Expert Commissions, Bureaucrats, and Policymaking

Expert commissions form an important intersection between politics, bureaucracy, and science and an often-used source of policy advice. This contribution argues that such expert commissions shape bureaucratic careers by presenting biographical intersections of actors and the intellectual source of policy ideas. From the perspective of the Programmatic Action Framework (PAF), the actors of these expert commissions are viewed as programmatic actors that use the ideas generated in these commissions to foster their own bureaucratic careers and agency. Using French and German health policy as an example, the empirical analysis compares two major commissions for the long-term development of the health care sector at the end of the 1980s. The results suggest that while the commissions in both countries helped to advance the careers of their members, expert commissions are institutionalized to different degrees and vary with the policy advisory system. As a consequence, careers built on the inclusion of expert advice are more common in France compared to Germany, and more institutionalized.