Bello intro_Comtemporary and Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Law and Policy Evaluation . An Introduction (original) (raw)
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Contemporary and Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Law and Policy Evaluation
2018
Although public policy evaluation, program evaluation and legislative evaluation have often run parallel, they share some common concerns, such as – in a world where evaluation is supposed to influence policy and law makers – questions of social justice and democracy (including equal participation) in the evaluation process, as well as of establishing what kind of rule people are more likely to follow. Without claim of completeness, this introductory note describes some paradigms and approaches emerged in the field of evaluation, while in the last paragraph it provides an overview of the contributions to the monographic part on Contemporary and multidisciplinary perspectives on law and policy evaluation.
Evaluation, public policies, and human rights
New Directions for Evaluation, 2012
The chapter addresses the role of social evaluation in the systematization of public value and documents the adoption and implementation of public policy for human rights. Public policy with a human rights approach arises from a political, legal, and institutional acknowledgment of the social subject. It is an intricate process, part of global discussions about how to reconfigure economic, cultural, and social policy and the administration of justice. Its complexity involves multiple dimensions and organizational and institutional processes as they occur with any other government or state policy .
Utilization of Evaluation Results in Legal Policy-Making and Administration
Law Enforcement Review, 2017
The article is devoted to the analysis of evaluation method and its impact on legal policy development in governance, including in the area of law enforcement. The author outlines the importance of question whether, when and how the evaluation results of public policies, programs and measures has been utilized (or not utilized) in policy making and policy implementation. In the pursuit of this guiding question the article will come in five steps. First, major variants of evaluation will be briefly presented particularly with an eye on their respective "utilization potential". Second, different concepts will be sketched that have been forwarded to capture the utilization of (social) science-generated knowledge by political, administrative and social actors. The author outlines a detailed description of types of evaluations: a retrospective, preliminary, ongoing, interactive,-as well as existing concepts of application of its results. Third, looking at Germany, Switzerland and the European Union as "cases in point" pertinent research findings will be discussed. The article also subjected to a detailed analysis of the experience of Germany, Switzerland and the European Union in the field of utilization of evaluation results. Fourth, a summary and conclusion will be given. Fifth, some remarks on pertinent research needs will be made. The author comes to the conclusion that that the rate of the utilization of evaluation-generated knowledge has so far turned out be, by and large, scarce. The author says that regarding the politically crucial decisions the political rationality and its underlying political will of the decision-makers prevail while concerning less important decisions evaluation-generated evidence does show some effect and, hence, a dose of scientific rationality comes to the fore. There is also a need for further research on the subject of how should (and should not) use assessment results when making legal and political decisions.
2018
Evaluation measures whether a policy functioned as intended, providing a “feedback loop to know what is happening to whom, and at what cost” (Cropf, 2007:273). The evaluative state is a transitional stage wherein many issues that later feature as key elements in reforming institutions are first rehearsed (Neave, 2012:36). Evaluation looks at the results produced by policies to shape decision-making and to “learn from mistakes” (Rutter, 2012: 8) where the validity of policy cannot be taken as definite (Hanberger, 2001:59). This paper identifies generative causation and participant alienation as two key problems that can be overcome by Participant Evaluation (PE) and Realistic Evaluation (RE), and compares the approaches in how they do so.
Evaluation Strategies and Analysis of the Policy Process
Evaluation, 1996
ABSTRACT This article focuses on the theoretical development of evaluation research from the perspective of public-policy analysis. The discontinuity between the first stage of evaluation research and its more recent stage is assessed by arguing that the main problems in early evaluation research were related to an inadequate conceptualization of the evaluator's role, whilst the recent debate in evaluation research correctly acknowledges the endogeneity of the evaluator to the policy process. Consequently, it seems possible to elaborate upon this by investigating the strategies available to the evaluator as actor. In this respect the literature on the cognitive aspects of politics provides useful hints. Following a discussion of this literature, the authors argue that the choice of evaluation strategies is contingent upon the characteristics of the policy process. Two dimensions of the policy process (i.e. the degree of social conflict and the degree of innovation) are employed in order to present a typology of strategies.
Advancing public policy evaluation: Learning from international experiences
Evaluation Practice, 1995
This volume is a contribution to what I hope to be an emerging literature on the comparative and international analysis of evaluation research and policy making. Another recent more modest contribution to this literature is the 1989 work of Cave, Hanney, Kogan, & Trevett (1989) on performance indicators in higher education. Those authors were particularly interested in the relationship between the development of such indicators and political systems. Unfortunately for those interested in transnational regularities, Cave et al. report that, ". . .the introduction of performance indicators may be adventitious, or may be used in different places to advance quite different ends" (p. 54). In contrast to the focused concern of the Cave et al. publication, that is, higher education, Advancing Public Policy Evaluation is not limited in its policy area. That is, examples include evaluation of the FBI in the USA, research and development and employment and immigration policy in Canada, approaches to homelessness and the elderly in Spain, and national audits in a number of countries. Indeed, this book emerged from what was perhaps the first international conference on policy and program evaluation. The conference was attended by 35 participants from 13 nations, and was held in December 1990 in The Hague. The volume reflects the international composition of the conference. The four editors represent three countries (Canada, The Netherlands, USA), and the authors of the 27 papers represent 12 countries. I was surprised that only two of the 27 papers were coauthored, and that both of these were written by a team (two authors) from the UK, There
Theoretical essay on public policy evaluations
2019
From the identification of the current and growing demand for higher quality, efficient and effective public services, the evaluation of public policies becomes increasingly indispensable. This article highlights the importance of this stage of the political cycle regarding the exercise of evaluation as a crucial tool for the improvement and development of the management of public policies, especially those of a multidimensional nature.This research is characterized as a theoretical essay with the purpose of constructing a broad and integrated analysis on public policy assessments based on the published literature, in addition to understanding and proposing reflections on the model currently adopted mainly in relation to actions carried out by multilateral agencies.
"Disorderly Progress on the Frontiers of Policy Evaluation"
Cantankerous conflicts and debilitating debates characterize the disorderly development of policy evaluation. The clashes over methods, paradigms, and purposes have been so severe that no approach or idea has avoided criticism. This article reviews the turbulent history of evaluation from its multiple roots to its acceptance as an essential tool of contemporary public management. Next, the article examines the war between constructivists and positivists over methodology as well as the puzzling games played in the search for consensus over the purpose(s) of evaluation. The article concludes with a discussion of the future of policy evaluation from the perspective of democratic public management. Several vital issues glossed over by the previous debates are identified. The article ends with an appeal for evaluators to devote less time to methodological and paradigmatic infighting and more time to the solution of these other problems more directly related to theadministration and improvement of public programs.
Toward a Grounded View of Public Policy Analysis: Grounding Policy Analysis with Evaluation Research
This article considers the need to explicitly connect the concepts and methods of evaluation research to public policy analysis. It is argued that policy analysis as it is practiced in the United States and Brazil can be enhanced through building active links to the practices and products of evaluation research. This enhancement can be realized by following the suggestions of Vining and Weimer (2002; 2010) who argue that policy analysis should include the real-life empirical evidence produced by evaluation research. This empirical evidence is valuable to policy makers in constructing policy grounded in the contextual reality of the public problems that policy is intended to address. Vining and Weimer's arguments are given support from a review of the characteristics of evaluation research that offers how evaluation research can provide assistance to policy analysis and policy development. Finally, an argument is offered for a revised model of policy analysis and a recommendation is made that it should be tested in the empirical laboratory of Brazilian domestic policy.