3 results
twelve - Thinking in splendid isolation? The organisation and policy engagement of think tanks in Belgium
- Edited by Marleen Brans, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, David Aubin, Université catholique de Louvain
-
- Book:
- Policy Analysis in Belgium
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 15 March 2017, pp 257-274
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
During the last two decades of the 20th century, think thanks proliferated dramatically in various countries. Once a predominantly American and British phenomenon, think tanks are now dispersed throughout the world (Stone, 2007; Pautz, 2011; McGann, 2014). The most recent overview of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme (TTCSP, 2013) covers 6,826 think tanks in 182 countries. This report indicates that 1,984 think tanks are based in North America, of which 1,828 are in the United States, while Western Europe is home to 1,267 think tanks, of which 52 are based in Belgium. The majority of these ‘Belgian’ think tanks have an exclusively European or, to a lesser degree, international focus. Well-known examples are Bruegel, the Centre for European Policy Studies and the International Crisis Group. The strong presence of these think tanks is not so surprising, considering the large presence of EU institutions in Brussels (Boucher et al, 2004; Nichelson, 2009; Blockx, 2011).
While various scholars have studied think-tank activity at the EU level (for example, Sherrington 2000; Boucher et al, 2004), the nature and work of domestic think tanks in Europe – without an exclusive EU focus – has rarely been documented. Furthermore, the little work on domestic think tanks that does exist focuses mainly on pluralist polities, such as the UK. As a result, we have much less knowledge of the internal organisation and activities of think tanks in a neo-corporatist setting. This chapter constitutes one of the first attempts to cover this empirical void by focusing on domestic think tanks in Belgium.
Defining what a think tank is (or, and especially, what it is not), represents a challenging undertaking. Think tanks appear in great diversity, varying in size, legal form, policy ambit, organisational structure and political significance. As a result, researchers tend to observe many hybrid forms, rather than one dominant model. Furthermore, the national context, including elements such as constitutional architecture and political culture, also plays an important part in determining the particular features of think tanks (Stone, 2007, p 261; Campbell and Pedersen, 2014, p 27). In the case of Belgium, one should pay special attention to three particular characteristics of its political system: the neo-corporatist nature of interest intermediation, the consociational legacy and the federal state structure.
eight - Ideas as close as possible to power: Belgian political parties and their study centres
- Edited by Marleen Brans, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, David Aubin, Université catholique de Louvain
-
- Book:
- Policy Analysis in Belgium
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 15 March 2017, pp 173-192
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Belgium is often considered a textbook example of partitocracy (De Winter, 1998; Deschouwer, 2012). The dominance of political parties involves many functions and dysfunctions in a polity that is highly fragmented along linguistic and ideological lines. Political parties do not only aggregate citizens’ demands and preferences, participate in elections and select personnel for the legislature and the executive office. They also play a dominant role in the policymaking process, by framing problems, promoting ideologically inspired solutions, and negotiating compromises in the cumbersome formation and continuation of coalition governments. However, like other actors involved in the policymaking process, political party organisations are faced with the increasing complexity of problems, and with the demand to back up their proposals with expert-based argumentation.
In Belgium, each party organisation comprises a study centre. Although no scholar denies their importance in the life of a political party, and although they constitute one of the features that denote the professionalisation process of party organisations (Panebianco, 1988), they are generally overlooked in the study of the Belgian political system (Dewachter, 2001; Deschouwer, 2012) as well as in the history writing of particular parties (see, for example, Dewachter et al, 1995). Moreover, in policy-analytical literature, of international or Belgian origin, the party study service as supplier of policy advice is rarely documented. This chapter addresses this empirical void. It is the first attempt to map and to analyse party study centres in Belgium in the period 2010-15, including the effect of the 2014 elections. The central research question is twofold: in which way are these party study centres organised and how do they generate policy advice?
The chapter is structured as follows. The first section briefly situates party study centres situated against the background of the policy analytical literature on alternative sources of policy advice. Next, after a presentation of the authors’ fieldwork, the chapter outlines the basic profile of the Belgian study centres, and sequentially discusses their size, relationship and coordination with the party, as well as their advisors’ major characteristics. The fourth section describes the nature, process and products of policy advice generated by the party study centres. The conclusion summarises the distinguishing characteristics of the Belgian political parties’ study centres.
two - Analytical techniques in Belgian policy analysis
- Edited by Marleen Brans, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen, David Aubin, Université catholique de Louvain
-
- Book:
- Policy Analysis in Belgium
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 15 March 2017, pp 35-56
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
Policy analysis has long been recognised as a core function of modern bureaucracies (Lasswell, 1971; Meltsner, 1976; Brans et al, 2012). It consists of providing analytical support to government to make intelligent choices for solving societal problems (Colebatch, 2006). Policy analysis is not static, nor is the content of the civil servant's toolbox. The emergence and development in the use of specific analytical techniques (or ‘formulation tools’) is best understood against the background of important past and emerging trends that affect policymaking practice: the evidence-based movement; Europeanisation; and the professionalisation of policy analysis. While policy analysis is not confined to the governmental arena alone and involves the work of many actors, such as policy analysts situated in academia, think tanks, consultancy firms and specialists of organised interests outside government (Colebatch, 2006), this chapter is exclusively devoted to in-house policy analysis in Belgium. It explores in depth the development and application of policy-analytical techniques and methods within Belgium's federal and subnational administrations.
Considering that policy analysis is an emerging professional activity, the chapter has a twofold aim. First, it investigates to what extent trends and challenges to policy analysis have affected Belgian national and subnational governments with regard to the methods and techniques used in policy analysis; the institutionalisation of analytical practices within government; and the establishment of policy networks engaging civil servants, academics and private or non-profit actors in policy analysis. This discussion focuses on the development of two institutionalised practices symbolising a growing use of analytical techniques: regulatory impact analysis and policy-oriented futures studies. These can be considered as two meta-methods, in the sense that they both encompass a wide range of tools such as cost-benefit analysis, stakeholder analysis, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, interviews and focus groups. Moreover, they can be applied to a broad array of policy sectors. Second, the chapter assesses at the individual level to what extent analytical techniques are used by Belgian civil servants. Based on a sample of civil servants (N=1,601), the use of a variety of well-known analytical techniques such as cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria analysis, stakeholder analysis or benchmarking is investigated. The discussion finally focuses on an analysis of the use these techniques by individual civil servants across government levels and policy sectors. Policy analysis is in this sense approached from both an organisational and an individual perspective.