Headline: Eksperci i polityka w Niemczech i w Polsce: postrzeganie kanałów dostępu i stopnia sformalizowania procesów doradczych

Starting from the discussion of the concepts of formality and informality, the paper first examines and analyzes empirical findings from a survey of German and Polish political advisors, lobbyists and experts on their perceptions of the access channels to politics and of politics to experts in Germany and Poland. Which access channels are chosen and why, how open are they, and what imbalances exist in access to experts and experts’ access to politics? A second section looks at the degree of formalization of advisory processes and access channels in both countries. In a third section, the focus is on interpretations of perceptions of access channels and degree of formalization and their implications for policy advice in Germany and Poland. The Polish sub-study finds a considerable gap between the perceptions of policy experts and lobbyists. While the former group enjoys a relatively high reputation in Poland, the reputation of lobbyists is much worse. In the German sample, the sharpness of the distinction between the reputation of lobbyists/interest representatives on the one hand and expert advisers on the other is less visible than in the Polish survey. The chapter concludes that political expert cultures in Poland and Germany are not congruent with regard to the perception of access channels and the play with formality and informality, but nevertheless show fundamental similarities – above all the fundamentally positive assessment of access channels to expertise. But below some very general similarities, the different perceptions of expert cultures begin to emerge. In both countries, a technocratic culture of expert advice is held in high esteem, but in Germany the assessment of interest-driven expert advice is perceived less negative than in Poland.