Implementation and Evaluation of EU policy

Full course description

The central question in this last module is how and to what extent European policies are actually applied in practice; what happens at the “street level” with all policies coming from the EU? The first part of the module concentrates on the implementation phase. All member states have a different administrative organization, which has its impact on how interaction with the European level takes place. European integration only has a real impact on the street level when domestic capacities are in place to deal with the demands that come from ‘Brussels’. Member States need to be flexible in building, adapting or innovating their public sector capacities and systems in order to ‘cope’ with the EU. We will analyze how Member States differently deal with this. The second part of the module looks at European public policy by evaluating existing policies and programs. Professional policy evaluation takes place in the context of highly politicized processes of judgment and reckoning: What is a success and what is a failure? This seemingly simple question often proves difficult to answer, for both policy makers and evaluators. The course examines regulatory impact assessment and better regulation. It considers how we might theorise evaluation, and the ways in which it takes place at various parts of the policy cycle. It questions the extent to which evaluation influences policy redesign. In addition, consideration is given to the culture and politics of evaluation in the EU. The course takes a practical perspective and engages students in real-life cases.