Policy advisory systems: location, agency, and influence

The chapter provides an overview of the concept of policy advisory systems and discusses its relevance in research on ministerial advisers. It is shown that in the latter strand of research, the concept of policy advisory systems is rarely applied in a broader sense. Instead, scholarship on ministerial advisers mostly considers advisers in relation to the minister and - less often - to civil servants. The chapter argues that an integration of the disparate literatures on policy advisory systems, policy work, and single advisory actors such as ministerial advisers, external consultants, or scientific policy advisers seems a fruitful avenue for future research. A policy advisory systems perspective on ministerial advisers has the potential to enhance knowledge on the interaction patterns, roles, and impact in decision-making of different actors in policy advisory systems.