Evaluating Reforms of Local Public and Social Services in Europe

Abstract

The chapter identifies an evaluation gap in the European literature on local public sector reforms and a lack of cross-sectoral comparisons of local services successfulness. It presents a common theoretical and methodological framework of studies included in this volume. There is still the north-west–south-east divide in the performance of the studies evaluating the successfulness of local service regimes and their reforms. The chapter introduces the concept and structure of this volume whose chapters deal with the evaluation of several local services regimes, the evaluation of comprehensive local service reforms in Europe, and the general issues of evaluating local services. The whole repertoire of evaluation approaches applicable to the local service delivery is briefly introduced. The explanatory function of evaluation is addressed as well as the problem of and possibilities for utilisation of evaluation-generated knowledge.