Evaluating Reforms of Local Public and Social Services in Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvi

   PDF

2. Evaluating Reforms of Local Public and Social Services in Europe

   • Ivan Koprić, Hellmut Wollmann

   Pages 1-18

3. Regulatory Impact Assessment and Sub-national Governments

   • Gérard Marcou, Anamarija Musa

   Pages 19-34

4. Less Plato and More Aristotle: Empirical Evaluation of Public Policies in Local Services

   • Germà Bel

   Pages 35-48

5. The Politics of Evaluation in Performance Management Regimes in English Local Government

   • Martin Laffin

   Pages 49-64

6. Evaluating Personal Social Services in Germany

   • Hellmut Wollmann, Frank Bönker

   Pages 65-80

7. Healthcare Marketisation in Spain: The Case of Madrid’s Hospitals

   • José M. Alonso, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes

   Pages 81-96

8. The Institutionalisation of Performance Scrutiny Regimes and Beyond: The Case of Education and Elderly Care in Sweden

   • Stig Montin, Vicki Johansson, Lena Lindgren

   Pages 97-114

9. The Organisation of Local Education in Poland: An Evaluative Approach to the Outsourcing Model

   • Łukasz Mikuła, Marzena Walaszek

   Pages 115-132

10. Reforming Local Service Delivery by Contracting Out? Evaluating the Experience of Danish Road and Park Services

    • Kurt Houlberg, Ole Helby Petersen

    Pages 133-149

11. The Efficiency of Local Service Delivery: The Czech Republic and Slovakia

    • Jana Soukopová, Beata Mikušová Meričková, Juraj Nemec

    Pages 151-169

12. Effects of External Agentification in Local Government: A European Comparison of Municipal Waste Management

    • Harald Torsteinsen, Marieke van Genugten, Łukasz Mikuła, Carla Puiggrós Mussons, Esther Pano Puey

    Pages 171-189

13. The Emergence of Performance Evaluation of Water Services in France

    • Pierre Bauby, Mihaela M. Similie

    Pages 191-206

14. Evaluation of Delivery Mechanisms in the Water Supply Industry—Evidence from Slovenia

    • Primož Pevcin, Iztok Rakar

    Pages 207-223

15. Apprentice Sorcerers. Evaluating the Programme Theory of Regulatory Governance in Italian Public Utilities

    • Giulio Citroni, Marco Di Giulio, Maria Tullia Galanti, Andrea Lippi, Stefania Profeti

    Pages 225-242

16. Evaluation of the Decentralisation Programme in Croatia: Expectations, Problems and Results

    • Ivan Koprić, Vedran Đulabić

    Pages 243-260

17. Evaluating the Impact of Decentralisation on Local Public Management Modernisation in Croatia

    • Jasmina Džinić, Romea Manojlović

    Pages 261-277

18. Evaluation of an Anti-Monopoly Programme in Hungarian Public Utilities

    • Tamás M. Horváth

    Pages 279-296

19. Metropolitan Municipality Reform: Rescaling of Municipal Service Delivery in Turkey

    • Yeseren Elicin

    Pages 297-314

20. Policy Evaluation Capacity in Greek Local Government: Formal Implementation and Substantial Failures

    • Theodore N. Tsekos, Athanasia Triantafyllopoulou

    Pages 315-331

This book explains the increasing demand for evaluation as a result of the increasing frequency of reforms to local services, influenced by the New Public Management doctrine, the severe austerity policy in many European countries, and the wish to increase quality and reduce costs of public services, especially at the local (sub-national) level. Positioned at the interface of local services and evaluation research, it will enable the utilization of evaluation-generated knowledge in evidence-based policy making by focusing on the lessons learned from evaluation of local service delivery. It encompasses local public and social services (including waste, water, public transport, healthcare, education and eldercare) and examines the hypothesis that there is a North-West–South-East divide in Europe in terms of the evaluation of local service reforms. Particular attention is devoted to the explanatory function of evaluation. Providing fresh insight into the functioning of local government machinery in contemporary Europe, this book will appeal in particular to practitioners and students of local government, public economy, public administration and policy.

• Public and Social Services
• New Public Management
• austerity policy
• local public sector reforms
• local service reforms in Europe
• sub-national governments
• Regulatory impact assessment
• regulatory policy
• evidence-based policy
• performance management and evaluation
• personal social services
• evaluation approaches
• marketization of public services
• privatization of public services
• inter-municipal cooperation
• Public Sector Agentification
• decentralisation reform
• public management modernization
• Policy Evaluation Capacity
• local service provision

“If local governments are the ‘lighthouses’ for our public sector, then this book is a ‘lighthouse’ for our knowledge about these European local governments. Based on evaluation-generated evidence, this book focuses on how concrete service delivery is affected by reforms. That makes this book a must-read for comparativists, whether they are academics, pracademics, or practitioners.” (Geert Bouckaert, Professor of Social Sciences at KU Leuven Public Governance Institute and President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences, Belgium)

“This book is an important step forward to extend our knowledge about the evaluation of modernization processes in local service delivery. By adopting a comparative perspective, the book explores various approaches and effects of local public sector reforms focusing on institutional changes in the provision of public services. A variety of key topics are critically analysed by internationally renowned experts of the field making this book a must-read for scholars and practitioners alike.” (Sabine Kuhlmann, Professor of Public Administration and Organization, University of Potsdam, Germany)

“This book appraises the evaluation of reforms to local and public and social services across a range of European countries. The use and quality of evaluation is highly variable within and across countries, and the analyses illuminate different approaches and continuing issues and lessons.” (John Halligan, Professor of Public Administration, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, Australia)

• Administrative Science and Local Government, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

  Ivan Koprić

• Institute for Social Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

  Hellmut Wollmann

• GRALE (Groupement de Recherche sur l’Administration Locale en Europe), University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France

  Gérard Marcou

Ivan Koprić is Professor of Administrative Science and Local Government at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, President of the Institute of Public Administration in Zagreb, Croatia, and editor-in-chief of Croatian and Comparative Public Administration. His recent books include Public and Social Services in Europe (edited with H. Wollmann and G. Marcou, 2016), European Administrative Space (edited with P. Kovač, 2017), Citizens, Public Administration, and Local Government (edited with A. Musa and T. Giljević, 2017).


Hellmut Wollmann is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. His recent books include Public and Social Services in Europe (2016), and Introduction to Comparative Public Administration (with S. Kuhlmann, 2014). 


Gérard Marcou was Professor of Public Law at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Director of GRALE (Groupement de Recherche sur l’Administration Locale en Europe), France. His recent books include Public and Social Services in Europe (2016), and Provision of Public Services in Europe (2010).

Policies and ethics