Johan Christensen wins grant with project EUREX
Johan Christensen together with Cathrine Holst will lead the research project EUREX on the role of experts in policy-making. The project is one of eight to receive funding from the Norwegian Research Council's DEMOS programme.
EUREX (Expertization of public inquiry commissions? Democracy and good governance in a Europeanized administrative order) is led by Johan Christensen, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration, Leiden University and Cathrine Holst, senior researcher at ARENA, Center for European Studies, University of Oslo.
The project will examine the policy-making role of public inquiry commissions, that is, ad hoc commissions appointed to look into policy problems and recommend solutions. It will analyze and assess the Norwegian system of public inquiry commissions compared to policy advice systems in other European countries, including the Netherlands.
The project will trace changes in policy advice systems over time in light of the growing role of experts and expert advice in policy-making ('expertization') and processes of Europeanization. The changes will be assessed against values of democracy, efficiency and good governance.
EUREX will draw actively on input from stakeholders through a user forum composed of civil servants, politicians, interest groups and academics.
The four-year project is likely to start mid-2016
