Exploring scientific advice for local politics in Germany: the critical role of quasi-scientific actors

In this article, we examine how local decision-makers make use of scientific expertise and the role such expertise plays in local politics. Drawing on seventeen interviews, we find that the rising demand for advice is met not by academic institutions but by consultants and other intermediary actors, who we refer to as ‘quasi-scientific actors’. These intermediaries are perceived as scientific as well as solution- and process-oriented, and they fill a structural gap, since ties between local politics and academic institutions remain weak and interactions are perceived as linear and rarely productive.