Reflections on the Craft of Advising: Expert Advice and U.S. Foreign Aid Policymaking MATTHEW R. AUER School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Critics contend that conventional policy analyses usually ignore ‘‘inconvenient’’ aspects of real problem contexts, such as the many, varied, and often conflicting value demands of relevant stakeholders in the policy process. Mapping real problem contexts, with formal attention to policy participants’ values, is an antidote to problem-blind, positivist policy analysis. For professional advisers to public managers, competent contextual mapping improves the chances for productive use of policy advice. Contextual mapping, as practiced by a policy adviser to a foreign aid agency, is examined, and generic categories for mapping policy contexts are elaborated. Keywords: policy sciences, contextual mapping, problem orientation, value analysis Looking back at the reformist agenda for public administration in the 1980s and early 1990s, the key concerns of that period seem parochial when viewed against the complex challenges confronting public administrators in the era of globaliza- tion. This is not to suggest that the problems and pathologies of government identified late last century have been conquered nor that public sector actors have ceased striving for reforms like making government more responsive to public needs, measuring results, or ensuring accountability. But particularly for those who view globalization as a threat to a state-centered system of international affairs, the efficiency- and transparency-oriented concerns of recent years seem almost trivial when viewed against the more fundamental question of ‘‘state survival.’’ More specifically, it has been proposed that states and government-led institutions may be swept away by the rising tides of global capitalism and global economic integration. How will government remain relevant in a world dominated by transnational, market-oriented, technologically savvy, knowledge-based networks of organizations and institutions that function without meaningful participation from public administrators, and in some cases, with little or no deference to government rules and conventions? Many observers are decidedly skeptical about this ‘‘end of the state’’ perspective, and counter that the nation-state is likely to remain vital in creating and fostering political, economic, and information-based institutions, and at scales ranging from the local to the global (Drezner, 1997; Waltz, 2000; Garrett, 1995). To detect the increasing importance of multi-actor governance in global society and the concomitant decline of old-fashioned government is not to suggest that government Author’s note: Andy Willard, William Ascher, Ray Hopkins, and three anonymous referees made instructive comments on earlier drafts of this article. Jennifer Conje helped identify useful reference materials. This study was supported by a grant from Indiana University’s Office of Research and University Graduate School. r 2003 International Studies Association. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK International Studies Perspectives (2003) 4, 211–227.