Political involvement in street‐level policy implementation as a two‐way relationship - The effect of policy capacity

Abstract

To date, research on politicians’ influence on the work of street-level bureaucrats (SLB) and the consequences for policy implementation has mainly focused on disruptive effects of political involvement—for instance, poorer social equity in public service provision or political patronage. Our study opens up this perspective and argues that the relationship between politicians and SLB is a two-way relationship shaped by capacities of the stakeholders themselves and their organisational environment. We link SLB research with policy capacity literature. We focus on the effect of political capacity because this type of capacity meaningfully influences whether SLB can actively control the relationship with politicians. We ask: What is the relevance of political capacity for policy implementation? We use data from Swiss social assistance where the phenomenon of interest, that is the political involvement, is institutionalised by law within the implementing agencies. We show that political capacity at the organisational and individual level has a confidence-building effect. SLB and politicians learn how to engage with each other and how to make the most of the exchange. Politicians gain a deeper understanding and are able to politically legitimise the policy.