speechwriters, consultants and think tanks . August 28, 2009. (Incl. Audiolink)
National:
Individual evidence
-
^ Guidelines for scientific policy advice from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences . (PDF file; 629 kB);
see also quality criteria of policy advice ( memento from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (pdf, cmgt.uni-leipzig.de; 108 kB) - ↑ Bundesrechnungshof ,: Report on the cooperation of employees from associations and companies in the highest federal authorities . Gz .: I 5 - 2007 - 987 / VII 1 - 2007 - 10 26. Bonn March 25, 2008, p. 57 ( bundesrechnungshof.de ).
- ↑ General administrative regulation for the deployment of non-public employees (external persons) in the federal administration. 17 July 2008.
- ↑ Thomas Leif : From the symbiosis to the systemic crisis - essay . In: From Politics and Contemporary History . No. 19/2010 , May 3, 2010 ( online ).
