Det politiske i evaluering

Distinguishing between policy, politics, and the political, this chapter is concerned with the political in evaluation, ie. How evaluation helps define social constructions which are valid within a “res publica” or a common public set of imaginary significations within a society. Due to its focus on purposeful uses of evaluation, the field of evaluation itself has certain limitations in its own understanding of its political dimensions. However, under the present conditions of reflexive modernization, evaluation as a societal phenomenon is in a privileged position to exert influence on socially valid constructions. By means of concepts such as “the performance paradox” and “the constitutive effects of evaluation” the political in evaluation is explored, exemplified, and discussed.