Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 31st NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview WG4: Politico-Administrative Relations in CEE Author(s) Róbert Martin Hudec Comenius University Bratislava Slovakia Title Who advises our decision-makers during the crisis? A case study of Slovak advisory committees during Covid-19 pandemics. File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Róbert Martin Hudec Abstract Governments rely on various sources of policy advice on daily bases. However, they differ in how do they utilize the advice, what level of control they take over the policy advice and what is position of policy advice in decision making. This paper aims to fill the gap in understanding how do policy advisory system (PAS) - set of actors and bodies providing policy advice, adapt during times of crisis. On a case study of Slovakia during the Covid-19 crisis, a complex analysis of internal advisory committees (AC) at the executive level has been carried out with a focus on their roles and expertise, position and government proximity, and their relationships and positions towards other actors in the so called “executive triangle” – politicians, civil servants and advisors. The study focuses on first and second wave of Covid-19 pandemics. Case of Slovakia is an example of a country with highly politicized civil service and during the studied time period, two government exchanges occurred in the country. How is policy advice incorporated into government structures on executive level? What is the level of political control and influence over policy advice during the times of crisis? How is advice and expertise utilized by the decision makers and what is the perception of advisory committees’ members on their work?
