Johan Christensen’s research focuses on the role of experts and expertise in public policy-making, both at the national and European levels. He has published the books 'The power of Economists within the State' (Stanford University Press, 2017, https://www.sup.org/books/politics/power-economists-within-state ) and 'Expertise, Policy-making and Democracy' (with C. Holst and A. Molander, Routledge, 2022, https://www.routledge.com/Expertise-Policy-making-and-Democracy/Christensen-Holst-Molander/p/book/9780367617769 ), and he co-directs the ‘Power of Evidence’ Research Programme (https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/research-projects/governance-and-global-affairs/the-power-of-evidence-poe#tab-1) and the international research project “INFLUEX: The influence of experts on public policy”.
Read more about him here: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/johan-christensen#tab-1
During his seminar at TIK, he will present a paper published in Public Administration Review this fall: “Evidence and Policy-Making: An Organizational Approach”. Read the whole article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/puar.70051
Abstract
Strengthening the role of evidence in policy-making is increasingly seen as crucial for the quality and legitimacy of public policies. Both among practitioners and scholars, there is a growing awareness that evidence-informed policy-making not only depends on the rigor and relevance of the research, science communication or features of policy-makers. It also depends on how expertise arrangements in public organizations are organized. Yet, we currently lack a solid understanding of how organization matters for the role of evidence in policy-making. The article presents an organizational-theoretical perspective on how the formal organization of public bureaucracies shapes evidence use in policy-making, with important implications for both analysis and design of expertise arrangements in public administration. The article thereby sets a new research agenda at the intersection of organizational theory and scholarship on evidence and policy-making, which speaks directly to public administration practice.