Policy counselling. There are different visions and models of policy counselling (x.x. Xxxxxx 2002, 2003; Xxxxxx et al. 2004: Xxxxxxxx 1969; Lompe 2006). It is a popular assumption that scientists or other experts counsel politicians or representatives of the government along the steps of the policy cycle or the „Public Health Action Cycle“ in context with problem identification, agenda-setting, policy formulation, implementation, assurance and evaluation (Xxxx et al. 2006, Xxxxxxxxxx/Xxxxxxxxx 2006). But policy counselling has many different forms which can be structured historically as well as in typologically (Xxxxxxx 2004). Following the “decisionistic model” (Xxxxxxxx 1969, Lompe 2006; Xxxxxxxx 2007), decisions have to be made by political decision makers. Policy counselling takes place to realise defined values and interests, or finally decisions are made on the foundation of own values and norms. The “technocratic model” assumes the possibility that scientists are able to identify the best possible solution for a problem. This assumption is critical for democratic norms and the experiences with policy counselling and competing expertises demonstrates the limits of policy counselling. Also, there is the question about the impact of scientific policy counselling on policy making. In modern societies, the legitimation of policies depends as well on a democratic representation of interests as on the quality of the knowledge behind decisions and there might be tensions between these to foundations of legitimation (Xxxxxxxx 2006; Xxxxx-Xxxxxxxx 2008). Beside evidence-based knowledge the public opinion, financial conditions, political priorities, assumptions about the opportunities of implementation, ideologies and subjective concepts are influential (Xxxxx 2006). The „pragmatistic model“ transcends a critical interdependence between experts and policy makers. It is argued that the communication between experts and policy makers must consider societal interests and the given social circumstances because the direction of technical progress is rooted in tradition-bound self concepts of practical demands and the self concepts are measured and criticised on the basis of the opportunities and challenges to satisfy the demands (Xxxxxxxx 1969). The model follows the assumption that the intermediation of scientific knowledge and policies is dependent from the public and communication between citizens for reasons of legitimacy. Policy counselling is placed in the area of conflict betw...
