Prof. Arnošt Veselý, Ph.D. is a head of Centre for Social and Economic Strategies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague. For almost ten years he had been head of the Department of Public and Social Policy at the same faculty. His research interests include policy work, policy analysis, politico-administrative relations, policy design and educational policy. He has been involved in numerous projects. Recently he has been principal investigator of the project "Policy Workers in the Czech Public Administration: Practices, Professional Values and Identity” and "Using social science research in analytical activities for strategic decision-making in public administration”.  

 
Despite long-standing scholarly interest in the actual daily work of public officials, empirical evidence was, until recently, rather rare. This changed during the mid-2000s with qualitative case studies (Page & Jenkins, 2005; Colebatch, 2006), and a series of large-scale quantitative studies (Wellstead, Stedman & Lindquist, 2009; Howlett & Wellstead, 2011). However, with a few exceptions (Meyer-Sahling 2009, Veselý 20414) very little empirical research on the work, beliefs and relations with politicians has been carried out (and published) in CEE countries.

A cognate literature on the role of political staff (Hustedt, Kollveit and Houlberg Salomonsen; 2017; Craft 2016) also emerged during the mid-2000s. Political staff – whether they are special advisers, personal political assistants, or partisan appointees – are appointed by ministers and are located in the borders between politics and administration. The scholarship on political staff has evolved from empirical studies of the institutional arrangements of political appointees in Westminster systems (Eichbaum and Shaw, 2010), to studies incorporating other political-administrative traditions. It has also advanced to comparative analysis (Maley, 2018) and theorising the role of political staff (Shaw and Eichbaum, 2018). The role undertaken by these actors may be recognised under a variety of labels but empirical insights from CEE countries are under-represented in this literature.

 

Moreover, the research on political staff and the policy work of public officials is fragmented across different topics and domains of public administration. This panel will explore features of politico-administrative relations in CEE by bringing together scholars from different countries and professional backgrounds to discuss the empirical evidence on the roles, beliefs, and policy work of public officials. In addition, the panel is interested in identifying the development of political staff, and roles such as the political or special adviser who occupies a position in the borderland of politics and administration.

 

Submissions may include, but are not limited, to papers on the:
•    Policy work of public officials in CEE
•    Role of political staff (partisan appointees, special advisers, policy adviser) in CEE and their institutional arrangements
•    Assessments of politico-administrative relations in CEE and comparative papers

 

We invite proposals for papers examining these topics and empirical country studies on these themes. Other topics (such as public service motivation, policy attitudes and policy beliefs etc.) broadening our understanding of politico-administrative relations in CEE are also welcome.