Expertiza v politických stranách: téma a jeho teoretické uchopení
Policy-Related Expertise in Political Parties: A Theoretical Foundation

Summary/Abstract: In this article we raise the topic of generating of expertise in political parties and the capacities they have in order to fulfill this purpose. This topic is not specifically Czech, the same type of structural changes are taking place in the European liberal democracies in general. We outline the main contours of this transformation and we identify two complementary trends: the expertization of politics and the politicization of expertise. We therefore focus on the question of the appropriate theoretical description of these phenomena, which is simply missing. In this article, we assume institutionalist perspective and justify the construction of a particular theoretical framework. We opted for an inductive approach; however we use some elements from existing theories or concepts (Katz and Mair’s cartel party theory; Janda and Harmel’s integrated theory of party goals and party change; Howlett’s concepts of policy capacity and policy analytical capacity). The common denominator is the notion of bounded rational actors and the concept of organization (organized anarchy). Thoroughly we also discuss the concept of expert by analyzing four ideal types of experts (functional experts, process experts, public policy analysts, politicians and specialists). We show also the dependence of these types in a specific concept of public policy. Finally we propose three specific areas where empirical research should be directed, built on our developed theoretical foundations.

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