I get that it’s because you need to be elected etc, but why isn’t this a common practise for experts to run and be put in these positions? For example the minister of health should be something along the lines of a doctor or many years of experience in the business of the relevant health service
In: Economics
Depending on your country, it’s actually quite common for there to be senior advisers with at least some subject matter expertise. You’re correct that the ministers often are not.
Not to be too cynical here, but the simple answer in most democracies is that most people just don’t seem to think it’s that important. Otherwise, politicians would make it a big part of their platform that they would only appoint qualified subject matter experts to their cabinet, in the same way that they talk about being good at managing the economy, budget responsibility, etc.
That said, it is not always obvious what subject matter expertise the person in charge should have. For instance, doctors know a great deal about treating patients, but not necessarily about high-level health policy issues. At least in theory, if you appoint an outsider at the top, they could be more objective. (Whereas, if you hire an oncologist to decide where the resources should be invested in medicine, they’re naturally going to be a bit biased towards funding oncology, even if they don’t really mean to be.)
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