2026· Revista de Administración Pública· Vol 60· 0 citations· 16 references
Abstract
Abstract The notion that public policy should be evidence-based has gained prominence in recent years, attracting both supporters and critics. This article argues that a significant part of this debate stems from the coexistence of two distinct conceptions of what it means to base policy decisions on evidence: evidence as a restriction, which operates as a necessary condition for the admissibility of options; and evidence as a preference criterion, which guides the selection among options already legitimized by political or normative criteria. The article defines these two concepts, analyzes their respective advantages and limitations, and demonstrates that, under plausible assumptions, each approach can be applied in isolation, but hardly simultaneously without practical contradictions. The key contributions offer a normative typology that allows for diagnosing tensions in the use of evidence, positions this distinction in relation to classical typologies in the literature, and guides the institutional design of scientific advisory systems in democratic contexts.
Abstract This paper examines how political considerations shape the use of research evidence in policy-making. It stresses that systematic and transparent approaches are essential for presenting complex issues and the best available evidence to ministers. By categorising policymakers and proposing that researchers have...
Abstract Official statistics have long provided a foundation for evidence-informed policy-making, offering professionally independent, quality-assured and transparent evidence to support democratic decision-making. Yet the contemporary policy environment presents statistical systems with a difficult set of pressures. D...
Steve Macfeely, Ashley Ward· Administration· 1 citation
This article asks whether the UK’s competency framework for policy officials is fit for purpose, and finds that it is not. The quality of policy advice across Westminster systems has been eroding for some time, and reform efforts in several jurisdictions have tried to build the individual policy capacity of officials...
Matthew Collins· Public Administration Quarte...· 0 citations
Policy evaluation and policy advice overlap within the evidence-based policymaking paradigm but remain analytically distinct. This article examines their relationship and explores the conditions under which evaluation may contribute to advisory processes.
The study combines a conceptual comparison of evaluat...
Erica Melloni· Frontiers in Political Scien...· 0 citations
The study of foreign policy has always been?defined by competing theoretical paradigms, with idealism and realism being the two most prominent. From an idealist perspective, the ethical and?social aspects of international relations are focused on, and that non-state actors, such as Non-Governmental Organizations and In...
