Handbook of Public Policy Evaluation

Edited by Frédéric Varone, Professor of Public Policy, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Geneva, Switzerland; and an elected member of the Geneva Court of Auditors, Steve Jacob, Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Université Laval, Canada and Pirmin Bundi, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Evaluation, Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

‘The twenty-six papers comprising this volume highlight the challenges facing international policy evaluation in an era of misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories. The authors present an important reconceptualization of values and beliefs core to the evaluation function. You, the reader, are rewarded with innovative ideas and perspectives. This book is neither boring nor routine. The topical conceptualization is profound. The effort to read this book is well rewarded.’

• Contents:Introduction: putting policy evaluation into its democratic context 1Frédéric Varone, Steve Jacob and Pirmin BundiPART I EVALUATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEARNING INTHE POLICY PROCESS1 Public policy evaluation: origins and evolution 16Michael Quinn Patton2 What role can social constructivism play in realist evaluation?The potentials and the limits 31Jale Tosun, Fabrizio De Francesco and Valérie Pattyn3 Realist evaluation in the policy design framework 47Guillaume Fontaine4 Policy evaluation in the legislative cycle 64Alexandre Flückiger and Patricia Popelier5 Policy learning and policy evaluation 76Claire A. Dunlop and Claudio M. Radaelli6 Same, same but different? The expansion of auditing and itsconsequences for policy evaluation 93B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre7 The contribution of evaluation to accountability mechanisms 104Yousueng HanPART II EVALUATION, PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND DEMOCRACY8 Evaluation and policy argumentation: a deliberative approach, withspecial reference to COVID 118Frank Fischer9 Participatory evaluation, deliberation and democracy 132Lynda Rey and Alexandre Fortin10 Policy evaluation and the reproduction of social inequalities 154Roberto Pires and Gabriela Lotta11 Transformative evaluation for equitable and inclusive public policy 169Donna M. MertensPART III INSTITUTIONALIZATION, PRACTICE ANDPROFESSIONALIZATION OF POLICY EVALUATION12 The institutionalization of evaluation around the globe: understandingthe main drivers and effects over the past decades 187Steve Jacob13 Policy evaluation and parliaments 206Pirmin Bundi14 Evaluation of and in public administration 220Sabine Kuhlmann and Sylvia Veit15 Do courts use policy evaluation? 238Simon St-Georges and Christine Rothmayr Allison16 Relevance of evaluation findings in direct democracy decisions 253Fritz Sager, Caroline Schlaufer and Iris Stucki17 The role and functioning of evaluation in the European Union 266Paul J. Stephenson and Jonas J. Schoenefeld18 Policy evaluation and international organizations 285Valentina Mele19 Policy evaluation in the hands of philanthropists and NGOs: the politicsof getting it right 299David J. Gilchrist and Ben Perks20 The emergence of evaluation systems in low- and middle-income countries 317Ian Goldman, Thania de la Garza Navarrete, Asela Kalugampitiya, AlonsoMiguel de Erice Dominguez, Edoé Djimitri Agbodjan, Takunda Chirau andAyabulela Dlakavu21 Evaluation professionalization 337Benoît Gauthier and Simon N. RoyPART IV EVALUATION AND BEHAVIOURAL PUBLIC POLICY22 Nudging and experimenting in a post-truth, post-COVID world 352Peter John23 How and when to use field experiments to evaluate public policies 366Simon Calmar Andersen24 Evaluation and digitalization: what are the key challenges forevaluation processes and evaluators? 375Tereza Cahlikova and Omar Ballester25 Bringing street-level bureaucrats’ behaviour into policy evaluation 391Eva Thomann and Eva Lieberherr26 Evaluation of the non-take-up of public services and social benefits 408Pierre-Marc DaigneaultIndex 425