Political advisers and circles of trust in Greek ministerial cabinets: cardinals of the conclave, managers and the children of favouritism

The present chapter has a double goal. First, to describe what Greek ministerial advisers do, under what rules and in which institutional and policy contexts. The objective here is to inform the student, researcher, as well as expert of Greek politics, public policy and administration on the adviser phenomenon in Greece. The history, statutory provisions, institutional habitat and policy making roles of Greek ministerial cabinet advisers is presented. Second, and this is the main theoretical and empirical contribution of the chapter in hand, the chapter explores the minister / political adviser relationship in Greece by addressing the issue of trust. Beyond recent theoretical advances in the minister-adviser relationship, very little is known on the issue of trust, which is the real currency in that relationship. Trust buys influence with the minister. For this reason it begs for more scholarly attention. The chapter is driven by a set of questions. How can trust be defined in the ministerial cabinet context and what are its sources? Do minister-principals trust their adviser-agents the same or are there different circles of trust within cabinets; if so, which ones and why? In the end, how much currency does trust have in the policy making process? Is it always a source of influence and when does it backfire?

ISBN:978 1 78643 168 4

Jaar van publicatie:2018

Toegankelijkheid:Closed