(Not) just policy success: Incorporating justice in policy evaluation

Area of Science:

• Public Policy Analysis
• Political Science
• Philosophy

Background:

• Policy evaluations are normative, influenced by values, yet rarely systematically address justice.
• Overlooking justice in policy evaluation can hinder accountability, legitimize injustice, and impede policy learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To bridge the gap in policy evaluation by systematically integrating justice principles.
• To propose a reflective framework linking justice categories with policy success dimensions.

Main Methods:

• Building on the multidimensional policy success heuristic (programmatic, process, political outcomes).
• Drawing from philosophical literature on distributive, procedural, and recognition justice.
• Developing a framework to integrate justice principles into policy success dimensions.

Main Results:

• A novel framework is proposed that links justice principles to the policy success heuristic.
• The framework allows for ex-ante or ex-post assessment of policy justice and success.
• This integration aids in navigating the is/ought distinction in policy evaluation.

Conclusions:

• Integrating justice into policy evaluation is crucial for accountability and effective policy learning.
• The proposed framework offers a systematic approach to assessing policy justice.
• This work contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of policy evaluation by incorporating normative considerations.