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Experts' influence on Nordic politics (NEXPO) (completed)

Experts are often asked to give advice. But do they influence political decisions? Are experts increasingly powerful in the Nordic countries?

Several gears shaped like face profiles.Illustration.
Photo: Colourbox.com

About the group

Politicians may embrace the analyses and advice of experts, but they may also ignore expert recommendations or control experts in ways that make them tools of government rather than actors with independent political power.

  • To what extent do providers of expert advice actually influence the definition of policy problems and the solutions adopted?
  • Have experts become increasingly influential over time, or is their advice increasingly contested and rejected?

Goals

The research group posed the following research questions:

  • How has the policy-making influence of experts through advisory commissions in the Nordic countries changed over the period 2000-2020 and during the coronavirus crisis?
  • Have the Nordic countries followed similar trajectories towards a new Nordic model of expertise in governance or rather taken separate paths, and how can we explain the observed variation?
  • What are the consequences of the changing patterns of expert influence for democracy and good governance in the Nordic countries?

Cooperation

Duration

January 2021 – December 2022

Financing

The research project was financed by UiO:Nordic, The University of Oslo.

Published Apr. 19, 2021 11:19 AM - Last modified May 26, 2024 9:39 AM