Policy Expertise in Times of Crisis

From financial shocks and health pandemics to climate change and national security threats, crises expose the faultlines in how policy expertise is sought, filtered and acted upon.

This edited collection offers a rigorous, comparative analysis of governmental policy advisory systems under pressure. Drawing on case studies spanning COVID-19 responses in Australia and Belgium and slow-burning, “creeping” crises such as climate change, the authors examine the available knowledge, advisory bodies and experts from trusted insiders to external commentators.

Together, these invaluable chapters advance our understanding of how evidence-informed advice shapes – and is shaped by – the politics of crisis governance.