Policy Consultancy in Comparative Perspective: Patterns, Nuances and Implications of the Contractor State (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Public Policy)
Cambridge University Press, 12/19/2019
EAN 9781108496674, ISBN10: 1108496679
Hardcover, 332 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
Many Western countries have seen an increase in the volume and importance of external consultants in the public policy process. This book is the first to investigate this phenomenon in a comparative and interdisciplinary way. The analysis shows who these consultants are, how widely and for what reasons they are used in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands and Sweden. In doing so, the book addresses the positive and negative implications of high levels of external policy consultancy, including its implications for the nature of the state (transforming into a contractor state?) and for democratically legitimized and accountable decision-making (transforming into consultocracy?). It provides valuable new insights for students and practitioners in the fields of public administration, public policy, public management, political science and human resource management.
List of figures
List of tables
Author biographies
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
1. Policy consultancy in comparative perspective
2. Consultancy in the UK Government
modernising privatism
3. Policy consulting in the USA
significant but in decline? 4. Entrenched and escalating
policy-relevant consulting and contracting in Australia, 1987–2017
5. From corporatist to contractor state? Policy consulting in The Netherlands
6. Policy consultants for substance and process
a review of the supply and demand for Canadian policy consulting
7. Swedish government agencies' hiring of policy consultants
a phenomenon of increased magnitude and importance? 8. Conclusion
policy consulting in comparative perspective
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
References
Index.