Evaluation July 2008 [antikvár]

Presidential Editorial PETER DAHLER-LARSEN President, European Evaluation Society 2006-7 The journal Evaluation has, since it was launched in 1995, published a 'Special Issue' following each European Evaluation Society (EES) Conference. This issue of the journal draws together material from the EES Conference (organized jointly with the UK Evaluation Society) held in London in October 2006. During its turbulent history, Europe has been the cradle of somé of the very best and very worst ideas. It would be too easy to say that the same is true of evaluation in Europe. However, the richness, diversity and dynamism of evaluation in Europe do reflect a specifically European historical, political and institutional context. First, to avoid misunderstandings, a cautionary remark is appropriate. Yes, many issues discussed in Europe are alsó of concern to evaluators in other parts of the world. Yes, we should work closely with evaluators in other countries and be open to inspiration from them. Yes, Europe is not monolithic but rather a fascinating concentrated mixture of political systems, languages, cultures and values. Yes, Europe is alsó dynamic and defies narrow definition. Nor is it my intention to suggest otherwise! Nevertheless, it is meaningful to recognize a particular background for evaluation in Europe - there is a European field of evaluation. In my own mind, I see evaluation in Europe as both a rich response to and a continuation of trends and tenets in the history, philosophy and politics of the continent. All evaluators have learned to attend to the context of evaluation. To a European evaluator, however, context is not merely a set of situational factors. It is history, tradition, culture, language, institutions, democratic norms and alsó Realpolitik. The European evaluator operates in a political space in which the state is in principle believed to be benevolent. At the same time, the state is not strikingly weil organized; it has only weak means at its disposal and rarely makes very good decisions. Hence the ambivalence that follows European evaluators everywhere they go! Many European evaluators have been sensitized to a rich intellectual heritage in philosophy and social science. In the mind of the European evaluator, there is therefore often a resonance of the larger perspective in smaller issues. For this reason, the European evaluator is often well-informed and rarely overly enthusiastic about anything. Indeed, the European evaluator thrives on doubt, scepticism and debate. At the same time, it is evidently the job of an evaluator to seek to contribute to improvement, wherever that might be possible. As a result, 1K