Evaluation in Complex Policy Systems

The renewed emphasis in the UK on ‘evidence-based policy making’ has sharpened the focus on the utilization debate in the evaluation community. Traditionally, the emphasis is placed on methodological concerns but this article argues for a sharper focus on the underpinning theoretical bases of policy evaluation, both in terms of its role in policy making and in terms of the substantive theories which inform policy development and implementation. In particular, the article seeks to assess the implications of complexity theory for our theoretical assumptions about policy systems. It is argued that, together with ‘new institutionalist’ thought and recent work on policy implementation structures, notions of complexity have substantial ramifications for the way in which we approach policy evaluation, given the contemporary concern to address ‘cross-cutting’ social problems through ‘joined-up’ policy initiatives. It is suggested that our thinking about evaluation reflects the broader reaction against ‘modernist’ conceptions of the role of social science in our quest to change and improve the world.