Externalization and politicization in policy advisory systems: a case study of contestable policy-making 2010–2015

This paper contends that since 2010 in the UK, there has been an unprecedented attempt to disrupt the traditional civil service ‘monopoly’ over policy advice, outsourcing policy-making to actors beyond the central state. The author argues that the policy-making processes of Whitehall and Westminster governance are being radically overhauled. In many Anglophone countries, ministers have sought to reduce their structural dependence on the permanent civil service. In so doing, ministers sought to gain political control over the machinery of policy-making. These efforts to restructure the permanent bureaucracy have had unintended consequences, however. The policy process in the UK state has become more fragmented, as policy-making and implementation have increasingly diverged.Those policy-makers and practitioners who have contact with civil servants and government ministers need to better understand the more fluid and unpredictable policy environment that is emerging at various tiers of UK governance, shaped by a multiplicity of actors sitting within, and outside, the formal boundaries of the state. The diverse ecology of policy-making institutions includes think-tanks, research institutes, non-governmental organizations, charities, community groups, management consultancies, and professional services companies, all of whom are involved in directly providing policy advice to ministers. The ‘monopoly’ over policy-making traditionally enjoyed by the civil service is eroding, with important implications for the work of policy-makers and public managers who have to negotiate the more fractious system of Whitehall bureaucracy. A subtle but perceptible shift is occurring whereby elected politicians and their advisers are gaining greater control over the policy-making processes of the UK state.