Bureaucratic politics, risk management, and agency strategy: a study of agency management in a gale

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of Covid-19 holds important lessons for general understandings of specialised agencies and their interactions with the political executive in a context of high political salience and uncertainty of the knowledge upon which agencies can base its professional decisions and pursue its policy preferences vis-à-vis the political principal. This case study analyses the behaviour of the Danish Health Authority (DHA) during two critical series of events in 2020 and 2021. Based on unique document access and interviews with key actors, the article makes a triple contribution to the literature on agencies by showing that: (1) interactions within the governmental hierarchy are transactional rather than rule-bound; (2) agency impact in interactions with the political executive depends on the agency head’s skill in forming a strategically neutral approach; (3) a strong agency reputation with key audiences is not sufficient for ensuring political influence or avoiding political interference.

KEYWORDS:

• Agencies
• transactional authority
• autonomy
• reputation
• strategic neutrality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Danish Research Council: [Grant Number 1182-00110B].

Notes on contributors

Jørgen Grønnegaard Christensen

Jørgen Grønnegaard Christensen is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University.

Peter B. Mortensen

Peter B. Mortensen is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University.

Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen

Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen is Professor at the Department of Management, Aarhus University.