Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectiveness

Governments create advisory committees and arm’s-length agencies and then delegate responsibilities and powers, sometimes merely to provide policy advice but sometimes to implement regulation. Interest groups, and especially groups representing private businesses, are often appointed to such committ...

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Main Authors: David Irwin, Mercy Kyande
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: OpenEdition 2023-04-01
Series:International Review of Public Policy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/3175
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author David Irwin
Mercy Kyande
author_facet David Irwin
Mercy Kyande
author_sort David Irwin
collection DOAJ
description Governments create advisory committees and arm’s-length agencies and then delegate responsibilities and powers, sometimes merely to provide policy advice but sometimes to implement regulation. Interest groups, and especially groups representing private businesses, are often appointed to such committees. As a result, they proactively seek appointment to policy advisory committees and boards established by government, believing that this offers one route amongst several to promote their interests to government and to influence public policy. But little is known about whether they are then successful in influencing policy outcomes. This paper addresses that gap – specifically by reviewing interest groups’ perceptions of their effectiveness, given the challenges of assessing actual effectiveness, in policy advisory committees in Kenya. Whilst it is possible that the policy outcomes simply reflect the policy preferences of the interest groups, these groups believe that they exert some influence on the committees on which they sit – through the provision of research evidence, clearly articulated opinion, and reasoned argument – and they further believe that the committees exert some influence on government policy.
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spelling doaj-art-00687736c14343f78a471fc133ebb6df2025-01-09T16:26:02ZengOpenEditionInternational Review of Public Policy2679-38732706-62742023-04-01552510.4000/irpp.3175Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectivenessDavid IrwinMercy KyandeGovernments create advisory committees and arm’s-length agencies and then delegate responsibilities and powers, sometimes merely to provide policy advice but sometimes to implement regulation. Interest groups, and especially groups representing private businesses, are often appointed to such committees. As a result, they proactively seek appointment to policy advisory committees and boards established by government, believing that this offers one route amongst several to promote their interests to government and to influence public policy. But little is known about whether they are then successful in influencing policy outcomes. This paper addresses that gap – specifically by reviewing interest groups’ perceptions of their effectiveness, given the challenges of assessing actual effectiveness, in policy advisory committees in Kenya. Whilst it is possible that the policy outcomes simply reflect the policy preferences of the interest groups, these groups believe that they exert some influence on the committees on which they sit – through the provision of research evidence, clearly articulated opinion, and reasoned argument – and they further believe that the committees exert some influence on government policy.https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/3175dialoguepolicy advisory committeesadvocacyinterest groupsrepresentationKenya
spellingShingle David Irwin
Mercy Kyande
Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectiveness
International Review of Public Policy
dialogue
policy advisory committees
advocacy
interest groups
representation
Kenya
title Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectiveness
title_full Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectiveness
title_fullStr Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectiveness
title_full_unstemmed Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectiveness
title_short Policy advisory committees in Kenya: interest group participation and effectiveness
title_sort policy advisory committees in kenya interest group participation and effectiveness
topic dialogue
policy advisory committees
advocacy
interest groups
representation
Kenya
url https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/3175
work_keys_str_mv AT davidirwin policyadvisorycommitteesinkenyainterestgroupparticipationandeffectiveness
AT mercykyande policyadvisorycommitteesinkenyainterestgroupparticipationandeffectiveness