Speaking good to power: repositioning global policy advice through normative framing

Abstract

Abstract The delegitimization of policy advice has generated a defensive response that combines an assertion of the superior scientific character of expertise with a forthright affirmation of social and political values. This more value-driven discourse of policy expertise is examined with the case study of the Global Solutions Summit/World Policy Forum, launched in 2017 to support the Think20 network of global policy advisors supporting the G20 meetings under the German presidency. The Global Solutions Summit has evolved into a more policy-wonkish version of the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos and now is a switching point of global policy advice for the G7 as well. Through participant observation and an analysis of the proceedings of the annual summits since 2017, the article shows a distinctive configuration of normatively framed policy advice designed to overcome the social and political pathologies that have been the foundation of populist critiques of policy expertise.