Article 5 - Mulgan. Truth in government and the politicization of public service advice
7 important questions on Article 5 - Mulgan. Truth in government and the politicization of public service advice
What is politicization of advice
Objectivity and policy advice
-But another argument is that objectivity is taken for granted in everyday discourse, and that the idea of misrepresenting information for partisan purposes makes sense within that discourse
- Standards of objectivity and impartiality can lack independent validity
- Sexing up evidence: manipulating evidence for misleading effects, or ‘spin’
Objectivity of public service advice can be an issue in 2 arenas:
- Need for accurate information as basis for decision making
- Policy-making needs to be based on the best available evidence
Public – relationship between government and its citizens
- Citizens have right to expect that information provided by their leaders is factually correct
- Information produced by government advisers reaches the public
- Accuracy of the public record is a foundation of democratic dialogue
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Political masters and responsibility
- E.g. ‘My department advises me that’
- A reason is less responsibility in case information turns out to be incorrect
- Second reason is to increase reliability of the information, minister’s statements have higher credibility if they come from non-partisan officials
Who takes responsibility for spin?
-When public servants distort evidence, it’s often unclear whether they do it because of indirect pressure from politicians or voluntarily (because of personal partisan support)
- Indirect pressure is hard to detect but just as effective
- A major incentive for political distortion is the decision to make the reports publicly available
-There is greater openness of government information now, so officials face greater pressures not to embarrass politicians with facts that will undermine them
Freedom of information and politicization
- Puts pressure on governments to support their policies by referencing to official research
- Also puts pressures on officials collecting evidence
If ministers can’t keep awkward information secret, they will aim to manipulate information to their advantage
Public servants are subject to conflicting ethical pressures arising from 2 public service principles:
- Obliged to provide ministers with unbiased and objective information
- Have to avoid embarrassing their ministers in public
How to guarantee unbiased information
- Some areas of public data collection can be isolated from political interferences, e.g. quantitative information
Government departments are under pressure to make use of spin if they suspect their advice will be made public, unless:
- Institutional independence of data collectors
- Routinized data collection
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