This chapter focuses on the evaluation of public policy and administration. Institutionalized for decades in many places worldwide, policy evaluation has become a routinized and professionalized... Show moreThis chapter focuses on the evaluation of public policy and administration. Institutionalized for decades in many places worldwide, policy evaluation has become a routinized and professionalized activity. However, assessing the performance of public agencies and the impact of the policies they implement is a highly political endeavor. As part of the executive branch and directly subordinate to governments, public agencies can be scrutinized and evaluated as an extension of political struggles. On the other hand, public agencies also use evaluation to advance their own objectives. This chapter examines the issues attached to the evaluation of public policies and administrative activity in relation to power games within and across the branches of government. It reveals how politicians and public servants can make strategic use of policy evaluations, as well as how this instrument serves not only reflexive and oversight purposes, but also agenda-setting ambitions. The chapter then presents an overview of the controlling, defensive and proactive functions of evaluation in policy struggles. Drawing upon these developments, the chapter underlines just how far from neutral evaluations can be in the politico-administrative game. Show less
This chapter reviews the agenda-setting potential and influence of a particular group of evaluation-related tools governments often resort to in the agenda-setting stage. Particular evaluation... Show moreThis chapter reviews the agenda-setting potential and influence of a particular group of evaluation-related tools governments often resort to in the agenda-setting stage. Particular evaluation tools play an important analytical role in setting up and managing the agendas of governments. The chapter discusses the agenda-setting role of three in-house tools: budget reviews, policy reviews, and sunset reviews. It also discusses their major attributes, their underpinning rational assumptions, and the way they have been institutionalized and routinized in countries' evaluation systems and reflect on the conditions that foster or jeopardize their agenda-setting impact. The chapter describes different empirical examples from various countries. A pragmatic approach to evaluation requirements, varying from case to case, seems to prevail with recent attempts, particularly at the sub-state level, to establish the level of administrative burdens as a decisive criterion for the intensity of evaluation activities. Show less
