Advisory Committees in the Public Policy Process

DOI10.1177/002085237704300210
Date01 June 1977
AuthorThomas B. Smith
Published date01 June 1977
Subject MatterArticles
Advisory
Committees
in
the
Public
Policy
Process
by
Thomas
B.
SMITH,
Senior
Lecturer
,
Department
of
Political
Science
,
School
of
General
Studies
,
The
Australian
National
University
UDC
35.077.9
Advisory
Committees
in
Contemporary
Government
In
broad
terms,
the
roles
of
advisory
com-
mittees
established
by
government
in
any
political/administrative
system
are
twofold
arising
from
two
channels
of
demands
(1).
The
official
and
formal
rationale
for
their
existence
is
to
give
advice
to
the
government
of
the
day.
The
advice
can
take
the
form
of
re-
commendations
for
policy
changes,
suggestions
about
how
particular
policies
may
be
effectively
implemented,
who
should
be
awarded
grants
for
research,
and
so
on.
This
first
role
of
advisory
committees
is
in
response
to
the
grow-
ing
specialization
and
complexity
of
society
(2).
Governments
need
expert
advice
in
areas
of
uncertainty
and
where
there
are
few
spe-
cialists
available
within
government
itself.
A
second
reason
for
existence
of
extensive
ad-
visory
committee
systems
in
modern
govern-
ment
is
political
in
nature.
Advisory
commit-
tees
often
perform
a
therapeutic
political
role
in
that
membership
is
a
form
of
patronage
-
a
method
of
rewarding
the
faithful
or
ensuring
loyalty
in
the
future.
Some
types
of
advisory
committees
are
the
formal
institutionalized
link
between
the
government
and
organized
groups
or
interests.
The
establishment
and
mainten-
ance
of
an
advisory
committee
system
in
various
policy
areas
such
as
industry
and
com-
merce
or
agriculture
is
one
way
of
ensuring
that
these
interests
have
established
channels
of
contact
with
government
and
that
tensions
can
be
lessened.
In
the
twentieth
century,
there
has
been
a
constant
pressure
for
increased
participation
in
the
governmental
process
by
citizens
and
affected
groups.
The
advisory
committee
is
one
way
of
satisfying
this
demand
and
formalizing
this
relationship
(3).
Within
the
total
governmental
framework
of
policy
formulation
and
implementation,
advi-
sory
committees
have
come
to
play
an
in-
creasingly
important
role.
L6on
Dion,
in
an
article
that
attempted
to
place
the
advisory
committee
(or &dquo; consultative
council &dquo;,
as
he
refers
to
them)
in
the
overall
political-admin-
istrative
process
stressed
the
importance
of
un-
derstanding
the
advisory
system,
&dquo; Parties
and
pressure
groups
are
not
enough
in
themselves
to
channel
the
interests,
ideologies,
and
stresses
originating
in
the
social
system
into
the
political
system &dquo;
(4).
Dion
goes
on
to
note
that,
The
consultative
councils
are
thus
mechan-
isms
of
systemic
interaction
comparable
in
influence
to
the
pressure
groups,
the
parties,
and
the
communication
media.
Their
real
task
is
to
make
possible
the
confrontation
and
reconciliation
of
the
demands
and
sup-
ports
of
the
social
agents,
as
well
as
the
expressions
of
the
wishes
and
possibilities
of
the
political
agents
(5).
(1)
This
approach
follows
that
proposed
by
J.E.
Hodgetts,
The
Canadian
Public
Service :
A
Physiology
of
Government
1867-1970
,
University
of
Toronto
Press,
1973.
For
a
discussion
of
various
minor
roles
for
advisory
committees,
see,
David
S.
Brown,
"
The
Management
of
Advisory
Committees :
An
Assign-
ment
for the
’70’s
",
Public
Administration
Review
,
Vol.
32
(July/August
1972),
pp.
334-42;
and
Thomas
E.
Cronin
and
Norman
C.
Thomas,
" Federal
Advisory
Processes :
Advice
and
Discontent
",
Science
,
Vol.
171
(26
February
1971),
pp.
771-79.
(2)
This
point
was
made
some
years
ago
by
J.
Ellul,
La
Technique
ou
l’Enjeu
du
Siècle
,
Paris,
Librairie
Armand
Colin,
1954.
The
English
translation
is
The
Technological
Society
,
New
York,
Knopf,
1964.
(3)
An
interesting
interpretation
of
citizen
participa-
tion
in
S.R.
Arnstein,
"
A
Ladder
of
Citizen
Participa-
tion
in
the
U.S.A.
",
Journal
of
the
American
Institute
of
Planners
,
Vol.
35
(July
1969).
(4)
Léon
Dion,
" The
Politics
of
Consultation
",
Government
and
the
Opposition
,
Vol.
8
(Summer
1973),
p.
332.
(5)
Dion,
" The
Politics
of
Consultation
",
p.
335.

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