Political advisers in Portugal: Partisanship and loyalty in policy processes
| Author | Patrícia Silva |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12309 |
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
SYMPOSIUM ARTICLE
Political advisers in Portugal: Partisanship
and loyalty in policy processes
Patrícia Silva
Research Unit in Governance,
Competitiveness and Public Policies –
Department of Social, Political and Territorial
Sciences, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Correspondence
Patrícia Silva, Research Unit in Governance,
Competitiveness and Public Policies –
Department of Social, Political and Territorial
Sciences, University of Aveiro, Portugal.
Email: patriciasilva@ua.pt
This article aims to contribute to the current debate regarding the
role of political advisers in Portugal. It does so by empirically analys-
ing appointments to positions within ministers’private offices, spe-
cifying when and why such advice is sought and accepted by
ministers. Multivariate analysis is complemented with elite perspec-
tives on the roles of ministerial advisers. Results suggest that par-
ties in government appoint political advisers to ministers’private
offices as a strategy to legitimize policy choices and instruments, by
injecting partisanship, responsiveness and loyalty in the policy-
making process. Politicizing these positions is also a valuable asset
for politicians given the procedural-oriented, and the inter-sector
and inter-service coordination problems within a heavy administra-
tive structure, such as the Portuguese one. The use of this mechan-
ism depends on the capacity of opposition parties to constrain
incumbents’control over such appointments.
1|INTRODUCTION
One of the most repeated dictums in contemporary party government literature is that political parties are in
crisis, both in their relationship with civil society and with the government. Contemporary political parties
face increased difficulties in controlling the state apparatus, in a scenario characterized by the existence of a
large public sector and a range of institutions responsible for providing services. Arguably, this trend weakens
parties’ability to influence the public policy process, as other actors and interest groups also seek to inter-
vene in these processes (Mair 2008). This perception of crisis is not entirely satisfactory. In order toretain
theirprivilegedpositioninthepolicy-makingprocess,political parties reinforce other policy-making mechan-
isms. One of the most important strategies used pertains to the strengthening of policy advisory
systems (PAS).
The concept of PAS was first introduced by Halligan (1995), and since then research on the role of political
advisers has grown considerably, reflecting their increasing prominence in government and policy-making (Eichbaum
and Shaw 2008). However, the extant literature is mainly focused on the Westminster community of countries (vide,
inter alia, Eichbaum and Shaw 2007b; Maley 2011) –with some sporadic exceptions (Di Mascio and Natalini 2013;
Gouglas 2015). Southern European countries remain largely understudied, despite emergent research on the core
DOI 10.1111/padm.12309
378 © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltdwileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padmPublic Administration. 2017;95:378–392.
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