The politicisation of evaluation: constructing and contesting EU policy performance

Stephenson, Paul, Schoenefeld, Jonas and Leeuw, Frans (2019) The politicisation of evaluation: constructing and contesting EU policy performance. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 60 (4). 663–679. ISSN 0032-3470

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Abstract

Although systematic policy evaluation has been conducted for decades and has been growing strongly within the European Union (EU) institutions and in the member states, it remains largely underexplored in political science literatures. Extant work in political science and public policy typically focuses on elements such as agenda setting, policy shaping, decision making, or implementation rather than evaluation. Although individual pieces of research on evaluation in the EU have started to emerge, most often regarding policy “effectiveness” (one criterion among many in evaluation), a more structured approach is currently missing. This special issue aims to address this gap in political science by focusing on four key focal points: evaluation institutions (including rules and cultures), evaluation actors and interests (including competencies, power, roles and tasks), evaluation design (including research methods and theories, and their impact on policy design and legislation), and finally, evaluation purpose and use (including the relationships between discourse and scientific evidence, political attitudes and strategic use). The special issue considers how each of these elements contributes to an evolving governance system in the EU, where evaluation is playing an increasingly important role in decision making.

Item Type: Article
UEA Research Groups: University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 07 Jan 2020 04:13
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2022 05:39
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/73497
DOI: 10.1007/s11615-019-00212-7

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