Academic Expertise in Policymaking: An Examination of Channels and Contexts

The concept of ‘technocratization’ (Bertsou & Caramani, 2020), involving the delegation of decision-making to unelected elites, has gained prominence in both academic and societal arenas, with empirical evidence indicating a growing public support towards vesting greater authority in unelected experts (e.g. Hibbing & Theiss-Morse, 2002; Bengtsson & Matilla, 2009; Webb, 2013; Font et al., 2015). This paper seeks to offer a comprehensive exploration of expert involvement in concrete policy practice, with a specific focus on academic experts. We address two critical gaps in the existing literature. Firstly, our distinctive approach involves examining the diverse channels through which experts exert influence. In contrast to previous studies treating expert involvement in general (Bengtsson & Mattila, 2009; Fernández-Martínez & Font Fábregas, 2018; Pilet et al., 2023) or concentrating on very specific forms, most notably technocratic ministers (Pinto et al., 2017; Vittori et al., 2023), we align with Cross et al.'s (2021) call for a broader investigation into the "relevance of different venues for interest groups and experts." Our research systematically analyzes expert involvement across parliaments, media, and government advisory councils, providing a more encompassing perspective that complements insights from general studies or single-venue analyses. Secondly, our research delves into nuanced dynamics between specific expert types and policy issues. Drawing inspiration from Wojcieszak's findings on citizen democracy (2014), we posit that the kind of experts that are solicited varies based on the nature of the policy issue. This framework emphasizes the contextual relevance of experts in shaping policy decisions. In this paper, we aim to map which academic experts are consulted in which kinds of arenas (parliament, government, media). To answer these questions, our study employs innovative observational methods, utilizing web scraping techniques. Official data from parliamentary websites, leading newspapers, and an existing dataset on advisory councils in Belgium (for the 2019-2024 legislative term) underpin our analysis. Our study will significantly contribute to the first topic of the section ‘Knowledge, Science and Expertise’, i.e. the use of evidence in policymaking.