This post is written by Peter P. Constantinou, PhD, professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration, York University (Canada) and president of the Political Acuity Institute.

  • The problem: The advice the civil service gives elected officials includes more evidence and greater forms of analysis, but still does not include enough nuanced political advice.

  • Why it matters: While evidence and analysis of all sorts is crucial, the success of programmes and policies rely on their capacity to understand the politics.

  • The solution: Building into our advice political analysis gained from the development of policy wisdom — a calculation of a myriad of contextual issues facing a decision that includes political advice.

The study and practice of public policy making has advanced significantly over the last 50 years. Recent efforts in policy analysis and development have emphasised a greater focus on evidence in the advice provided to elected officials. And to this evidence, civil servants are adding many new forms of analysis. Despite this professionalism, elected officials consistently struggle with the most important and nuanced component of this advice – they get facts but rarely does that advice include policy wisdom - analysis crafted without political analysis.

Our system of government is based on the idea of the political-administrative dichotomy. This is where the professionalised civil service provides information and expert advice so that elected officials, chosen to represent their constituents, can make informed decisions. And when they make those decisions, the civil service professionally implements those policies and programmes.

Divide and conquer?

The strength of this divide is when both the civil servants and the elected officials stay in their own lanes. But the reality of humans working in a system is that there is often unnecessary tension at that intersection, and at times people do cross the line. What has emerged, as much as a survival mechanism as a best practice, is the idea to obsess about the division to ensure each respects their role. The problem with this blind adherence to a rigid interpretation of the way things should work, is the civil service retreats from its role in providing policy wisdom to elected officials.

While history can be instructive, today decisions cannot be made looking to the past for complete answers.

Policy wisdom was once a sense of what best worked in the past. There were wise men and women who could recall previous successes, failures and lessons learned and pick the right way forward. While history can be instructive, today decisions cannot be made looking to the past for complete answers. While history can inform, it is but one data point that must be considered. What must occur is a calculus made up of all the myriad of unique factors that make up the context of today’s policy ecosystem. And tomorrow it will be completely unique again. What worked yesterday may not work today, and what works today may not work tomorrow.

Looking ahead

Policy wisdom is the inclusion of political acuity into the process of analysis. It is proper for civil servants to include political analysis – not partisan analysis – as part of their consideration of issues. Its absence is a dereliction of duty. And what often results, beyond the obvious weaknesses in analysis, is that the elected officials overcompensate with rushed partisan and political consideration that lacks rigorous methodological consideration, ultimately resulting in poor policy design and/or implementation. Civil servants can provide better analysis and advice if they include political factors in that analysis, thereby providing decision makers with a more nuanced range of choices.

Political acuity is clearly a competency that is worth developing. It will certainly assist us in achieving our goals and objectives, build a more effective relationship with the political class and will help the machinery of government run better. But it is also important as a survival mechanism, as missteps seem to have greater impact in an era of “gotcha politics” and the fast moving and unforgiving world of social media. After all, if we are going to “speak truth to power”, we better think about what we are going to say, and it better be worth saying.

👋 You can create a post like this one! Share your thoughts with a community of public servants. Learn more

(Image Credit: Unsplash)