Dr Cosmo Howard1, Dr Diego Leiva1
1Griffith University, Nathan, Australia
Biography:
Dr. Diego Leiva Van De Maele is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University. He has a PhD from Griffith University, and his research focuses on foreign policy, IR theory, Presidentialism, China – Latin American relations. He is a research fellow on the Australian Research Council-funded Discovery Project, The politics of expertise during Covid-19.
Abstract:
Political actors are increasingly using 'experts' to share responsibility for unpopular policy decisions and failures. This trend is evident in research on expert advice during COVID-19, where governments in several countries have been accused of leveraging experts to deflect blame (Flinders 2023; Hinterleitner et al. 2023; MacAulay et al. 2023). However, blame avoidance is just one of several motivations for involving experts. Another key driver can be a genuine commitment to evidence-informed decision-making (Weaver 1986). To explore this balance, we interviewed senior officials and members of expert advisory bodies involved in Australia’s COVID-19 response to understand their perspectives on the motivations behind including experts in decision-making. Our findings suggest that both blame avoidance and a desire for sound policymaking motivated expert inclusion. We propose a conceptual framework to differentiate between the strategic use of experts to avoid accountability and sincere efforts to improve the evidence base and credibility of policy decisions.